The J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have exceeded expectations in a lot of ways, but it fell surprisingly short in one department – lens flares. Considering how many lens flares Abrams packed into his Star Trek movies, supposedly the less-flashy sci-fi franchise, Star Wars should have been one long sun spot.
Well, thankfully, Abrams realized he had a lens-flare problem before it came time to direct Star Wars. He’s apologized for his over-reliance on the visual trick in the past, although the way he stated things made it sound like he came to the realization on his own. Last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Abrams admitted the truth – he only relinquished the pretty, pretty lens flares when his wife Katie told him to cut it the hell out…
“Katie’s told me to stop a lot of things. She was right. There was one scene in Star Trek Into Darkness where you literally couldn’t see what was going on. And it was a very important emotional scene. Alice Eve was behind this crazy lens-flare glaring, and Katie just looked and me and was, ‘Okay, I think this is it. You have to absolutely stop doing that.’ “
It was a good call by Katie, but man, how are we going to make fun of this incredibly successful director and his charmed life now? Pour one out of the lens flares…
