Director J.J. Abrams managed to reinvigorate the "Star Wars" franchise with lots of new characters and a compelling storyline, and one such character is Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata.
Now, Abrams said that the character was deeply inspired by his late English teacher in high school.
"Yes, the character of Maz was originally based on the great Rose Gilbert. We really wanted the story to feel authentic, despite being a wild fantasy. I mentioned Rose in an early story meeting as a sort of timeless, wise figure that I'd actually known in my life," he shared with The Palipost. "While we experimented with many looks and styles before settling on the character's final design, Rose was always at the center of the inspiration of Maz. Rick and I had hoped to contact Rose and show her what we were doing, but she sadly passed away while we were in the prep of the film."
Abrams wanted to do amazing things with Maz Kanata in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," but unfortunately, he had to sacrifice a lot of her scenes in order to make the movie work.
"Sometimes you discover that things you would have cut off a limb to shoot on the day are absolutely inconsequential, and in fact less impactful than if you were to remove it," he told Entertainment Weekly.
"As much as you try to kick the tires and write and shoot only what is necessary - no one wants to waste anyone's time - when you're in the editing room you realize, for instance, that introducing the character there actually diminishes their power. Or, giving that information actually distracts you from what you should be concentrating on. Or, having that moment happen concurrent with that moment actually gets in the way of both - things like that," Abrams continued.
The director said that Maz Kanata actually joined Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Finn back to the Resistance base to try and help save Rey, but he cannot help but admit that "she really had nothing to do there of value, except to have her sitting around."
"Lupita did film scenes on set for that sequence, but it felt like going right just to go left, and it was unnecessary. So we ended up leaving those things out," he said.
Abrams added that he was also forced to cut down a lot of Kylo Ren scenes because it just didn't help the movie.
"No one wants to waste anyone's time - when you're in the editing room you realize, for instance, that introducing the character there actually diminishes their power," Abrams said.
