Friday, May 22, 2026

“Star Wars” New Director, J.J. Abrams, Started Career with Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg

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Wunderkind J.J. Abrams is the new director of “Star Wars.” It makes sense. One of his first big film assignments was writing “Regarding Henry,” starring Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford. So we know Ford will be in the mix. (I already know that Carrie Fisher is in, from sources close to the actress.) Even before “Regarding Henry,” Abrams worked for Steven Spielberg cataloging his archives.

So it all makes sense that the guy who brought us “Alias” and “Lost” and revived both “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek” would finally get a shot at the series that inspired him in the first place. But Abrams did tell Empire Magazine last month that he’d turned “Star Wars” down. A friend of his told me: “It wasn’t about the money. He doesn’t need any money. But he loves magic, and Star Wars was his first love.”

More to come, but it does seem like “Star Wars” is in good hands.

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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