The 2015 film featured characters duelling with the beloved science-fiction franchise’s signature weapon.
The Force Awakens’ major lightsaber fight saw the movie’s villain Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, take on Daisy Ridley as its young hero Rey.
Unsatisfied with early cuts of the battle, J.J. showed the scene to his friend Ava, who gave him tips on how to edit it.
According to editors at Yahoo! Movies, the Selma filmmaker divulges the information in a commentary track released on a new 3D collector’s edition DVD.
“I showed an early cut to my friend Ava DuVernay, and she had a bunch of great suggestions,” J.J. says. “One of them was she really wanted to see Daisy, in her attack on Ren, have one really cool moment.”
The resulting cut meant that there was a close-up shot of Rey’s face as she felt the force flowing through her and built up her confidence to take on Kylo.
J.J. also revealed that he also added close-ups of Daisy in battle during reshoots of the film, including one which saw her standing over Adam ready to go in for the kill. Off the shot J.J. adds, “Boom! It’s a little thing but it really connects you to her intensity.”
The filmmaker has previously argued that Ava should take the reins of a Star Wars film, saying, “One name that immediately comes to mind (as someone who should direct a Star Wars film) is Ava DuVernay, who I thought did just a mind-blowingly great job with Selma. And getting to know her a little since that movie… she is such a fan of genre films and storytelling.”
Ava is yet to be given her own Star Wars movie, with Rian Johnson, Colin Trevorrow, Gareth Edwards, and Lego Movie creators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller among those hired by bosses at Disney to further the franchise.
