Movie-Weekly recently spoke to famed movie poster artist Drew Struzan about his incredible Star Wars: The Force Awakens one-sheet that made the rounds at D23 and the conversation quickly turned to what he had seen of J.J. Abrams' soon to be arriving Episode VII. Turns out he's seen a lot! He's viewed about half of a rough cut of the movie and has also read the shooting script but it's when he was asked about his thoughts on what he had seen that things get exciting. His answer then? Well, let me put it this way... it's a response that will make you as giddy as you were when that first Phantom Menace trailer was unleashed in the late 90s, promising so much for the prequels;
"I can tell you and the fans this, honest to God, it is far and away probably going to be the best Star Wars you've ever seen."
What power just 27 words that, whilst perfectly innocent and inoffensively mundane on their own, can hold on your psyche when put together in the right order... in this order. Sure, the skeptical among you might think Struzan was always bound to say hyperbole as he's a loyal company man that's worked on material for this film and wants it to succeed. Sure, he could be blinded by falsehoods, either out of ignorance or insincerity due to his affiliation with the franchise but Quint at AICN claims he's never known him to be a "company man" or one who would care what movie executives would think of his comments. And, well, if he trusts Struzan... and I trust Quint... then you should trust me to trust Quint to trust Struzan. Quint says of Struzan's uberly positive comments;
That jibes with much of what I've heard through the grapevine. At least the folks at Lucasfilm think they have something special on their hands and I think I speak for all fanboys and fangirls out there when I say I hope they're right!
Interesting, exciting, mouth-watering! So, will Star Wars: The Force Awakens "probably" be the best Star Wars we'll ever see? Probably not, but it doesn't need to be to be special.
Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.