Star Wars: JJ Abrams On Sound Designer Ben Burtt's Force Awakens Role
Ben Burtt isn’t a name casual ‘Star Wars’ fans will recognise, but he’s arguably as important to the iconic nature of the franchise as Harrison Ford, Frank Oz or those opening crawls.
He’s the legendary sound designer behind the saga, responsible for the iconic 'pew pew’ of blaster fire, the 'vmmm vmmm’ of a swinging lightsaber and Darth Vader’s heavy breathing.
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Burtt is back for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ later this year and as part of Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of the anticipated blockbuster director JJ Abrams has been talking about having him back.
“I can’t talk about what he’s doing specifically on this movie, but I’ll say that I’m thrilled to get to work with Ben again,” Abrams said.
“We worked together on the 'Star Trek’ films, on 'Super 8’, and now on this. We also are lucky to have Gary Rydstrom, of course, and Matt Wood. We have an amazing sound team.”
Burtt’s career branches far beyond ‘Star Wars’ - over the years he has also worked in the sound departments of classics such as ‘ET’, the ‘Indiana Jones’ trilogy and ‘Wall-E.
Abrams went on to talk about how revolutionary the sound design of the original 1977 movie was.
“The thing that keeps being remarkable to me is how much George Lucas got right when he did 'Star Wars’. Like, it is a preposterous ratio of things that work that were brand-new, and bold, and thrilling.
“The sound certainly was one of those things. And when you hear that specific roar of a TIE fighter, or the sound of a lightsaber coming on, or the sound of a droid, or any number of things – and there are so many – the idea that you can close your eyes and hear a couple sound effects and know exactly what movie that is, is completely a testament to the work that Ben Burtt did then, and that he’s contributing to now.”
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will be released on 18 December. Which is too far far away.
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Picture Credits: LucasFilm.
