'Star Wars Episode VII' Producer Bryan Burk Says Knowing Secrets Would Ruin The Experience

Several weeks ago, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, the current ruler of the Star Wars universe, said the following in regards to exactly how she and her team will approach secrecy be in regards to Star Wars Episode VII:

We talk about that all the time. I think the whole issue of confidentiality is gonna be fascinating as we move into making the movie. If we're shooting anything outside, it's almost impossible to not have things end up on the Internet. So my feeling is, you need to embrace that, especially with the fans around something like Star Wars. You need to recognize they're important to the process and acknowledge there are things you're gonna want to make sure they get to know. So I think that's something we're going to monitor, pay attention to and think differently about.

That sounds like she's saying "We're going to be much more transparent when Star Wars goes into production," doesn't it?  So, when I got on the phone with Star Wars Episode VII producer/Bad Robot co-founder Bryan Burk and Star Wars superfan Damon Lindelof to talk about their latest film, Star Trek Into Darkness, I simply had to ask about this. Was Burk part of these conversations? What had been said? And would Lindelof be hunting for spoilers like other fans?

Their answers were surprising. Burk explained he never had this conversation with Kennedy, but that fans have likely overestimated the statement. Read his quote as well as Lindelof's reaction below.

This is a segment from a larger interview where we discussed heavy spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness. We're holding that segment until next week, when more people have seen the film.

/Film: Bryan, Bad Robot is definitely famous for secrecy but recently Kathleen Kennedy said that for Star Wars that's something that might be slightly rethought. What are the conversations going on about secrecy as related to Star Wars? Is there any chance that maybe it will be a little bit lighter? Then in addition to that, Damon, as a Star Wars fan, without a dog in this fight, what are your feelings on that?

Bryan Burk: I don't know what Kathleen's comment was. What did she say? I'm sorry.

/Film: In an interview recently she said there had been discussions about the secrecy surrounding the film, but once the movie is in production there was a possibility you guys might lighten up on the secrecy a little bit.

Burk: Well we haven't had those conversations, but I'm sure she would agree, and by the way having grown up watching all of her movies, you know... nobody saw ET before and I didn't know what the temple in The Temple of Doom was until I saw it. I guess what I'm saying is it's always that balance. It's a hard thing. If I were to right now tell you all of the things that were going to happen in Star Wars in detail, the left side of your brain would say  'Awesome,' you guys would have this exclusive and know all of this stuff. But the right side is going to sit down one day and see the movie for the first time and you'd have all of that kind of spoiled, so it's that balance of wanting to know everything and not wanting to know everything at the same time.

It's like a magic trick and there's nobody who wants to know how all of the magic tricks are done more than me. Then the second I learn how they are done, it's like "Oh" and it kind of goes away. So it's a little bit of that balance and it's funny, because I'm having this conversation with Damon sitting next to me who we would regularly talk about this on Lost. His mother is one of those people who, when reading a "whodunnit" novel, will always turn to the last page immediately and find out who did it. She is one of those people, but I think people who are desperate to find out what's going on with Star Wars as we move forward are going to find out what's happening with it. It's just you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

/Film: And Damon, are you going to search out stuff once this starts happening?

Damon Lindelof: No, in fact I'm seriously contemplating a Twitter hiatus, not that I don't love it and taking on all of the people who hate my work, but I have gotten inadvertently spoiled on stuff just for the sake of being on Twitter. I went and saw Iron Man 3 yesterday and I knew something going into the theater that I shouldn't have known, that the filmmakers took great and extensive steps for me not to know, but that somebody on Twitter [said] for the sheer joy of essentially saying 'There's a twist in Iron Man.'

The best twists are in movies where you don't know there's a twist, that's why when we all saw The Sixth Sense we were shocked. You suddenly go like 'Oh my god, this movie wasn't even presenting itself that way.' So just telling me that 'There's a twist in Iron Man,' I go into the theater and I'm looking for the twist and within ten minutes if you're looking for it, you can pretty much figure it out and that kind of ruined the movie for me in a lot of ways and it's my own damn fault.

So where do you stand on this? Will you be seeking out Star Wars Episode VII spoilers as we get closer? How much do you think will be revealed?