Star Wars Bits: J.J. Abrams On The Most Disturbing 'Star Wars' Scene And Kathleen Kennedy On Which Actors Will Show Up In 'Episode 8'

Would you look at that – Star Wars: The Force Awakens is less than a week away. Try to contain your excitement through this latest edition of Star Wars Bits, which includes:

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams revealed what he thinks is the most disturbing scene in any Star Wars movie and it's awfully hard to argue with his choice:

The most jaw-dropping-est thing to me, in retrospect, is that moment in Episode IV when Leia is being held and Vader goes in to torture her for information... When you think of it later, it's like, 'Oh my God, that's his daughter.' He's going to torture his own daughter. At the time, it's just scary. Then it gets just really creepy when you think about it. Oh my god, that's the worst. It's horrible.

A close runner-up: Leia locking lips with her own brother. Oh, Star Wars and your uncomfortable sexuality!

In more straightforward news, Abrams sat down with CinemaBlend to chat the about the future of the Star Wars saga. While he won't be directing Star Wars Episode VIII (that will be Rian Johnson), he did reveal that he's going to be creatively involved in the films going forward, mainly because there are things he set up in The Force Awakens that need to be paid off:

Larry Kasdan and I, who wrote the script together, definitely were setting things up and were conscious of the fact... which is a really weird opportunity in features to know that this was going to be the beginning of a three picture story. So we were working on versions of what we knew we would have done or wanted to do, and had meetings with Rian and Ram [Bergman], who is a producer, very early on and went over what we were thinking. But also knew that Rian had his own ideas coming in. He was going to take this thing in the place that he felt right. So he's incorporated some of the stuff in the way that we were expecting and hoping, he's gone in other places we never would have dreamed of.

Speaking of future Star Wars movies, Lucasfilm president and Star Wars series executive producer Kathleen Kennedy revealed in a new interview that Star Wars Episode VIII will film certain scenes in Mexico... and she also revealed two more Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast members who will return for director Rian Johnson's sequel. This this can be considered a huge spoiler, highlight the rest of this paragraph if you want to know more. Start highlights...now: It's not too surprising, but Oscar Isaac and John Boyega are both on board for the next film, which means that Finn and Poe Dameron will live to see the end credits of the new movie. So there you go. Moving on!

When asked about whether or not he's involved in the upcoming Han Solo movie in any way, Harrison Ford made it very clear that he's not and no, you shouldn't ask him any more questions, please leave him alone:

I don't think [playing Han Solo is] about being like me; it's about us being like Han Solo. I'm sure whoever is responsible for that film, and I'm not, will think through the issues and problems of doing such a thing — let's make them responsible for those questions you might think to ask me.

When asked if he has any advice for the new Han Solo actor, Ford said no.

However, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan is more than willing to chat about the Han Solo spin-off (which he is writing with his son, Jon), telling the official Disney blog:

Oh yes. We just turned in the second draft, people are very excited, and Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord] are amazing. They're from another planet. They're going to start shooting in a year. Between now and then, that thing is going to change a lot. But I'll be there to help if I can. They have to take over. I have to get back to directing.

Is he implying that the screenplay could go through another writer or two before it goes before cameras? That seems likely enough. Rogue One: A Star Wars story went through a few screenwriters before everyone involved felt it was beaten into the right shape. In any case, Kasdan has done his part for the Star Wars saga – he should be allowed to do whatever the heck he wants next.

It's no secret the 20th Century Fox had very little faith in the original 1977 Star Wars. The untold story, though, involves the distribution executives who took on George Lucas' weird space movie and found their careers skyrocketing for their efforts. A new THR profile on some of these guys reveals that theaters were originally encouraged to play Star Wars because it would secure them the Sidney Sheldon thriller The Other Side of Midnight:

I think it did more or less start that way — Fox making you take Star Wars if you wanted Other Side of Midnight. But it ultimately flipped around: If you wanted Star Wars, you had to play the other film.

Above: For the Star Wars fan who needs adorable drawings they can share in Facebook comments, there are these stickers, available here.

SGS Engineering has crunched some numbers and it turns out small-time smuggler Han Solo must be a secret millionaire. According to their estimates, a spaceship like the Millennium Falcon would cost £2,044,000 (or just over $3 million) per year in repairs and maintenance. And if it costs that much to keep a huge hunk of junk running, how much could a Star Destroyer cost?

While we're on the subject of very smart people using math to break down the Star Wars universe, there's this new The Hollywood Reporter piece that shed some, well, interesting light on fans of this franchise. It turns out that that the average American spends $4,100 on technology, auto, food and personal care each year... while the average Star Wars fan spends $4,300. Star Wars fans also spend more money on snacks than the average American, which explains a lot. Oh, and a Star Wars fans is likely to be a Gen Xer and is 17% more likely to be Asian than the average American. Does this sound like you yet? Let us know.

Because the internet is a strange place where nothing is impossible, here is The Late Late Show host James Corden singing a Christmas-themed Star Wars song (or is it a Star Wars-themed Christmas song?) with The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick. Enjoy. Or don't. We're really not sure.