For Duke, satisfying ordinary movie fans and audiences far outweighed anything else. That was also his most fundamental principle in making Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a cinematic sci-fi epic about friendship, faith, and loyalty opened its very first chapter. Thirty-seven years later, its seventh story was about to begin, and the flag called Star Wars was now carried forward by a new generation of filmmakers who had grown up alongside its legend.
Returning from San Diego to Los Angeles, Duke plunged straight into the massive soundstage at Hughes Aircraft Factory, where he began shooting the few remaining scenes.
"Not enough people," he said, standing on the high platform at the back of the studio. Looking down at the rows of stormtroopers below, he turned to Anna Prinz and said, "Do we have any more extras?"
This was where they would film the scene of a First Order general giving a speech. The set, designed by Hannah Selina, was inspired by Adolf Hitler's address to the Nazi SS during World War II—a continuation of Star Wars' consistent tradition. Anyone who had seen the original trilogy could easily notice that the uniforms of the Empire closely resembled Nazi military attire.
As for the Sith Emperor, he was clearly a symbolic incarnation of Adolf Hitler.
To a certain extent, Duke continued to use that hidden setup, and he did so without any concern. In the Western world—and indeed, across the entire globe—anti-Nazi, anti-Hitler sentiment had long been among the most basic forms of political correctness and moral alignment.
Of course, there were still many people in the world who sympathized with or even idolized the Nazis and Hitler, but few would be foolish enough to proclaim it openly—unless, of course, they were as brain-damaged as Lars von Trier.
The Danish director had always had problems with his head. He not only saw himself as the god of cinema but even as the god of all humankind, often blurting out shocking remarks to grab attention and stay in the spotlight.
Take, for example, his so-called "Dogma 95" manifesto—he not only demanded it of other directors but had never managed to follow it himself.
Yet, as the saying goes, if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes will eventually get wet. This troubled director inevitably managed to ruin his own publicity stunts.
In 2011, Lars von Trier attended the 64th Cannes Film Festival with his new film Melancholia, competing for the Palme d'Or. His unfiltered remarks there shocked all of Europe.
The director, known for his outrageous comments, blurted out, "All my life I've been proud of being Jewish; then I met Susanne Bier—the Danish director whose film In a Better World won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year—and I wasn't so happy about that anymore. Later, I realized I'm actually a Nazi. My family comes from Germany, which excites me. What else can I say? I understand Adolf Hitler, and I even sympathize with him."
And that wasn't all. Facing a room full of journalists, Lars von Trier went on, saying, "I'm a Nazi."
Not only others, but even Melancholia's stars—Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg—were stunned, as if the man sitting beside them wasn't the director they knew.
In the end, Lars von Trier was expelled outright from the Cannes Film Festival and from France itself.
Anti-Nazi sentiment was one of the most basic principles imaginable. In the realm of cinema or any related art form, to express sympathy for Nazism was nothing short of suicidal.
And Star Wars—though it never explicitly stated so—was obvious to anyone with eyes: the villains scourged by the light side were the galactic version of Nazis.
Since there weren't enough extras, Duke turned around atop the platform and said to those behind him, "Tina, have everyone on the crew who's not filming dress up as stormtroopers—including anyone visiting the set."
Such things were common practice in Hollywood. When large crowd scenes required many people, having the rest of the crew appear as extras wasn't strange at all. Duke had done the same during the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Soon, all the crew members not directly involved in filming donned stormtrooper armor—even Daisy Ridley and Daniel Wu were no exception. That way, they finally had enough stormtroopers for the green-screen shots, while the distant background ranks could later be added through CGI.
Compared to the nearly full day of preparation, the actual shooting went remarkably smoothly. After only three takes, Duke declared the shot approved.
Throughout the subsequent filming, Duke maintained his trademark caution and focus. Capturing the essence of the original Star Wars wasn't difficult for him—the real challenge was how to open a brand-new chapter that carried the spirit of its era.
People born after 1990 and 2000 had already become the main force of the movie market. They didn't know much about the old conflict between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. The names lightsaber, Dark Lord, or even the line "I am your father" had gained cultural symbolism far beyond what only Star Wars fans would recognize.
As writer, director, and producer, Duke had to ensure that even those who hadn't grown up with Star Wars would still have no trouble understanding The Force Awakens.
Ultimately, the true protagonists of The Force Awakens were two "rookie" actors making their debuts in a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster—Daisy Ridley and Daniel Wu.
Landing those roles made them, as the media put it, the luckiest of newcomers. But their audition process had been long, grueling, and deceptive. Because the Star Wars name carried such weight, Duke—concerned about secrecy—had even written an entirely fake script just for their auditions.
Even after being cast, the burden on these new actors didn't lighten at all. The Force Awakens required them to face "real bullets and explosions" on set—running fully armed through the desert while dodging fire. Duke never failed to acknowledge the entire team's professionalism and dedication to both performance and visual effects.
Of course, Duke's own work as a director was equally demanding.
For him, the most important thing about Star Wars was that it was never just one simple thing. In fact, that was precisely why he chose this project in the first place.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was not only an epic blockbuster—it was also delicate and emotionally stirring; serious and meticulous in some aspects, yet at times genuinely funny and light-hearted. It possessed the weight of darkness and tension of conflict, while remaining truly entertaining, warm, and even romantic.
It could be said that this story encompassed everything—it was a story about friendship, about trust, about devotion, about loyalty, about believing in oneself. All these powers tightly united us together.
What Duke needed to do was to use its existing materials and characters to create a new story, one that did not require the audience to have seen Star Wars before. Audiences would see Han Solo in this movie, but they wouldn't need to know his past to understand him.
If the movie fans had seen the earlier films featuring Han Solo, they might watch his performance from a different perspective.
The other main characters of this film were all making their first appearance, allowing the audience to see the world of this movie through their eyes.
In today's mainstream film market, some people only knew Star Wars through video games; some only knew one or two plots from the animated series; some had only heard about it from friends and had never actually watched it themselves. But almost everyone knew the words "Skywalker" and "lightsaber," even if not everyone had seen the series.
There were also many places where people had never seen these movies at all, so Duke knew that to make such a film, he needed visual impact, eye-catching action sequences, and the sense of confrontation between light and darkness.
These were eternal themes.
The first film of the Star Wars series itself, in many aspects, was very simple and straightforward. Some people might think many of its elements were outdated today, because they were too simple.
But it was still a beautiful, interesting, touching, and sweet story. Its protagonists were those weak, ordinary grassroots people—those who were not elites and had no power, who would never have imagined that they could actually have the ability to fight against the greatest evil force.
Within it lay tremendous mysteries, many unanswered questions, and many things that still needed Duke to lead the entire team to explore. But none of that mattered, because even without knowing anything, it was still enough to captivate people.
It already possessed all the elements that audiences could expect from an epic movie—tense storytelling, fierce battles, dramatic conflicts, and magnificent scenes—it had them all.
But for Duke, the key to a film's success was that the audience must like and care about the characters in the story. These were the true core of cinema. Therefore, a cold spaceship meant nothing; only when the audience cared about the people aboard that ship did its voyage gain meaning.
Duke's goal was to make the audience want to see the stories that happened on that ship.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens needed to possess the emotions of an epic while also showcasing astonishing visual effects.
Since the official formation of the team, Duke and his collaborators had already completed many incredible and outstanding films.
By the time July came to an end, Duke successfully finished all the shooting for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and immediately entered post-production.
This time, unlike before, there were fewer special effects shots. For the sake of nostalgia, Duke used a large amount of practical shooting.
The scenes filmed on real sets were equally spectacular. Many characters and environments, upon seeing them, one might not believe they were shot on location—but they truly were.
During post-production, Duke often used CGI to remove certain elements rather than to add them—such as removing mechanical operators, wires, protruding control components, or other similar things.
While busy with post-production work, Duke also had another important task—to receive media representatives from China.
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