J.J. Abrams Picks New Star Wars’ Costume Designer

Trek veteran Michael Kaplan gets the gig

J.J. Abrams Picks New Star Wars' Costume Designer

by James White |
Published on

Admittedly, it’s hardly the most enlightening piece of news about Star Wars: Episode VII, but it’s still fun to see who J.J. Abrams is gathering to work on the new trip to that Galaxy Far, Far Away. One of the first confirmed members of his team is an old Abrams hand and recent Empire interviewee, costume designer Michael Kaplan.

It’s not tough to see why Abrams would tap Kaplan for the job. They worked together to revise the look of Captain Kirk and co on **Star Trek **and Into Darkness, and Kaplan also provided the togs for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protoco****l, which Abrams produced.

But Kaplan’s CV goes back much further and deeper than just the Enterprise crew. One of his earliest jobs was working alongside Charles Knode on 1982’s Blade Runner. He also counts Flashdance, Fight Club, Panic Room, Pearl Harbor, Curly Sue, Clue, I** Am Legend** and Miami Vice among his credits. So he’s certainly got the chops to tackle the Lucas universe now inherited (for Episode VII, at least) by Abrams.

Michael Arndt is busy working on the script and, assuming they all make deals, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are expected to appear in some capacity. Abrams has also said he wants John Williams to write the score, and Disney aims to have the new Wars on screen sometime in 2015. Meanwhile, why not read our feature on Kaplan and other members of J.J.’s behind-the-scenes Trek crew and start taking bets on the next one to get recruited...

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us