When you’ve got a story that takes place in space and involves distant planets, lightsabers, epic battles and an abundance of alien creatures, “grounded” is probably not the first word you’d think to use to describe it, but for Star Wars: Episode VII star, Adam Driver, it’s those relatable, universal themes that make the Star Wars franchise a standout.

Even though the web’s been flooded with Star Wars: Episode VII talk lately, there’s been little to nothing from the stars of the upcoming installment - until now.  Hit the jump to read what Driver had to say about what makes the Star Wars films so special.

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While talking to EW (via HitFix), Driver led off by explaining:

“Doing Star Wars now - that’s surreal … I feel like that even with this cast.  You start by try to stamp [that feeling] down as much as possible, just focus on what it is that you are there to do … Easier said than done.”

A little later on, when asked about the abundance of practical elements compared to digital components, Driver highlighted:

“The thing about Star Wars that’s so good - sure there’s this huge [canvas].  It’s space, it’s a long time ago in a galaxy far away.  That’s set up immediately.  But in the midst of all those things, what has made those movies last so long is that they’re all grounded, which is something that is not so far off from every movie with huge universal themes of siblings and parents and betrayal and trust.  That’s so generic and obvious, but it’s hard to balance those things.”

And it’s true.  Deep space battles, explosions and Jedi combat are a blast to watch, but what would they be without the human, poignant connections featured in these films?  Driver added:

“When you break all of those things down, really it’s just because someone wasn’t loved enough or felt betrayed … That’s what makes those movies so universal.  I think they can get in your mind in big and sweeping ways.”

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Image via Lucasfilm

From there, the outlet asked Driver about his relationship with the original trilogy and he told them:

“I always think back to the original movies and to those quieter moments where Luke is out in A New Hope, and there are the two suns setting, and it’s just such a quiet moment.  It is the equivalent, basically, of a farm boy dying to get out of his small town and do something bigger.  It’s those kinds of universal themes that ground this whole thing in space.”

Driver clearly knows a thing or two about dodging touchy questions because rather than confirm whether or not we’ll get similar emotion amidst the spectacle in Episode VII, Driver went with:

“How great is that to get to work on something that has so much humanity in the midst of it?  I feel like that’s everyone’s goal, to balance those two.  Again, surreal seems to be the word of this interview.  It’s exciting to get that to be part of your life.  Now you have to contribute something to it—and that’s not something you, personally, or anyone on set takes lightly.  I feel like everybody wants to make it good.”

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There have been rumors claiming that Driver is a villain in the film, but if we can’t get any concrete information on his role at the moment, hearing how dedicated the Star Wars team is to doing Episode VII right is a solid substitute.  However, with all this expert story detail dodging, you’d think Driver is abiding by some serious secrecy rules from the higher-ups, but he insists that that isn’t the case:

“There was never a time where someone sat me down and was like, ‘People are going to do this or say this or ask this.’  They never had that conversation with me.  Instead, they kind of trusted that I wouldn’t say anything.  I’m one of those crazy people, if I’m watching the trailer for a movie and I’m really excited by it, I’ll turn it off because I don’t want to know anything.  I want to be surprised because I love that more than knowing anything.  I don’t think they felt the need to tell me [to stay quiet].”

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