Adam Driver is one of the up –and-coming faces joining the original cast members for Star Wars: Episode VII, and has been discussing his experiences on the project so far, as well as the need to make sure the story stays grounded.

“Doing Star Wars now… that’s surreal,” says the star. “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.”

“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.”

“It’s 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 Driver has clearly been doing his homework, as he plucks an example from the very first film to illustrate his point.

“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.”

Directed by J.J. Abrams and co-starring Harrison Ford, John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o, Star Wars: Episode VII will open in the UK on 18 December 2015.