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Typhoon Melor Forces Evacuations in the Philippines; Two California Mosques Vandalized; New Polls Show Cruz Leading Trump in Iowa; Obama Praises Historic Climate Agreement; Asian Markets Awaiting Fed Rate Decision; "Star Wars" Premieres Tonight. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 14, 2015 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[00:00:00] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. (HEADLINES) Hello and thank you for joining us; I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

We start this hour with a potentially dangerous storm heading straight for the central Philippines. Typhoon Melor will likely make land fall in the coming hours, at the southeastern tip of the main island of Luzon. Now, the winds are equivalent to a category three hurricane, 205 kilometers, or 125 miles per hour. More than 700,000 people have been evacuated. All emergency personnel are on stand by right now.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with more. Pedram, where is Typhoon Melor right now and how fast is this storm moving?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is blazing across this region, Isha; and, in fact, it's approaching landfall, believe it or not, across the northern portion of Samar. We thought this would make landfall some time in the next several hours. It is now trailing across the northern region of a Samar, province, certainly, that is home to 1.7 million people, as of the 2010 Census. A Signal 3 issue. What that means, in the area indicated in red, we're talking about an area that has winds that are expected to be at 120 kilometers per hour for at least 18 consecutive hours. That's what dictates a Signal 3.

We'll take a look at what's in store here, as far as what's happened over this region. Isha you talked about the evacuations that are in place. You see the images over this region; and when you think about the Philippines, you've got to think about an archipelago made up of over 7,100 islands. So, a very difficult to make evacuations, in masses, over this region, but, of course, they're doing this as quickly as possible. And what's important with the storm system, as you begin the see the center of circulation, right there, work its way across the northern portion of Samar, this storm, of course, intensified from just about 24 hours ago being a tropical storm to now being a healthy Category 3 equivalent storm. So that makes it very difficult to get people out of the way. A lot of water in between this, so evacuations that have to be made out of these islands have to be make by boats. So that makes another dangerous route in place.

We know a lot of fisherman, thousands of fishermen and thousands of fishing vessels that potentially were out and about just 24 hours ago when this was a weak tropical storm, this intensified. We know some of the warmest waters on our planet are just offshore here. So the storm really tapped into that and notice the moisture that's going to come in, half a meter not out of a question. This will eventually push in toward (Inaudible), population there 200,000; and, eventually just South of Manila, where we think some of the heaviest rainfall possible, where we could get upwards of 300 millimeters of rainfall over the next two days.

Now, of course we know this is not a stranger, this region, for tropical activity. You typically see eight to nine storms per year. We've seen as many as 19 make landfall; as few as four. This year we've had eight of them make landfall. So we are right on par with what is considered normal. It only, of course, takes one to leave its mark across this region, and, of course, we know that a very, very, busy pattern in recent years.

Notable December storms, we had Washi, that was a tropical storm. Just that tropical storm, Isha, took with it 1200 lives; Bopha, in December 2012, took 1100 lives and we had significant evacuations ahead of a December 2014 storm, and only 21 lives were lost. So we're hope what's happening right now, with the evacuations that you touched on, are going to really limit the number of fatalities with powerful storm coming through right now. Isha.

SESAY: That is, indeed, the hope. Pedram, appreciate it; thank you so much for the update.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

SESAY: And our (Inaudible) joins me on the phone. He's a CNN Philippines who is in the Legazpi right now. Joash Gahalish (ps), thank you so much for joining us. Describe the weather conditions there in Legazpi at the moment.

JOASH (INAUDIBLE), CNN CORRESPONDENT, (via telephone): Isha, I'm in Legazpi. It's a port city about 300 kilometers south of the Philippine capital of Manila. Typhoon Melor is expected to directly hit some portions of this province this evening, or as early as 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time and the provincial government here has declared a state of imminent danger. As preparations are under way for possible storm surges, flooding and lava flow from the active volcano. That is one of the most popular icons and tourist destinations here in the country.

Officials have been urging residents in coastal areas and communities around the volcano to move to safer ground as soon as possible. They're also preparing to distribute food and other emergency supplies

[00:35:00]

to those people. There are about 1 million residents here in Albay, and officials estimate some half a million people will be affected by this typhoon.

Right now wind and rains are getting stronger by the hour and Typhoon Melor, which is locally called "Nona", is carrying maximum sustained winds of 150 kph, near the center, and gusting up to 185 kph; and the Philippine Weather Bureau has enforced public storm warnings to the number three in nine areas south of Manila, including here. Isha, back to you.

SESAY: Joash and let me ask you this, you mentioned that the government is urging people along those coastal areas to evacuate. As you mentioned, they are urging them. It's not a mandatory evacuation, as you tell it. Are people actually leaving?

GAHALISH: Actually, people here have a long history of calamities, Isha, that's why based on the discussions with people that we talked to earlier said that they have learned their lessons the hard way. That's why whenever there are advisories to leave their home, whenever there are possible calamities that are upcoming, they usually they need to leave their homes to prevent any further damage to their property and, of course, to lives.

SESAY: All right, Joash Gahalish joining us there on the phone from Legazpi; Joash, stay safe. Thank you for the update; appreciate it.

Well, France's far right National Front Party couldn't follow through on their big lead after the first round of regional voting. Marie Le Pen's Anti-Immigration Party led in six of 13 regions last weekend but failed to win one on Sunday. Despite those results the party is calling the outcome a victory. Our Jim Bitterman explains.

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JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kind of a strange election result because no one appears to have lost this election; everybody was claiming victory in the aftermath. The two mainstream parties, the Socialists and the Republicans were happy that they had stopped the National Front. Just a week ago it looked like the National Front could win perhaps as many as six of the 13 regions in France. In fact, tonight they won none of those regions.

But, while they were claiming victory because of that, the National Front, the extreme right wing party was, in fact, claiming victory as well, because Marie Le Pen, the leader of that party said, look, we have tripled our representation in municipal and regional government over the last five years. She's right about that. In these regional elections there are still National Front people who have won seats, even though they haven't won the region. They still won seats and are representing the opposition in many of the regions.

So everybody was saying they were victorious tonight. The socialist party leaders said it's a victory without joy, however. One of the reasons he said that is because the Socialist Party told its candidates, in regions where it looked like they might lose, that they should withdraw in ordered to form a front against the National Front; and, in fact, that seemed to have worked. In both the northern region and in the southern region where Marie Le Pen was running, and her niece Marion Marechal Le Pen, was running in the south both were defeated tonight.

Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Now, Pope Francis is urging the global community to follow up on the climate deal reached in Paris. Speaking in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, he praised the agreement reached at the COP21 Summit. CNN's Digital Columnist, John Sutter, has more on the ambitious deal.

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JOHN SUTTER, CNN COLUMNIST: Here in Paris on Saturday we really saw history made. 196 countries came together at the U.N. Climate Change Conference to say that we're going to tackle global warming all together, 196 countries, and try to get off of fossil fuels. This is seen as a real turning point. It's being heralded by many scientists, NGO leaders, as well as heads of state from around the world, as a turning point in our fight against global warming.

What it means to actually attain the ambitious goals seen in these targets is that we'll have to get off the fossil fuels shortly after mid century, basically between 2050 and 2080. The "Paris Agreement", as its being called, sets the target of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or even 1.5 degrees. Those are seen as hugely ambitious goals. The second one, 1.5, would never have been on the table before these talks. I think there's a lot of momentum coming out of this process that could carry through boardrooms and heads of state around the world to try to implement these sorts of changes. I think

what remains to be seen is whether this international agreement can come to the national level and will seed policies in the United States, in China, in India, whether we'll actually see those change enough to meet the ambitious targets.

What the countries have put on the table to date would end up increasing warming to about 3 Degrees Celsius over industrial levels. So, you know, we're not there yet, but I think many people have a lot of hope that after this agreement we're seeing a new era in the fight against climate change and more renewable energy.

John Sutter, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Steven Hearst is senior attorney with the Sierra Club International Climate Program. He joins us on Skype from Oakland, California. Steven, thank you for joining us. What's your view of this agreement; is it a good deal?

STEVEN HEARST, ATTORNEY, SIERRA CLUB INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE PROGRAM: It is a good deal. I think it's actually a historic transformation deal. What we've seen is that countries of the world have unanimously approved the most ambitious climate agreements ever. I think it's ambitious in two really important ways. First, it's ambitious in terms to its breadth. It includes all countries, and all of them have committed to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions. And it's also really ambitious in terms of its scope. So the countries have agreed on a target that will require the world to get to zero net greenhouse gas emissions sometime in the second half of this century. So in practice, what that means is sometime after 2050 the world is going to get off fossil fuels entirely and we're going to have to start that really quickly. So those countries have --

SESAY: Steven -

HEARST: Sorry.

SESAY: It's all right. I didn't mean to cut you off, but I wanted to say, as you're well aware there is some criticism that though the countries are signing onto reduce emissions that the caps on emissions are rather loose and the point has been made that not all of the agreement is legally binding. So some people are still asking how much will this really change.

HEARST: It changes a lot because it sets a really strong long-term vision. Now, it is true that countries will have to come forward with plans to tell the world what they're going to do, and that the first round of plans are not enough to put us on the trajectory toward that long-term outcome, but one of the other key parts of the deal is that they've created a process in which countries will come back every five years and strengthen their national plans and targets. So they've created a mechanism by which, over time, countries can reach the strong target that they set in the Agreement.

SESAY: What does this deal mean for businesses and investors?

HEARST: It sends a really powerful signal to the private sector and particularly to the investment community because whereas before long- term investments in high carbon infrastructure may have seemed like a good deal, now it's going to seem increasingly risky, because countries have agreed that they will put the policies in place that will make those investments less profitable and will phase them out over time. So it's going to really cause a sea change in the way long-term investors think about what is risky and what is safe.

We're going to see this Agreement and the policies it drives create a strong shift toward renewable energy and less emitting investments in all sectors of the economy.

SESAY: Steven, many scientists are saying, you know, those that support the deal say it's a good deal; it's a historic deal and turning point, as you said, but it is not enough to solve the issue of climate change. So what else needs to be done, in addition to this deal?

HEARST: Yes, no international treaty, by itself, is going to be enough. What really matters is what takes place in countries, in cities, in states. We need policy makers at all levels of government to put the proper policies in place that will allow emission reductions to come down so we can achieve the targets in the agreement. We also have to see the kinds of shifts from the private sector that I was talking about, in terms of business decisions and investments. Like I said, I think this is a great start. It's a huge first step, but we're going to actually have to see the policies and the decisions that are necessary to meet those targets come into play. SESAY: Steven Hearst, senior attorney with the Sierra Club's International Climate Program; thank you so much for sharing your incite and perspective. Much appreciated.

HEARST: Thank you for having me; thank you.

SESAY: Next on CNN NEWSROOM, a new report indicates important information was missed during the background check of one of the San Bernardino shooters; and Donald Trump is going after a rising candidate after his lead slips in a key nominating state; just stay with us.

[00:14:34:00]

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SESAY: Hello, everyone. There are new reports about what U.S. Immigration officials may have missed when they did background checks on the woman who would become one of the San Bernardino shooters. Meanwhile the FBI and California authorities are continuing to track the digital footprints of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik.

Ana Cabrera has all the details.

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ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a makeshift memorial that's been set up near the shooting scene, honoring the 14 people who lost their lives; many of them have been laid to rest, with funerals continuing throughout the weekend.

As the community moves forward and tries to heal the investigation also continues. Over the weekend, investigators wrapped up a search of a nearby murky lake, and we've now learned that their search yielded no evidence that was connected to this case. But investigators have not given up on finding that missing hard drive, that could have more of the couple's digital footprint and now they'll work on accessing some of the data that's on that missing hard drive, by working with internet providers who have kept records of internet activity that could be linked to the IP address connected to those killers. That online communication could be key in this investigation.

"The New York Times" now reporting that Tashfeen Malik, the female killer, was talking openly about violent jihad on social media prior to even coming into the United States. They're citing law enforcement sources here in the U.S. who say that the social media posts she made talked about supporting violent jihad, that she supported it and wanted

[00:20:00:00]

to participate in it and yet she made it through three background checks, prior to getting her fiance visa, without social media being looked at. It just was not part of the background screening process, we've learned from U.S. officials. Now, since that time, in the past few months, officials have begun looking at social media communication when it comes to visa applicants from particular countries but that was not the case with Tashfeen Malik when she came to the U.S. in July 2014. President Obama, since the shooting, has ordered a thorough review of that fiance visa application process.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, San Bernardino, California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: (HEADLINES) A new top contender is emerging in the Republican race for the White House. Two new polls show Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump in Iowa. A Fox News survey released Sunday shows Cruz with 28- percent support to Trump's 26-percent. It comes one day after "Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics" poll showed Cruz with 31-percent backing from likely Republican voters, ten points ahead of Trump.

Well, Cruz and Trump will face off in less than 48 hours at the last Republican Debate this year. CNN is hosting the event at Venetian Theater in Las Vegas. CNN's Athena Jones tells us about the other players in this behind the scenes look.

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ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm coming to you from the Venetian Theater, right here on the Las Vegas Strip. This is where it will go down on Tuesday night and we're in the middle of rehearsals right now, but you can see here, the main stage has been set. We now know the nine candidates to make the cut for the prime time debate. They are, in order: John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul. Trump is center stage, once again. He is still the front-runner nationally, but his front-runner status is being challenged by Cruz in the state of Iowa; three new polls now showing the Texas Senator leading there.

Now, CNN Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash, along with Salem Radio's Hugh Hewett, are spending a lot of time over the next several days in the cone of silence, finalizing debate questions for this huge production. There will be 17 cameras and an invite only audience of about 1400 people filling this theater on Tuesday night. Of course, this will be the last debate of the year, the last chance for these candidates to make a strong impression with voters heading into the holiday season. Millions will be watching. So the big questions, will Donald Trump attack Ted Cruz? Will Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz get into it? Will Ben Carson and Jeb Bush and others have breakout performances that can boost their poll numbers? We'll be watching to see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Yes, we will. Well now that the competition is heating up, Donald Trump is wasting no time in going after Cruz. Trump talked to CNN's Jake Tapper about the growing rivalry.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": Why should voters go for you over Ted Cruz?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because I'm more capable; because I have a much better temperament; because I actually get along with people much better than he does. You know, people don't know that about me. I actually have a great relationship with people. In fact, I was criticized at the beginning because I get along with democrats and liberals and republicans and conservatives. I get along with everybody.

TAPPER: And he doesn't?

TRUMP: Because as a world class businessman, that's what you have to do. No, I don't think he does, and I like him. He's been so nice to me. I mean, I could say anything and he said I agree, I agree.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But I think the time will come to an end pretty soon, it sounds like.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the reason why a lot of republican leaders are - say they're expressing such anxiousness these days, and that's your call on Monday for a "total and complete shut down of Muslims entering the U.S." There is now some polling information. You cite polls all the time. You say what can you go by if not the polls. A majority of Americans, 58-percent, reject this call; reject this proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Now I know your supporters agree with you, but this is a poll of the American people at large.

TRUMP: Jake, I didn't do it for polls, so I don't even care what the polls say. I didn't do it for polls. Now, my polls happen to have gone up a lot since this announcement. A lot of people thought it would go down. I didn't do it for that reason but, with that being understood, when you're getting a phone call from a polling agency, and they're saying, well, you support, you know, the banning of Muslims, etc., do you think they're going to say -- who's going to say yes? I don't think the polls are accurate.

At the same time I have many friends that are Muslims and I will tell you they are so happy that I did this, because they know they have a problem. There is a problem.

[00:25:00] TAPPER: Your Muslim friends are happy?

TRUMP: Radicalized -- I have many friends at the highest level, and they're great friends. I have partners that are Muslim. I have unbelievable relationships --

TAPPER: And they support a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.?

TRUMP: They said -- no. They said it's about time that somebody spoke up, as to radicalism. You have radicalism in this country. It's here, and it's trying to come through. I just read where ISIS has gotten a hold of a passport printing machine for the migrants to get them into the United States. Now maybe it's true, maybe it's not; it's an early report, but how crazy are we allowing ourselves to be subject to this kind of terror?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well CNN's coverage of the Republican Debate starts Wednesday morning at 7:00 in Hong Kong; that's 8:00 in Tokyo. If that's early for you, tune in to the replay Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, 8:00 p.m. in Tokyo, right here on CNN.

Time for a quick break. The central Philippines are on red alert with Typhoon Melor moving in. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated. We'll tell you why this storm is so concerning, just ahead.

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You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, Live from Los Angeles; I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour:

(HEADLINES)

[00:30:00] SESAY: A typhoon is heading straight for the central Philippines right now. The storm is expected to make land fall in the coming hours, at the southeastern tip of the main island, of Luzon. The winds are equivalent to a category three hurricane, 205 kilometers per hour. More than 700,000 people have been evacuated.

Our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, joins us now from CNN Center with much more. Pedram, what's the latest?

JAVAHERI: Yes, the storm system right now is trekking on the northern side of Samar. Take a look at this incredible satellite presentation of this storm. You can easily pick out the center of the storm, literally riding and going right across northern fringe of Samar. We're concerned about this because we know the population density here is quite high. In fact, take a look at the presentation, as far as population density. We want to zoom in across the archipelago, the Philippines. Here is the area of interest, right there. This is the storm, as we speak. The areas indicated in the light orange shading, pretty much widespread over this region, you can see in the banner, the top of the screen, we're talking at least 100 people per square kilometer, and plenty of that stretched across this region. We think the storm system will push into the San Bernardino straight, eventually, it will be on sea, and eventually beyond that, pushes off into the South China Sea. But, beyond that, we think one land fall ahead of it, potentially, two, three, four, before it exits the picture so a lot of activity left with this storm system before we're talking about quieter conditions left in place over this region.

Again, here's what we're looking at: a storm that has sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour, gusting well over 250 kilometers per hour. The one part of good news associated with this is that it's moving very quickly to the west at 20 kilometers per hour. Now take a look at this, the storm, I measured it, the length of this, from the cloud field perspective, is only 600 kilometers across. You put this down over Europe, for example, it's only the size of France. You see storms as large as the entire continent before, but, of course, this is very tightly packed, very strong near the center and we think this will eventually push out in the next 24 to 48 hours; multiple landfalls.

Another concern here is the heavy rainfall associated with it. Sometime later on this evening, into tomorrow morning, the heavy rains could be accumulating on the order of half a meter across southern portions of Luzon before this system is done with and that's a primary concern.

Climatologically speaking, not a surprise because you take a look at this, there's no dry season, indicated in purple right on the immediate coast. No dry season on the eastern side of the Visiaz (ps) and Luzon as well. Very wet from December through February. So, the rains are beginning in earnest and we think they will continue. Also, the storm surge associated with this. Some areas, Isha, could see three to four meters of storm surge, and we know what that has done in the past, when it comes to damage relating to storm surge. So something we're watching very carefully here.

SESAY: Yes, very, very troubling. We'll continue to follow closely. Pedram, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

SESAY: All right, so we'll continue to track Typhoon Melor for you, but in the meantime it's also been a rough start to the week, stocks in the Asia pacific region. I want to show you how they're fairing right now. As you can see, they're on your screens. The ASX, Nikkei and Hang Seng are all down at the moment.

Let's bring in CNN Money's, Sophia Yan, who joins us now live from Hong Kong, with more on this. Sophia, good to have you with us. Where do we stand today with markets in Asia; what's going on?

SOPHIA YAN, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're definitely seeing everything in the red. Markets are trending lower today led by Japan. It's more than a 2-percent fall, and that comes on the back of a rather dismal week last week in the United States and it's setting us up for a lower open in Europe. Now, global energy stocks are also suffering on the back of oil prices falling. Oil prices at about $35 a barrel; that's nearly half of what it used to be, in mid-2014 when they started to fall. This is coming ahead of a major decision expected out of the U.S. on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve is expected to announce that it will raise interest rates.

SESAY: Sophia, let me ask you this: what's going on the global impact once the Fed makes its expected announcement to raise interest rates?

YAH: Right, well, markets have been quite volatile all year. Investors have been expecting that the Fed would announce this at some point in 2015. So going forward, raising interest rates, this is actually seen, perhaps, as a vote of confidence in the global economy. The Fed hasn't done this in nearly a decade. So during the financial crisis, instead, it was lowering interest rates, in 2008-2009 as a way to get consumers to borrow and spend more to boost the economy. So this is largely seen as, perhaps, a thumbs up, and we might actually see a relief rally for some time after the decision.

But any sort of upturn like that is likely to be short-lived. There are still plenty of signs that the global economy is suffering, most notably over the summer when china led a global markets rout.

SESAY: Turbulent times for the global economy. Sophia Yan, joining us there from Hong Kong, appreciate it; thank you.

All right, well, turning to Syria, a group of high level diplomats say the warring factions in Libya will sign a unity agreement by this coming Wednesday. The deal is a combination of talks by representatives from 17 countries, led by Italy and the united states. It calls for an immediate cease fire and threatens to cut off contacts with factions that don't sign on. U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, says a unified government is important for fighting the growing threat of ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot allow the status quo in Libya to continue. it is dangerous for the viability of Libya. It is dangerous for Libyans, and now, because of the increased presence of Daesh, purposefully migrating there, it is dangerous for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Libya dissolved into civil war back in the 2011 Arab spring after the ousting of leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The new "Star Wars" premiers right here in L.A. in less than 24 hours. I got to sit down with the director J. J. Abrams ahead of the big launch. Our whole conversation, next.

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("STAR WARS" MOVIE TRAILER PLAYS)

SESAY: All of it, including what may seem too good to be true for "Star Wars" fans everywhere. "The Force Awakens" premiers Monday night, here in L.A., now less than 24 hours away. I'll be there to bring you the stars, the fans, and all of the excitement from the Red Carpet. The excitement, well, that is building the closer we get to the much anticipated new chapter.

I sat down with the director, J. J. Abrams, who told me what it was like to be entrusted with continuing the storied franchise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

("STAR WARS" MOVIE CLIP PLAYS)

SESAY: You've said that you were inheriting the "Star Wars" legacy. I also know you are one of the legions of super fans of the films. I'm wondering how with that, that pressure, that love of the films themselves, how you even begin the process of imagining a new chapter.

J. J. ABRAMS, DIRECTOR, "STAR WARS, THE FORCE AWAKENS": Well, first of all, I had to put my being a fan aside somewhat, because that wasn't the job, you know? I couldn't just be a cheer leader for this thing. it had to be storytelling and working with Lawrence Kasdan in writing the script, we didn't just talk about the continuum of where things may have gone and what may have happened to some of the characters that people know, but also why do we want to tell the story now? What makes it relevant? What's the point? So in talking about it from the most basic point of view, not just as a "Star Wars" movie, but this is a story about a young woman who - this is a story about young man who - just talking about the story was the thing that we need to do, to tell a story that was worth telling and not just a nostalgia trip.

SESAY: An incredibly diverse cast. Something you deliberately set out to do?

ABRAMS: I knew when we were writing it that I wanted this movie to look more the way the world looks than not, but we didn't write any of the characters with that in mind. We just wrote the story. We didn't know when we were casting it, who would look like what. We just started to cast the movie.

("STAR WARS" MOVIE CLIP PLAYS)

SESAY: But then you have the added dimension of blending the old with the new --

ABRAMS: Yes.

SESAY: -- and seeing how that chemistry works.

ABRAMS: Which, if it didn't work well, would have been a disaster. I mean, you know, you have these actors like Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill and people who are, obviously, just wonderful and established in this iconic way, and then you've got these absolute unknowns who are stepping in and it wasn't clear what that

alchemy would result in and what was so lucky was, to a person they were supportive of each other. There was no weird resentment or kind of trying to edge out someone. They were all there to kind of raise each other up, and that was sort of a beautiful thing to watch.

SESAY: Are you worried about the numbers, the box office numbers? Is it something you're concerned with? All the projections are this is going to blow box office totals out of the water. Is that something you care about that?

ABRAMS: The success, for me, is just going to be if people go and like the film, and if kids go and see themselves in the movie and people feel better when they leave the theater than when they got there, and the numbers are the numbers.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SESAY: I'm so excited. I cannot wait to see this. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, Live from Los Angeles.

I'm Isha Sesay; I'll be back at the top of the hour with a look at the day's top stories, but first, "WORLD SPORTS" starts after the break.

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