Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi follow below.
The podcastThe Director’s Cut, which basically just showcases recordings of the Q&A’s between directors at the DGA theater, is a treasure trove of great conversation, and a new episode is particularly of note. Now available is a 20-minute discussion betweenRian JohnsonandSpike JonzeaboutStar Wars: The Last Jedi, with the two diving deep on theForce Awakenssequel. What makes these interviews unique is that it’s a fellow director asking the questions, so the conversations can sometimes get gloriously technical or dive into areas that aren’t generally broached in your typical interview setting.
In this interview, Jonze is returning the favor as Johnson moderated a discussion about Jonze’s masterful 2013 filmHer. Here, Johnson talks about hisStar Warsfandom growing up—whatStar Warsmeant to him as a kid and how that manifested in his approach toThe Last Jedi. Johnson also talks about his early days on the project, and how we was unsure how much creative freedom he’d be given on not just aStar Warsmovie, but his first major studio movie ever. He also discusses the process of coming onto a sequel that didn’t even have an outline, writing the film based on the script forThe Force Awakens:
“This was more like a baton handoff. And first of all that seemed crazy to me, coming into it I was like, ‘Wow really?’ And then as I got into it and started working it was like, ‘Oh thank God,’ because as opposed to just tagging bases, it meant that I could honestly react to what I felt fromThe Force Awakensand those characters, and find the path forward that felt honest to me and felt real, and that led to some surprising places we might not have gotten to if the whole thing was drawn out… [J.J. AbramsandLawrence Kasdan] had nothing they dictated to me, no, they were really gracious in kind of leaving it open.”
Johnson says he was never given a packet of answers to the questions Abrams set up inThe Force Awakens, and reiterated that he wrote the script before that movie came out, so he wasn’t crafting his story while audiences were responding to (and creating fan theories for) certain aspects of that film.
But this also goes both ways. For the handoff to Abrams forEpisode IX, Johnson says he recently sat down with the filmmaker and discussed where he left off inThe Last Jedi, but that movie is all up to Abrams:
“J.J. andChris Terrioare writing right now the third movie and it’s a similar thing. I sat down, similar to the way I sat down with J.J. at the beginning of this process, but it’s just like a talk. We had lunch and it was just like, ‘Here’s where I thought I brought it to, here’s kind of the things I think I set up,’ but then it’s the baton handoff and I turn back into an audience member, and it’s kind of exciting.”
Johnson also talks about watching dailies forThe Force Awakenswhile writing the script and digs deep on theme. Basically the full conversation offers some fascinating insight into one of the biggest (and best) films of 2017. Listen below, and definitely check out backlogged episodes of The Director’s Cut for more insightful conversations about filmmaking.
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