Star Wars: Rian Johnson Says Writing The Opening Crawl For The Last Jedi Was Like Writing A Haiku

Rian Johnson is under a lot of pressure to deliver the follow-up to J.J. Abrams Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he's started his work on promoting the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Like a lot of other traditional Star Wars films, the movie has an opening crawl, and Johnson talks about how he wrote the one for his film, and the tip that he got from George Lucas.

Speaking to the LA Times, Johnson explained:

"That was petri… Actually, you know, I just did it. I just started writing the draft. I wrote something, and it was terrible. And then I was watching one of the behind-the-scenes things and Lucas said, ‘It's like writing a haiku.' … I realized as I was refining it what he meant. We didn't finish the opening crawl and totally lock it until a few weeks ago actually. Because you're like, ‘Do we need this word, do we need that word, what if we shift.' It's like a poem, there's very little room for error in trying to get it just right. Which is awesome, it's really fun."

He did give one teaser for the Last Jedi crawl, and says that "decimated" is part of it. My best guess is that it could be talking about Starkiller base from the last movie, but it could also be about Kylo Ren and his destruction of the new Jedi Academy.

As a news reporter, part of me is hopeful that The Last Jedi is able to keep its secrets. I mean, I am a huge Star Wars fan, and the last thing I want is to spoil the movie for myself. Good job at that Lucasfilm!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes out Dec. 15.

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