You have to feel for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams. I know what you're thinking, "why should we feel bad for a rich, white male who has directed Star Wars and Star Trek movies?" but when you consider how many times he has been asked about The Last Jedi and how it affects this movie, one can't help but feel annoyed for him. To his credit, Abrams has taken these questions well and always gives thoughtful answers, including this one.
When he was asked by Esquire about The Rise of Skywalker and the impact that The Last Jedi had on it, Abrams revealed that it didn't hurt his film whatsoever and even gave him more things to work with. He was also surprised to see Rian Johnson take so many risks with his script, which is something Abrams enjoyed, or so he says.
Here is what Abrams told Esquire about The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker:
"There were some choices that made things a bit more fun for us, because, for example, Rian didn't have the whole group collaborative adventure of it together, and that was really fun to get to tell the story of the group, the droids, out on one breakneck, crazy, desperate adventure. You know? The choices that he made for me were as a fan, as a reader of the script, a fan of his, a fan of Star Wars... it was just fun to read someone's take that was so about surprising the viewer and it was just really entertaining, because it was, it got to surprise me nearly every time. So, I loved it for that."
Yes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a very divisive film and it's far from perfect but the fact that fans are so insistent about how it could "ruin" this trilogy is aggravating. Hopefully, The Rise of Skywalker ends up being more crowd-pleasing so fans won't have to bug J.J. Abrams all the time, like poor Rian Johnson.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is coming out on December 20.
Read:Colin Trevorrow is Donating His Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Earnings to Charity
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