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Rian Johnson On J.J. Abrams’ Reaction To His Pitch For Star Wars: The Last Jedi


Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Some Star Wars fans might not have felt all that comfortable with the changes that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has managed to bring to the franchise, but it sounds like J.J. Abrams certainly was excited by the filmmaker's decision to push the limits in everyone's favorite galaxy far, far away.

Sitting down to speak with Cinema Blend, Johnson opened up about the conversation he shared with The Force Awakens director after pitching the direction he wanted to take in The Last Jedi.

"He was into it. And I remember that I pitched him the story at the very beginning, and he had notes, but he wasn't like, ‘Oh my God, what the hell are you doing?' [Laughs] No, he was into it because I think he was into the storytelling. He's a great storyteller himself and he saw the potential of each one of these beats. I think he saw it for what we were going for, which is not… we weren't going for, ‘Let's subvert a Star Wars movie.' We were going for ‘Let's make a great Star Wars movie that has things in it that will push the limits of what we can do.'…

Johnson also spoke about how Abrams helped pave the way to the development of The Last Jedi.

"He was really gracious, in just stepping back and giving us a blank slate to work with. The starting point was The Force Awakens script, which is quite a big, expansive, wonderful starting point. In that way, we are drawing directly from his work. But from that point forward it was a blank canvas."

Now, fans can't help but wonder what Johnson might bring after The Last Jedi. The sequel trilogy installment successfully set the franchise toward a new direction without Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) or Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and it's exciting to wonder how Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Ren's (Adam Driver) story would end in Episode IX.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is currently screening in cinemas.

Read: Rian Johnson Gives Updates On The New Star Wars Trilogy

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