A deep dive into ‘The Last Jedi’
‘The Director and the Jedi’ goes behind the scenes of the eighth episode of ‘Star Wars.’
A new feature-length documentary goes behind the curtains on the eighth “Star Wars” installment.
AUSTIN, Texas — Four years ago, he walked into a meeting with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, then looking for new blood to helm the eighth “Star Wars” film, and embarked on a career-changing journey into a galaxy far, far away.
Now — many, many porgs later — Rian Johnson can finally exhale.
“What could possibly be left to talk about at this point?” quipped the “Last Jedi” writer-director, a playful smile on his face as he and producer Ram Bergman sat for a chat at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, during the very last leg of their “Last Jedi” press rounds.
It’s a bittersweet feeling, said Johnson.
“The past month I do find myself waking up with a strange sense of emptiness,” he said, with a smile. “I think it’s mostly just having had a purpose for the past four years, having this singular goal, and now it’s immediate — like, the bus stops, but you don’t. It’s actually over. It’s very strange.”
What brought the “Star Wars” bus to Texas was the premiere of the featurelength making-of documentary “The Director and the Jedi,” which premiered at the festival and is a bonus feature highlight of the film’s recent home video release.
Four months ago, Johnson and Bergman were riding a Kessel Run of emotions as “Last Jedi” premiered to rapturous acclaim at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium, only to spark an online backlash from cranky fans over the bold new directions in which Johnson’s episode takes the 40-year-old franchise.
Soon enough, Johnson’s installment broke records on its way to becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time. And there have been smaller, poignant moments along the way that left their mark.
“Hearing that kids were into it, just from friends, especially small kids.… I was holding my breath. Are kids just not going to be into this?” Johnson said. “Seeing kids seem to really react to the movie made me really happy.”
Budding thespians
“Seeing my 4-year-old and my 7-year-old reenacting the throne room scene, killing Snoke over and over and over for weeks, and Luke throwing the saber — it was worth it just for that,” added Bergman, who has collaborated with Johnson since the director’s debut, “Brick.”
Of course, helming the $200-million-budgeted eighth “episode” in a beloved pop culture series — across multiple countries, over a sprawling five-month production — was not without challenges.
Many of them were captured by the crew of “Director and the Jedi” who spent intensive hours chronicling every inch of Johnson’s process. A fraction of the resulting footage was then edited into the documentary.
From the moments Johnson and Bergman begin prep on the biggest production of their careers to the exhausted, elated final days of filming, the documentary shines intimate light on behind-the-scenes processes.
Like kids in a sandbox, Johnson and Bergman delight in introducing new ideas, sometimes with subtle forcefulness, gently urging veteran department heads to think outside the box on costuming, casting, design.
But some of Johnson’s radical concepts don’t fly so well: for instance, his decision to make Luke Skywalker the reluctant ObiWan of the new trilogy, a disillusioned rebel hero who has renounced the Jedi way and only begrudgingly comes to mentor young heroine Rey (Daisy Ridley).
Johnson reflected candidly on the creative frictions he had with Mark Hamill over Luke’s fate.
“It was definitely a thread throughout [making the film], and it was a conversation with Mark throughout the whole thing,” he said.
“We talked about it, we thought through it, we butted heads about it.… we did all the stuff that you always do with an actor with a part — even more so because it’s Mark Hamill and it’s about Luke Skywalker, and because it was such a big decision — the way that his character went in the movie.
“I feel like it maybe comes across as if that’s what our relationship was the whole time, but it wasn’t,” he added. “Even when we were having conflict about it, it was constructive in terms of me having to articulate why I made the choices I made. I do think that comes across in the doc. It’s an aspect of the story line of the making of this movie.”
Final glimpses
If “The Director and the Jedi” is like a high school yearbook chronicling the four years Johnson and company spent making “The Last Jedi,” its heart belongs to its homecoming princess. Among its most emotional moments are on-set glimpses and interviews with the late Carrie Fisher, who is seen performing her memorable scenes with Hamill as Luke and with Laura Dern as Adm. Holdo.
Watching those moments again in the documentary brought both Johnson and Bergman to tears.
“The first time I saw the cut, I said, ‘Rian, you need to see this — you’re going to cry,’ ” said Bergman.
Johnson became mistyeyed again watching the film with a crowd at SXSW. “In the screening, I lost it. Just seeing the footage that raw, and seeing her… there’s a lot there. I’m happy that fans will have it.”
Johnson said the initial idea of being followed around by cameras as his every creative decision and process was documented was a little daunting. But he remembered two making-of documentaries that had huge influences on him as a child.
“One was for ‘Return of the Jedi’ about Jabba’s palace and all the creature work, and the other one was about ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ focusing largely on the truck chase. I remember the impact that had on me. So I thought, ‘God, if we’re going to get one shot at making a “Star Wars” movie, let’s take this step and lift the curtain.’ ”
Meanwhile, as their “Last Jedi” tour ends, the duo find themselves back at the beginning: brainstorming ideas for the new “Star Wars” trilogy Johnson is writing and directing for Lucasfilm.
“It’s fun because it’s kind of thinking, ‘OK, outside of the Skywalker story and outside of the recognizable iconography, what is this? What is “Star Wars”? Or what do we need to retain from that, to pull forward for it to still be “Star Wars” — and what can we leave behind?’ ” Johnson explained.
Lucasfilm seems open to shaking up the “Star Wars” universe, Johnson said.
“We need some directors who aren’t white dudes,” he said emphatically in spite of Lucasfilm’s track record of hiring only white male directors. “And [Kennedy] knows it too. It just has to happen. I mean, come on. It has to happen.”
He’s optimistic about the company’s willingness to push the established boundaries of its legacy franchise both onscreen and off.
“Quite the contrary. I feel like Disney and Lucasfilm and Kathy are actively looking for filmmakers and voices that are going to push it forward because they know that’s the only way it can stay alive.”