When it comes to being the target of a social media storm, few have suffered as brutal a digital flagellation as filmmaker Rian Johnson in the wake of the release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”.
Yet the filmmaker took it in stride, staying even-tempered and never lashing out at genuine criticisms from the kinds of fans who actually offered it (though he did have fun with the trolls).
Johnson could walk away from the franchise, but he tells The New Yorker in a new interview that he would happily return. Asked if he still gets excited while watching anything “Star Wars” related, he says:
“Oh, f— yeah. Yeah. My God. Yeah. In terms of that, I think I love ‘Star Wars’ even more now. I think what actually frustrates me is people’s perception that I had a negative experience somehow or people’s perception that it was somehow a traumatic experience or something. The reality is that it was a completely joyful experience even through the back end of it, the past few years, the reception of it.”
Five years on since that film’s release, and “Star Wars” finds itself in a different place. A subsequent sequel by J.J. Abrams met a far more negative reception, whilst two spin-off films and several subsequent TV series have yielded a variety of reactions.
“The Last Jedi” controversy looks almost quaint in comparison – a film that broke out of a certain formula for “Star Wars” films to offer a new creative direction and genuine visual splendour, even as criticisms were lobbed at some storytelling and character choices that to some of the fandom came off as a betrayal.
It began a debate in pop culture over “Star Wars” that has become even more fired up in recent weeks with the release of “Andor,” another auteur-driven “Star Wars” property that goes against the heavy fan service formula of the prior Disney+ “Star Wars” series to offer a deliberately paced, smart drama with well-trodden character beats and storytelling.
Asked if fan complaints ever got to him, Johnson responded that they did not:
“No. And, when I read what those people were actually saying, I was, like, ‘Oh, I completely disagree with this.’ They’re wrong. For me. Everybody can like whatever they want and not like what they want. And ‘Star Wars’ fans, in particular — growing up as one, arguing about other people’s opinions being wrong is sort of the bread and butter of it all. I didn’t feel crushed. Like, ‘Oh, no, I didn’t make a real ‘Star Wars’ movie.’ I felt, like, ‘No, I did.'”
Johnson returns to cinemas with this week’s theatrical release of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” on November 23rd ahead of the film’s Netflix debut on December 23rd.
