Rian Johnson addresses his new Star Wars (vaguely)

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is out and about and talking about his upcoming Star Wars trilogy at the Observer:

“I think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what’s exciting and then figure out what it’s going to be,” he said. “We’re doing something that steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky element of it is what was most striking about it. I know the way that I’m coming at it and what’s fun about it for everyone in Lucasfilm is figuring out, ‘what’s the next step?’ It really makes you think and figure out what the essence of Star Wars is for me and what that will look like moving forward.”

Johnson’s new movie Knives Out is debuting at September’s Toronto International Film Festival. No release date or production information for his next Star Wars film has been announced.

Rian Johnson is waiting for Episode IX (almost) just like everyone else

Rian Johnson, at CinemaCon for his next film, Knives Out, talked Star Wars briefly with MTV’s Josh Horowitz. He does admit he’s gotten the chance to talk with IX director J.J. Abrams a few times, but says that overall he’s just happy to be in the audience for this round.

(Of course he knows a lot more than any of us, but hey.)

He also taked about “chugging away” at his next Star Wars film and talked around the latest Benioff and Weiss rumor.

Rian Johnson didn’t drop his Star Wars trilogy

A rumor was circulating yesterday that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had dropped out of his upcoming standalone Star Wars trilogy, until Johnson himself chimed in. “No it isn’t true,” he tweeted late Wednesday night. “I’m still working on the trilogy. With all due respect to the movie bros, who I’m sure are lovely kind bros with good fraternal intentions.”

Johnson has been a frequent target of some less savory parts of the fandom who have been unusually irate about The Last Jedi.

The trilogy, which was announced before Jedi‘s release, has no release date, script, or cast yet, which isn’t particularly concerning: Lucasfilm hasn’t said much about any film projects beyond Episode IX. A second set of non-saga films is in the hands of Game of Thrones‘ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – rumor has it that at least one of theirs will go into production before Johnson’s.

Johnson is currently doing post-production on Knives Out, a murder mystery starring Daniel Craig.

Rumor: A Star Wars spinoff has been shelved, but it’s not one we’d heard of

In another wrinkle to yesterday’s big report that standalone films are being put on hold, Jason over at Making Star Wars says it was only one film – and it wasn’t something fans have heard about yet.

The genesis of the earlier report was prompted by studio space being canceled for a film based around the denizens of Mos Eisley, Jason says. I could also note that a Mos Eisley story could involve Boba Fett, but that’s probably my bias speaking, as Jason says both the Obi-wan and Fett films are likely safe.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm sources tell ABC that “multiple” films are still in development and that yesterday’s report is “inaccurate”, though they naturally decline to share any details about the (unannounced) projects in question.

A more interesting nugget is that up sometime after Episode IX will be a film from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which “be a little more grown up”, while Rian Johnson’s trilogy will be later, and more “all ages”. The timing is certainly something I find far more interesting here, but the tone concepts are more than we had before.

My own thoughts on this is that I wouldn’t expect a hard-R Star Wars film (though who can say), but perhaps PG-13 more along the lines of Revenge of the Sith, with Rian Johnson aiming for a more traditional PG or a softer PG-13 along the lines of what we’ve seen in the new trilogy so far.

Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill on The Last Jedi behind-the-scenes

Rian Johnson and (eventually) Mark Hamill showed up at SXSW for The Director and the Jedi, and you can watch their Q&A, or check out The Hollywood Reporter’s article, which highlights my favorite Rian Johnson quote re: Luke. (The post-screening Q&A is this way.)

If you’re waiting for the Blu-ray, here’s a few more clips: Luke’s struggle, above, plus Mark Hamill and Frank Oz reunite, Paige Tico and the bomber attack and the gorilla walkers. Meanwhile, also check out Mike Ryan’s observations on Johnson’s commentary.

StarWars.com has an interview with puppeteer Brian Herring, one of the BB-8 operators, who also worked with the porgs in The Last Jedi.

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