Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J J Abrams talks about Episode VIII director Rian Johnson!

The original Star Wars trilogy, though masterminded by creator George Lucas, was the work of three very different directors. While Lucas may have directed Episode IV: A New Hope, its two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were directed by Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand, repsectively. Kershser, whose other movies included James Bonds Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2, brought a mature, darker vision to the Empire Strikes Back while Marquand, whose other movies included Eye of the Needle and Jagged Edge, brought a sense of scale, humor and adventure to Return of the Jedi.

Unfortunately the three movies that make up the Star Wars prequel trilogy were all directed by Lucas. While Lucas may be the creator of Stars Wars, it is through the eyes of others that the franchise flourished into the legend it has become. This is a formula that Disney and Lucasfilm are keen to recreate with each proposed Star Wars movie to be released between now and 2020 to be directed by a different director. The first instalment of the sequel trilogy; The Force Awakens is directed by J.J. Abrams, with episodes VIII and IX to be directed by Rian Johnson (Looper) and Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), with Gareth Edwards handing the directing duties of the first non-episodic Star Wars movie; Rogue One.

While using different directors for each movie may help to recreate some of the magic of the original trilogy, Disney and Lucasfilm need to ensure that integrity of the franchise and its mythos remains intact. To this end Disney and Lucasfilm have already officially announced that any events depicted in the "Extended Universe", such as novel and cartoon adaptations (with the exception of Star Wars Rebels), are no longer considered to be "Canon" to the Star Wars Saga. Complete transparency between the directors, to ensure narrative threads and central themes are continued is another necessity required if Disney and Lucasfilm hope to recreate a glimmer of the awe of the original franchise. Thankfully, according to Abrams this is definitely the case between himself and Johnson...

“The script for VIII is written. I’m sure rewrites are going to be endless, like they always are. But what Larry (Kasdan) and I did was set up certain key relationships, certain key questions, conflicts. And we knew where certain things were going. We had meetings with Rian and Ram Bergman, the producer of VIII. They were watching dailies when we were shooting our movie. We wanted them to be part of the process, to make the transition to their film as seamless as possible. I showed Rian an early cut of the movie, because I knew he was doing his rewrite and prepping. And as executive producer of VIII, I need that movie to be really good. Withholding serves no one and certainly not the fans. So we’ve been as transparent as possible.

“Rian has asked for a couple of things here and there that he needs for his story. He is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker and an incredibly strong writer. So the story he told took what we were doing and went in the direction that he felt was best, but that is very much in line with what we were thinking as well. But you’re right—that will be his movie; he’s going to do it in the way he sees fit. He’s neither asking for nor does he need me to oversee the process.”

 

Thanks to Wired for the news!