It’s safe to say many fans were not laughing after Star Wars Episode 8 hit cinemas. While there was understandable criticism that The Force Awakens simply repeated A New Hope, many unhappy fans blasted the apparent disregard for anything that came before in Johnson’s divisive Last Jedi. Abrams read the script and saw early footage long before most and had an equally powerful reaction.
Naturally, no Hollywood director, especially one still working within the same franchise, is going to say anything spectacularly derogatory.
Abrams has always maintained an equilibrium about what Johnson did to storylines and characters et up in Episofde7.
However, in a revealing new interview with Rolling Stone, he revealed more than before – especially regarding the shocking dismissal of Snoke and the controversial new direction for Luke.
The Force Awakens set up Snoke as a major figure with fans hugely excited to see what he would do. Being carelessly cut in half was not what most expected – or hoped for.
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Abrams said: “When I read his (Johnson’s) first draft, it made me laugh because I saw that was his take and his voice. I got to watch cuts of the movie as he was working on it, as an audience member.
“And I appreciated the choices he made as a filmmaker that would probably be very different from the choices that I would have made. Just as he would have made different choices if he had made Episode VII.”
This was also long before Abrams realised he would be brought back to finish the saga, but highlights the common frustration that Lucasfilm originally gave three very different directors total freedom over films that needed to form a cohesive trilogy.
The director told Rolling Stone: “I had a real sense with [Force Awakens co-screenwriter] Larry Kasdan about where things would go, potentially.
“And I think that, when I read Rian’s script, what I felt was that with everything that happens in that movie, and quite a lot does, nothing sort of obviated a sense of inevitability where I thought the story could go.”
Somehow, Abrams is sure he can still bring to a close storylines he set up in Episode 7. Sadly, without Snoke, of course.
All will be revealed in just a month from now…
ORIGINAL INTERVIEW IN ROLLING STONE