2017’s Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi was a box office smash, bringing in more than $1.3 billion at the box office, but it’s also remembered for being a divisive entry in the sci-fi series. Director Rian Johnson has commented further about the film, saying he is “even more proud” of it now, five years later.
“When I was up at bat, I really swung at the ball,” Johnson told Empire. “I think it’s impossible for any of us to approach Star Wars without thinking about it as a myth that we were raised with, and how that myth, that story, baked itself into us and affected us.”
The filmmaker went on to say that his “ultimate intent” with The Last Jedi was not to strip away anything important about Star Wars, but to dig down into the “basic, fundamental power of myth.”
“Ultimately I hope the film is an affirmation of the power of the myth of Star Wars in our lives,” he said.
Some fans took issue with Luke Skywalker’s death at the end of The Last Jedi, but Johnson believes sending him off in that manner was more about building the myth of Luke Skywalker and not deconstructing it. The final images in The Last Jedi are about Luke “defying the notion of, ‘Throw away the past,’ and embracing what actually matters about his myth and what’s going to inspire the next generation,” Johnson said. He added, “So for me, the process of stripping away is always in the interest of getting to something essential that really matters.”
Johnson is working on new Star Wars trilogy, but it’s rumored to be on the backburner for now. The next Star Wars movie to come is the new film from Taika Waititi, followed by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins’ new Rogue Squadron film. Waititi’s new Star Wars movie will be released in late 2023.
As for Johnson, his next film is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which comes to theaters and Netflix later this year.
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