On Friday, the entire planet goes to a galaxy far, far away for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Reviews are embargoed until tomorrow, but even then, spoilers are going to be under lock and key as long as possible. There are many questions that are waiting to be answered, but what’s becoming clear is that while everyone is wondering about Rey’s parents, it’s actually not such a big deal to Rian Johnson. It’s not knowing who they are that matters, but how it relates to the character herself.
“What does it mean to her, what does it mean to us,” he told Rolling Stone. “I really, really believe that it has to be rooted in something that has an emotional impact, and that’s the only thing that matters. Surprise is fine, but surprise by itself is cheap. The emotional and deeply-rooted resonance of ‘I am your father’ [in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’] is why we remember it. Not because, ‘Oh my god, I never would have guess that he was.’ Now especially that that’s set as a pattern, the audience’s expectations are now that, ‘Oh, you’re going to pull something out of your hat for this or that.’ And you can, and that’ll be fine, but you better damn well make sure that it also means something and is satisfying beyond just the, ‘Oh, it was this,’ reveal.”
It’s a terrific observation by Johnson, but even so, he admits that the brief flashback to Rey’s past in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is something he paid close attention to….which means you might want to give that another spin before ‘The Last Jedi.’
“I love ‘The Force Awakens,’ and my job was to continue that story in every sense of the word,” he explained. “So in that way, J.J. [Abrams] gave me everything I needed, which is the first chapter of a story. I need to tell a second chapter, which is a failure if it doesn’t continue organically what the first chapter started. So what seems like a blue sky suddenly turns into hacking in the jungle, finding a path that exists. Just like any process of writing, it’s more excavation than sculpture. You’re finding it as you go, and you realize it wants to be a certain thing. So yeah, the flashback was essential, but the dynamic between each of the characters was essential. Every single thing in ‘The Force Awakens,’ I studied forensically.”
Tantalizing stuff. May the force be with you this weekend.