Rian Johnson finds himself in a bit of a pickle, right now. You see, the man who directed the most debated film of 2017, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” has already agreed to be involved with a brand-new “Star Wars” trilogy for Lucasfilm. That’s a massive endeavor, obviously, and will require a lot of his time. However, according to a new interview with the Standard, Johnson says that the future of that project, as far as scheduling is concerned, is up in the air, giving the filmmaker an uncertain schedule and affording him the opportunity to work on other things, such as the upcoming film “Knives Out.”
“The truth is [Lucasfilm is] still figuring out their schedule, their game plan, so if it’s possible for me to squeeze in another film before or while working on that, I will,” he said.
For many film fans, the idea that Johnson can “squeeze in” another film, similar to “Knives Out” or another original idea, before being sucked into the Lucasfilm blackhole for the next decade is great. Because if he’s able to pump out a film the same caliber as “Knives Out” in between his big-budget space fantasy films, then who wouldn’t be happy for that?
Of course, there are others that view the uncertainty around Johnson’s “Star Wars” future as good for another reason entirely. Those folks view the director as the man who single-handedly (or with the help of Kathleen Kennedy) derailed “Star Wars” and ruined the franchise moving forward. Obviously, those people are never going to be happy with Johnson being attached to anything “Star Wars” related and have not held back voicing their opinions on social media.
And according to the filmmaker, it’s that polarization that influenced the story he wanted to tell in “Knives Out.”
“All of us, we’re caught up in this swirling mass of anger,” Johnson said. “That polarization, which is so much a part of 2019, that’s what I wanted to put on screen, so we can laugh at it.”
Based on early reviews, it would appear that the filmmaker succeeded in doing everything he set out to accomplish with “Knives Out.” The film currently holds a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on almost 60 reviews.
Fans will be able to judge for themselves when “Knives Out” arrives in theaters on November 27.