Disney Said Yes To Rian Johnson’s New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy With No Concrete Details

Rian Johnson is sitting in an elegant sitting room at the recently opened Intercontinental Hotel at Wilshire Grand Center, the latest and tallest edition to Los Angeles’ burgeoning skyline. We’re here to talk about “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the second chapter in Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios’ latest trilogy.  Of course, no one speaking to anyone has seen the movie. It’s being kept under lock and key until the first public screening on Saturday, Dec. 9. Normally, not being permitted to see a film before speaking to the talent would disqualify it from consideration. In this case, a unique exception was made.

Best known for his acclaimed Sci-Fi thriller “Looper,” Johnson has spent years working on what is expected to be a darker chapter than J.J. Abrams’ 2015 blockbuster “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Colin Trevorrow was supposed to helm the final installment in this new trilogy, “Chapter 9,” but left the project on what can only be described as “creative differences.” Eventually it was announced that J.J. Abrams would replace Trevorrow and helm the final installment. A few weeks later it was revealed Johnson would be busy working on a new trilogy in the “Star Wars” universe.

Rian Johnson reveals running time for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Johnson was limited to what he could say about “The Last Jedi,” but when asked how the new trilogy came to be he was quite forthcoming.

“I mean honestly, it came from getting toward the end of this film, end of the process,” Johnson says. “I mean, it kind of felt like the last week of senior year. We were all packing up our desks, cleaning out our lockers and we’d had such a good experience.  Not just with this movie, but with [Kathleen] Kennedy and with the folks at Disney, Bob Iger, Alan Horn. We just had a really good collaborative relationship with everybody and we all were just kind of looking at each other and saying, ‘How do we keep working together?’ And so that was when I said, ‘The most interesting thing to me would be new trilogy. A new story told over three movies. To go a new place, new characters, clean slate. Let’s come up with something new.’ And there was nothing that seemed more exciting to me, and they were really excited about it.”

And as to whether Johnson needed to character or story details? His answer will make him the envy of every other filmmaker working in Hollywood.

“No, I have just kind of vague ideas, but my entire pitch was, ‘Let’s tell a new story.’ Let’s clear the sandbox and then jump in and start playing.”

When Johnson is told he’s basically hit the “director jackpot” he smiles and replies, “Yeah, incredible.”

As for the birth of Johnson’s current cinematic offspring you can learn more from the rest of our conversation below.

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The Playlist: How are you doing?

Rian Johnson: Good.

Are you overwhelmed? Are you just sort of excited about Saturday?

Steady as a rock [left arm is immobile]. But I shoot with this one [right arm is shaky]. I’m a little more excited than terrified. But I am terrified.

I’m guessing very few people have seen it.

Virtually nobody has seen it yet.