‘Earthshaking’ details about Star Wars
One would be easily forgiven to think that director J.J. Abrams brought with him the Millennium Falcon when he joined us for a roundtable interview in late August this year at the Montage in Beverly Hills.
“I am bouncing around right now. This is so weird!” he exclaimed and stopped mid-sentence while giving us details about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the highly-anticipated final film in the phenomenal space saga. He was telling us that he was still editing the film at the time the floor started shaking.
“There’s an earthquake?” he wondered aloud. Yes, a mild earthquake hit L.A. during our interview and it caused the floor to vibrate. “I am going to ignore it,” the 53-year-old director declared and continued on like a brave Star Wars trooper.
The final film in the blockbuster trilogy is set to open worldwide on Dec. 20. At the time of our interview, we were only shown an extended footage and based on what we saw, we are just as excited as everyone to watch the film in its entirety.
J.J. shepherded the first film in the trilogy and was not originally set to direct the third film. When the previous director left the project, J.J. returned to finish the saga. “I was not supposed to do this film but when they asked, it felt like it was too tempting to say no to — to conclude not just this trilogy but the three trilogies.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is expected to put a definitive end to the Skywalker saga that George Lucas launched more than 40 years ago. Iconic stars Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and the late Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) are in the film to bid loyal Star Wars fans farewell.
“It’s so strange because I am working in the editing room everyday, she’s in the scenes and she’s very much alive,” J.J. said before telling us how he pieced together Carrie’s discarded scenes from Episode 7 and made her alive for the final film. “We got to tell the story with Leia that we would have told had Carrie lived.” The late star died in December 2016.
The director ignored suggestions to recast her and never considered doing a CG character. “We realized that there was no way to tell the story of the end of the Skywalker saga without her.”
This writer asked J.J. if he feels triumphant that the saga is now ending, and he’s the one who gets to tell the story. “I’ve never felt triumphant,” he quickly replied and joked that the only time he felt triumphant was when the room was shaking earlier.
“I am really grateful to be part of this and to be bringing to an end this thing that George Lucas created that meant so much to me when I was a kid, that has continued to mean so much to me. I’m just grateful and, in terms of what we have, I couldn’t be more excited!” He added that, at the time of our interview, the movie was far from finished and he was jumping back to the editing room the next day to “continue the fight.”
Continuing the fight in this concluding film is Daisy Ridley, the English actress who plays Rey, the main protagonist introduced in The Force Awakens. Rey is a survivor left on the planet Jakku when she was a child. Later, she becomes involved with the resistance against the First Order and becomes the heroine of the saga.
However, the extended footage shown to us hinted at something shocking. The footage ended with Rey in a dark cloak wielding a red, double-sided lightsaber! Did she turn to the dark side? Was it the shocking thing that J.J. hinted when we asked him what fans would expect from the film?
“Some of the decisions that we made in this movie will shock people,” he said. “(It) will hopefully enthrall people; will anger some other people; will make a lot of people break down in tears; will make other people breakdown in tears of rage; will make other people laugh — you just don’t know!”
When Daisy joined us for our roundtable interview, she gave us some idea on what her character’s arc will be. Fans who can’t wait for the movie to open can perhaps read between the lines.
“When J.J. first told me the story, we were in a hotel and he told me the whole thing and I was, like, ‘Okay.’ Then, I went away and processed it and a week later, he said, ‘Yeah, some of it has changed.’ But at every iteration, even though things morphed into whatever it was, it was always amazing. And the only things that were ever changed were amazing additions.”
In response to fan theories on Rey’s fate, she said, “It just feels really good. It feels like a really positive reaction. I mean, this is the end of the Skywalker saga, so the film will come out and we will go our separate ways and, for now, it really is the end of the saga.”
But if it is end, why is the title The Rise of Skywalker?
“Who knows?” Daisy teased. “Because nothing really ends.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will open in limited early release from Dec. 20 in the Philippines and will go on wide release starting Jan. 8, 2020.
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