Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

Making franchise fans happy would be a mistake in any creative process, says Rian Johnson

Image
Press Trust of India Los Angeles
Last Updated : Dec 18 2019 | 12:40 PM IST

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson believes that catering to the expectations of fans is a "mistake" as it won't have a long lasting impact on the viewers.

His comments came after the latest instalment of "Star Wars", "The Rise of Skywalkers" had its world premiere on Tuesday.

The first reaction for the film have been mixed with many critics deriding the film's director JJ Abrams for trying to correct the creative decisions made by Johnson's in the previous movie, "The Last Jedi".

"I think approaching any creative process with (making fandoms happy) would be a mistake that would lead to probably the exact opposite result," the "Knives Out" director told Radio.com.

"Even my experience as a fan, you know if I'm coming into something, even if it's something that I think I want, if I see exactly what I think I want on the screen, it's like oh, okay,' it might make me smile and make me feel neutral about the thing and I won't really think about it afterwards, but that's not really going to satisfy me," he added.

Till date, Johnson stands by the choices he made while directing "The Last Jedi", despite facing intense social media trolling from toxic fans of the franchise.

More From This Section

The director said as a fan of a franchise, he wants to be "shocked", "surprised" and "off-guard", an experience he witnessed when watched 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back".

"I want to have things recontextualised, I want to be challenged as a fan when I sit down in the theatre...

"What I'm aiming for every time I sit down in a theatre is to have the experience (I had) with Empire Strikes Back,' something that's emotionally resonant and feels like it connects up and makes sense and really gets to the heart of what this thing is and in a way that I never could have seen coming," Johnson said.

"The Rise of Skywalkers" will release worldwide on Friday.

Also Read

First Published: Dec 18 2019 | 12:40 PM IST

Next Story