So how many times have you watched the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer? The Internet is still buzzing about it, the think pieces written about it are in the thousands, and the theories regarding the title number even greater. But nobody knows anything at this point, except for director J.J. Abrams, who tried to explain the title without giving anything away to Entertainment Tonight…
“Well, the title feels like it’s the right title for this movie. I know it’s provocative and asks a bunch of questions but when you see the movie you’ll see how it was intended and what it means. But in the flow of titles this title had a very big responsability — it had to be the end of not only three movies, but nine movies. The idea of incorporating the movies that come before strangely is the story of the movie. It’s the characters in the film inheriting everything that’s come before in previous generations, whether it’s the sins of the father or the wisdom that they’ve acquired, and the question is, is this new generation up to the task, can they stand up to what they have to. So in a way, we came to this movie having inherited a lot, and the question can we do it is a question we ask ourselves everyday.
Can’t really argue with anything there. This is a really important title, and they don’t want to fuck it up by calling it something awful like Flight of the Porgs or something. No, the title does what a good title should. It has people talking.
Meanwhile, this next bit of news may irk some people, and for good reason. Abrams confirmed to IGN that he consulted with Star Wars creator George Lucas before writing the Episode 9 script…
“This movie had a very, very specific challenge, which was to take eight films and give an ending to three trilogies, and so we had to look at, what is the bigger story? We had conversations amongst ourselves, we met with George Lucas before writing the script. These were things that were in real, not debate, but looking at the vastness of the story and trying to figure out, what is the way to conclude this? But it has to work on its own as a movie, it has to be its own thing, it has to be surprising and funny and you have to understand it.”
He added that he wants a kid to be able to watch all nine movies and see one complete story, which makes bringing Lucas into the mix a good call. Abrams drew heavy on nostalgia for The Force Awakens and seems to be doing so again based on the trailer, so Lucas would be a good sounding board for ideas. Remember, this is a movie that was originally going to be written and directed by Colin Trevorrow before creative conflicts forced him out. Abrams came in and scrapped his screenplay, enlisting Chris Terrio (Argo) to help him co-write a brand new story. No truth to the rumor Lucas’ first suggestion was to reveal this was all a dream by some Super Midichlorian.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20th.
