Rian Johnsonhas been through a lot over the last few months after many hardcoreStar Warsfans have complained about every little decision that he made inThe Last Jedi. Some don’t even complain about anything specific, they just simply say that Johnson ruinedStar Warsand their childhoods. And now, in a new interview, Rian Johnson admits that some of that initial backlash got to him and bummed him out for a little bit, which is pretty understandable. However, the director says that he’s made peace with everything now that he has some “context” for the hate.
WhenThe Last Jediofficially hit theaters, Rian Johnson was out promoting the movie. He had a brief break in between engagements and decided to check out his Twitter account to see some of the early reactions from fans. Johnson probably shouldn’t have done that, because according to him, it gave him a “very dark hour of the soul.” He explains that he didn’t have context for the hate, which really started to get to him. He had this to say.
“The crazy thing is, I had no perspective on these tweets. I had no perspective in terms of how big a group of people this was, even what they were upset about specifically. Over the next few weeks, I was able to contextualize it and feel much better about it. But at the time, I thought, ‘Oh my god, does everybody hate this?Did I totally mess up, was I wrong?’ And I had a very dark hour of the soul… because I had no context for this.”
In the days and weeks after, Rian Johnson was able tomake peace with the backlash, noting that when fans mention him on Twitter, it’s 95 percent positivity with a healthy dose of 5 percent that spew hate. Obviously, Johnson dwells on the 5 percent, but only when they say that he ruinedStar Warsand that they’re going to kill him. Death threats would make anyone perk up pretty quickly and Rian Johnson has been threatened online by hardcoreStar Warsfans. The director just blocks them, but still. That’s going to leave some kind of mark.
Rian Johnson summed up the backlash neatly, by saying that it never affected him to the point ofquestioning the decisionsthat he made forThe Last Jedi. Which is good, because he’s about to write his ownStar Warstrilogy that will be looked at under millions of microscopes by fans from all over the world. It’s that attitude that will help Johnson finish the monstrous task he’s about to embark on. He explains.
“There’s nothing I’ve read or seen that’s made me think, ‘Oh god, I did kind of mess that up, I would’ve done that differently if I could go back. I still genuinely believe in all the decisions I’ve made.”
Forall of the hatethatThe Last Jedihas received, it has also gotten a lot of love from fans as well, which Rian Johnson can attest to. As said in a lot of articles aboutStar Wars, you definitely cannot please everybody. Johnson will continue to silently respond to fans and their qualms online, but deep down, he knows that he made the bestStar Warsmovie that he could. you’re able to check out the rest of the interview with Rian Johnson over atSlashFilm.
