“Why Disney Can Risk Rian Johnson Helming a ‘Star Wars’ Film”
By now, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this news:
Rian Johnson’s dive into science fiction with 2012’s Looper will serve him well on a much bigger project, as the director will take on Episode VIII of the upcoming Star Wars series.
Initial reports had also attached Johnson to direct Episode IX, though it was later confirmed that he would only write the treatment to that film, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Rather than giving a statement, Johnson tweeted a scene from the outer space classic The Right Stuff in which Scott Glenn, as astronaut Alan Shepard, says, “Dear Lord, please don’t let me fuck up.”
Since the Big Announcement, lots of folks have been analyzing the move:
Guardian: Could Rian Johnson Be the Most Radical Star Wars Director So Far.
L.A. Times: Expect Rian Johnson to Push Star Wars in Unexpected Directions.
Vulture: Everything You Need to Know About Rian Johnson.
Atlantic provided some broader movie business context in this article:
By enlisting relatively obscure directors and spinning off cult characters, the studio is taking a Marvel-style approach to the galaxy far, far away.
Johnson is beloved by internet geeks. He combines bold thinking (Brick was a film noir set in a Californian school) with action (Looper featured a time-traveling assassin played by Bruce Willis on a quest to murder a small child). He is just the sort of person that everyone on the internet says should direct a Star Wars film but who doesn’t usually get the chance.
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By hiring talented but untested directors and taking some creative risks, Marvel set out to create individual franchises set in the same world, just as in the comics. In this way, audiences have bought into individual characters like Iron Man and Captain America, and each exists as its own money-spinning franchise against the backdrop of a larger universe. Fans are buying into a character’s journey, rather than a Marvel sequel. And stories that unite the universe, such as The Avengers, become must-see global blockbusters that bring together these different fan-bases once every few years. The Marvel method has upended the blockbuster formula, which, ironically, was created by the original Star Wars film in 1977.
Will Disney be able to do the same with Star Wars, credibly expanding the universe beyond the story of the Skywalkers?
Can’t answer the last question, but I can say this: Johnson is a fantastic choice. Brick is wonderful. The Brothers Bloom is underrated. And Looper is fantastic. Johnson is a talented writer-director with a unique voice and a sophisticated visual sensibility. Check out the trailer for Brick:
And here is an interview with the man himself:
So kudos to Disney. They could have played it safe with a bigger name, but Rian Johnson is a bold and exciting choice.
Rian, may the Force be with you!
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