It’s not much of a spoiler, but J.J. Abrams still revealed the first word spoken in the concluding chapter of the Skywalker saga for “Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Totally ripping off the exact same questions Jimmy Kimmel asked the director before “The Force Awakens,” Stephen Colbert asked him to please reveal how this new film starts. And it is … epic!
Should we do a huge spoiler alert thing here or just rip into it? You know what, if you’re still here, you’re on this journey with us. From here on out, this is where it’s “at.”
That was it. That was the reveal.
“At.”
“And there are like six or seven words that follow,” Abrams assured Colbert, who immediately used that single word to launch into an elaborate theory about who says it, why they’re saying it and what it means for how the film progresses.
He’s not alone, either, as Abrams acknowledged that some people care so much about this saga, “it’s like a religion.” So did he feel any pressure being the one chosen to wrap up what is essentially the original saga? Sure, “Star Wars” will live on, but the story of the Skywalker line ends here (at least until it doesn’t).
“I think very day there was a moment like, ‘Oh god,'” he conceded, admitting that this film was a far bigger challenge than when he directed “The Force Awakens,” effectively revitalizing the franchise for this current generation.
“It’s a huge responsibility,” he said of taking on “The Rise of Skywalker” after Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” was met with mixed responses. “It has to work on its own … it’s the end of the trilogy, but it’s the end of three trilogies. So to end nine movies … to do service to that story, to end it well, to tell a story that is epic and also funny and also intimate–“
He couldn’t even end that sentence, that’s how challenging it was for him. He only got out of him because Colbert jumped in to keep things moving.
In his defense, though, Abrams also revealed that they had just finished wrapping production on the film. And by “just finished,” he really meant it, as they locked it in on Sunday. Now, he says he’s looking forward to sleeping again.
The director also spoke again about how excited he was to discover that cut footage of Carrie Fisher could serve this film and her story, as he said “there was no way we could finish this Skywalker saga without Leia, it was impossible.”
And he said it’s as if she was as present and real as any of his other actors in these last phases of the film’s production as they were editing and putting together the movie incorporating new footage from the cast and old footage from Fisher’s work on “The Force Awakens.” Now, though, it’s as if everyone was truly together one last time to bring it home.
It’s encouraging words for fans, who will be hitting the theaters hoping for that exact experience, as well as a worthy arc and final farewell for Princess Leia.
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