“All this poisonous idea of creating [IP] has completely seeped into the foundation of storytelling. Everyone’s just thinking, “How are we going to keep milking it?”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Everett Museum
Since the release of “The Last Jedi” in 2017, director Rian Johnson has defended the film from many “Star Wars” fans who disagreed with how the middle part of the sequel trilogy played with the conventions of the franchise. In a recent interview with The Atlantic, Johnson talked about the film’s ambiguous ending, saying he wanted to give it a final touch to combat the “toxic idea” of intellectual property that has affected narrative in movies.
“Look, as far as the Star Wars movie that I did, I tried to give it a hell of an ending,” Johnson told the Atlantic. “I love the ending so much that even when I did the middle part of the trilogy I tried to give it an ending. A good ending that restores everything that came before it and makes it a beautiful thing in its own right – that’s what makes a movie a movie. It’s like there’s less and less of it. All this toxic idea to create [intellectual property] has completely seeped into the foundation of storytelling. Everyone’s just thinking, “How do we keep milking it?” I love the ending where you burn the Viking boat in the sea.”
This isn’t the first time Johnson has reviewed “The Last Jedi” in the press. In a career-spanning video interview with GQ, the “Glass Onion” director addressed criticism of the film’s comedy, which some fans criticized as too broad.
“Anyone who thinks a little bit of goofy humor doesn’t belong in the Star Wars universe, I don’t know if they’ve seen ‘Return of The Jedi,'” Johnson said. “The slightly self-aware element of gleeful humor is something that is part of ‘Star Wars.’ This is not all, and we will also be very serious. And I think that sort of uncanny balance of those two things is also part of ‘Star Wars.'”
Although “The Last Jedi” remained controversial during the divisive “Star Wars” nominations, Johnson has stood by the film, saying he’s “even prouder” of it five years later in a recent interview with Empire Magazine. The director is currently still in the lead for a new trilogy of “Star Wars” films, though he recently said “it wouldn’t be the end of the world” if the project didn’t pan out.
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