One of the major problems with franchise movie making–especially if the same director doesn’t direct the next part–has been making sure everything links up properly. In our current landscape of huge movies, it can be difficult to get that kind of forethought. Threads are either completely dropped or the makers of the sequel have to arduously recreate things from the previous film just for continuity. But since Lucasfilm is filming all the new Star Wars movies essentially on top of each other, the directors can trade favors–which is exactly what Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow asked of Rian Johnson.
In an interview with MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast (via io9), Trevorrow said he asked The Last Jedi director to shoot a bit for his film, just like Johnson asked J.J. Abrams to send R2-D2 with Rey and Chewie instead of BB-8. In this case, it’s much more to do with practicality.
Trevorrow said, “There was one little thing. It wasn’t an adjustment, it was just ‘Could you shoot this one extra thing while you’re in this place on this day?’ And he did, which was great.” That’s the kind of thing producers surely love. Rather than having to go back to a location or rebuild a set, just have the previous crew shoot the small bit while they’re there. That’s economic.
The director explained that Lucasfilm’s creative heads are all in constant communication, and there’s not some kind of corporate machine behind everything. “The reality of it is that it’s a small group of people,” Trevorrow explained, “…all of them are creatives and all of them are genuinely, very sincerely, wanting to do the work of their lives in order to realize this.”
Even though Trevorrow’s recent film, The Book of Henry, proved a disappointment this weekend upon opening, there doesn’t seem to be any sense that he’s going to be replaced on Episode IX. As io9’s Germain Lussier put it, “the Lucasfilm and Disney executives who hired Trevorrow saw The Book of Henry before making that decision. They knew what that movie was.”
Let’s just hope indeed that Episode IX is the work of Trevorrow’s life, because this thing’s going to need a killer ending.
