Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill at SXSW 2018 (With FULL VIDEO)

In what will likely be one of their final media appearances for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Vanity Fair‘s Joanna Robinson sat down to talk with director Rian Johnson and actor Mark Hamill after a South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) screening of the Anthony Wonke directed documentary ‘The Director and The Jedi’. Johnson spoke about his journey to Star Wars and Mark Hamill shared some insight into Rian’s different take on Luke Skywalker in film. Here are some of the highlights from the interview, followed by the full video!

 

Rian Johnson

    • Rian spoke about his career leading up to taking on the biggest project of his life, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
    • Rian talked about Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher’s contribution in the production of the film.
    • Rian says that Carrie Fisher’s passing prevented her from getting to see a final cut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. “The most I got to watch (The Last Jedi) with her was at Pinewood – while we were shooting additional ADR with her, just additional dialogue recording.” Johnson said. “It was hard for her to watch herself onscreen.” Johnson added. He went on to say that Carrie told him that she still viewed herself in her twenties because of the huge time gap since the last time she appeared on screen in a Star Wars film. “I remember her telling me, ‘In my head, I’m still in my twenties,'” and  “There’s always going to be that disconnect when you see yourself onscreen.”
    • Rian also showed off one his favorite black and white photos that he took during production.

 

 

Mark Hamill

  • Hamill admits regret to sharing his criticisms in a series of recent interviews and clarified his complicated thoughts. “I wish I hadn’t expressed my insecurities publicly,” he acknowledged. During filming, Johnson had told Hamill that “they can’t always give the audience what they expect and what they want” but that they “can give them something they don’t expect and what we want.” Hamill said, “He’s always right.” He went on to say that he was sorry that he lowered his guard and expressed his misgivings about it. “That belongs in the [filmmaking] process.”
  • Hamill also spoke about how he had to think of Luke as another character.
  • Hamill appeared to want to get something off his chest and to be “completely honest with Rian.” – “I wanted to get it off my chest and throw it all away.” He said that he is of the “old school” George Lucas era and is glad Rian was able to help open the doors to the new generation of Star Wars characters including Rey, Poe, and Finn.
  • Hamill then shared how he would have made the movie, admitting his ideas were all terrible, but he also disclosed that he had disagreed with George Lucas while reading the script to Return of the Jedi. “I read Jedi and thought, ‘Wait a sec! I thought I was heading toward the struggle of heading to the Dark Side. I’m in black. I have a glove. I see a trend here.

 

 

You can view the entire Q&A below.

 

 

 

One of the most enjoyable aspects during the past year of promotion for The Last Jedi has without question been Mark Hamill’s appearances, from Star Wars Celebration to putting a bow on it all here at SXSW. While Luke Skywalker may indeed appear in Episode IX (“The Last Paycheck”, as he calls it) there is a possibility it may be kept a secret (as much as possible). So with that in mind, The Last Jedi could have been the final time we were able to enjoy Mark Hamill’s charming sense of humor and engaging story-telling promoting a Star Wars film. If that is indeed the case, it has been nothing short of a beautiful farewell tour of sorts, with Hamill peppering us with tales from making The Last Jedi mixed with walking us down memory lane one more time, bridging all generations of Star Wars fans, and we will cherish that forever.

 

 

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22 thoughts on “Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill at SXSW 2018 (With FULL VIDEO)

  • March 14, 2018 at 5:07 pm
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    “they can’t always give the audience what they expect and what they want” but that they “can give them something they don’t expect and what we want.”

    This is a big part of what was wrong TLJ…IMO

    And I understand that we can’t get everything that we want. And sometimes great story telling needs some twist. I just really believe he was trying so hard to do something different and unexpected that it didn’t play out as he had hoped for a lot of people.

    And after watching this at home 2 more times…it just almost makes me feel uncomfortable about how different Luke is. My 5 year old just kept asking when Luke was going to go help and why he was so grumpy, and finally at one point turned and asked me if I was sure that the old man was even Luke. lol

    • March 14, 2018 at 5:44 pm
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      You can tell your 5-year-old that when they’re 66 and everything they’ve struggled their entire life to build is destroyed in and act of betrayal, when it’s literally burnt to the ground in front of their eyes, they too will be grumpy.

      • March 14, 2018 at 6:01 pm
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        lol, you can’t explain that stuff to a kid that age…He knows Luke from the million times he’s watched the OT with Dad and how we’ve cheered him on. They are pure and honest and react to what they see…he simply didn’t see the Luke we watched together from the OT, and he is SOOO right.

        • March 14, 2018 at 9:05 pm
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          I was being ridiculously tongue in cheek but it is an important lesson that he should learn sooner rather than later. What I really mean is that I’m glad Star Wars has characters with enough complexity that a 5-year-old can’t wrap their brains around them.

      • March 14, 2018 at 6:04 pm
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        You call and act of betrayal an act by a confused teenager who was just about to be killed by his uncle for no reason at all. The great Luke Skywalker, he ho saved his hopeless father and believed in him, tried to kill his nephew for no reason at all.

        I am sorry this is Jake Skywalker, not Luke. And this movie was a complete trash.

        • March 14, 2018 at 7:54 pm
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          I feel people are misunderstanding what was going on. Kylo wasn’t 100% pure good guy and then went evil after the Luke incident. Kylo was already going down the dark path and turned by Snoke (Luke says so in the movie). Kylo didn’t murder Luke’s students and burn down the temple because Luke ignited his lightsaber for 2 seconds.

        • March 14, 2018 at 9:00 pm
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          Everything you just said is wrong.

          Kylo was born in 5 ABY. He’s at LEAST 20 when he had his confrontation with Luke. That punk knew what he was doing.

          No reason at all to kill Kylo? Not the vision of the horror that would follow if Kylo fell to the dark side? Not the fact that he lived through that horror once before?

          Luke did not try to kill Kylo. He ignited his lightsaber for a second and then thought better of it but it was too late. In fact, Luke did attack Vader when Vader uncovered the fact that Luke has a twin sister. And he went a lot further than igniting his lightsaber. There’s nothing out of character in Luke attacking family members to protect others.

          I don’t understand the mischaracterization of Luke as being infallible. He’s never been perfect. The moment of doubt is a classic trope for the hero figure. It’s what makes them relatable. It’s why they’re interesting.

      • March 14, 2018 at 6:45 pm
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        But give it a few more years and senility will take the edge off, my son. Like when Yoda blowed up that poor tree.

        • March 14, 2018 at 8:14 pm
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          (Beevis and Butt-Head voice):

          “Tree-blowing.” Heh-heh…uh-huh-heh-heh….

      • March 14, 2018 at 7:08 pm
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        Not exactly the best thing you could tell a child!!!!

    • March 14, 2018 at 6:12 pm
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      He was more concerned with yelling “GOTCHA!!” at the camera the entire movie he completely forgot to give Finn Rose and Poe something to actually do. Nevermind changing the entire character of Luke Skywalker.

      • March 14, 2018 at 8:11 pm
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        I don’t consider myself a TLJ “basher” (I’m a bit ambivalent about the movie actually), but I believe this is true. Rian’s focus seemed to be keeping the audience off-balance and he appeared to be so pleased with himself for all the unexpected, subversive “surprises” that he came up with. Not to get too political, but it seems similar to a lot of the complaints about what Trump does (never thought I’d be comparing RJ to Trump, but here we are). Just tell a great story, don’t rely on “GOTCHA!” moments to try and make your movie stand out. It feels like he tried to be too clever and “outsmart” everyone, and now he’s paying the price for his overconfidence…..

    • March 14, 2018 at 7:00 pm
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      “This is a big part of what was wrong TLJ…IMO”

      Yep….KK and Disney made the film they wanted, not what the fans wanted.

  • March 14, 2018 at 5:12 pm
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    Lovely Interview.

  • March 14, 2018 at 6:13 pm
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    Q: “Mark how did you feel about how Rian Johnson castrated Luke?”

    A: “Well, you know, Rian’s such a talented director, and the way the chopped my gonads off was just, wow, it’s hard to describe. His emasculation of Luke advanced the character in ways that I never dreamed of. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to the restroom and puke my guts out.”

  • March 14, 2018 at 6:36 pm
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    Open the doors to the new generation of SW characters…
    Toss the old ones in the trash compactor. Easy peasy!

    • March 14, 2018 at 8:22 pm
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      “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. We have a whole new generation of children to sell toys to.”

      That last line was cut out of the movie. It can be found in the deleted scenes….

      I’m just being snarky. I didn’t “hate” TLJ, but it’s not my favorite SW movie either. It’s got it’s problems for sure, but some of it is actually really good. Other parts….not so much.

  • March 14, 2018 at 8:11 pm
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    The important takeaway from this vid is that Rian and Mark are eerily coordinating their undergarments.

  • March 15, 2018 at 12:25 am
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    Uh, why – WHY ?! – would LFL want to keep Luke-in-IX a secret ?? Makes no sense. Keeping a Rey or Kylo dramatic reveal a secret makes sense, but confirming that a teacher figure who had disappeared in the previous movie – like (only) two other Jedi Masters had – is to re-appear and guide Rey isn’t exactly going to blow the film out of the water.

  • March 15, 2018 at 12:46 am
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    Yes dear comment section. Give me the hate, YES! Come on, give it to me, I WANT it!! Please, PEASE!!
    And now turn me around. From behind! I want your hate! More! MORE! The HATE!! I want it!!!!!! So close!!!! The dark side baby, yes!!!
    Come on Star Wars fans! Is that all you can do?!?!

    …how disappointing… maybe I should go to the Marvel DC forum instead…

    …you guys.

    • March 15, 2018 at 5:46 am
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      Well…..you certainly made all of us look like fools with this comment. This wasn’t weird AT ALL. Not one bit. Great job Bartos!

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