After a recent barrage of PR issues for the next spinoff movie, a D23 presentation accentuates the positive of ‘Last Jedi.’
It might not yet be time to call in the X-wing strike, Red Leader. However, that disturbance we all have felt in the Force isn’t quite gone.
The last few years have been a golden age for Star Wars fans with the awesomeness of The Force Awakens, a commitment to spinoff A Star Wars Story films like Rogue One, and even a new focus on the female icons of the franchise with Forces of Destiny. After April’s Star Wars Celebration, an emotional tribute to the late Carrie Fisher and an epic first trailer for The Last Jedi left this Star Wars lover on a Cloud City high.
Which is why the Star Wars part of the presentation Saturday at Disney’s D23 Expo was so important. Things have been going squiffy lately, mainly focused on the young Han Solo anthology movie due out next summer, and the franchise isn’t expected at this week’s huge confab. Unfortunately, Han and his pals were glossed over to make way for The Last Jedi (Dec. 15) .
Instead of being in trouble with Jabba the Hutt, our favorite Star Wars smuggler’s had to navigate through an asteroid field of PR issues of late: Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left the film starring Alden Ehrenreich on June 20, mere weeks before filming was supposed to end, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard was hired to finish the still-untitled project — a solid and fine choice, but a safe one. (TMZ leaking a bunch of pictures from the set last week, before any official stills have come out, was also not a great look.)
Howard wasn’t at D23 nor was anybody from the cast — not Ehrenreich, not Donald Glover or Woody Harrelson. The Last Jedi, though, brought the big guns: Writer/director Rian Johnson, naturally, but also Force Awakens holdovers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Gwendoline Christie plus newcomers Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran.
Johnson shared black-and-white shots from the set, and talked about hitting pubs with Ridley. Boyega and Christie playfully faced off, hinting their characters Finn and Captain Phasma will revisit some bad blood. And Mark Hamill received a standing ovation by just stepping on stage. (That’s what happens when you’re not only a Star Wars legend but also an official Disney one .)
However, Last Jedi wasn’t the one we were concerned about. I mean, no one’s going to say no to a boss behind-the-scenes video from that movie ever — and it’s always great to see a hooded Ridley wielding a lightsaber as Rey. But still no title for Han Solo? No Howard coming out to say, « Everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re all fine here now, thank you »? The new live-action The Lion King had their Circle of Life scene ready to show but nothing of Ehrenreich in Solo garb in the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca?
No other spinoff films were mentioned at D23, so one hopes that Lucasfilm brass aren’t rethinking letting young up-and-coming directors get into their sandbox and shake things up. Honestly, that’s why a lot of Star Wars fans were looking forward to Lord and Miller, the guys behind the brilliant The Lego Movie. Filmmakers like them and Johnson, who grew up with Star Wars as a seminal part of their lives, are the future of this franchise.
There’s no reason to lose all faith in the galaxy far, far away yet. We’ll be all be freaking out in five months when Last Jedi melts our collective faces off. But, as that legendarily scruffy nerf-herder once said, « Great, kid. Don’t get cocky. »
