We are now very close to finally seeing one of the biggest movies of the year,The Rise of Skywalker, where the decade long, nine film Skywalker saga will brought to its conclusion. Fans are excited and anxious in equal measure as they wait to see whether director J.J. Abrams has stuck the landing whilst under such huge pressure. Well, Abrams has been discussing the production of his finale, and has revealed in a recent interview that the script was being rewritten until very late in the day, during its principal production, in fact.
J.J. Abrams and fellow screenwriter Chris Terrio have now stated that scenes were continuously being reworked and rewritten just before they shot them in an attempt to protect the actors from thebehind-the-scenes turmoil, with the pair wanting to ensure that everything went according to plan. Essentially, if things were not going as smoothly as possible they would go away, rewrite and come back to it the next day, as Terrio explained.
“It’s a war to do a movie like this, and every day you have to get up and go to the front again. And maybe the day before, the battle didn’t go so well, but you have to get up with great optimism and enthusiasm to do it again.”
Despite this rather startling admission about the commotion that went on behind the curtain, Abrams gave his assurance that it is nothing out of the ordinary to work under such conditions, and that this was in fact theprocess used when shooting The Force Awakens.
“As we did on ‘Force Awakens,’ while we’re shooting, we’re reconsidering things,changing some significant story pointsgoing back to ideas that we had loved but put away. That process never stopped. Some people can say, oh, that sounds like it’s crazy, but when you have the better idea, it doesn’t matter when it is - you have to try it.”
Though it may sound quite crazy, and pretty hectic, to be reconsidering things so late in the game, it is not actually that unusual. A movie not having a set script does not necessarily lead to, or even suggest, disaster and though it may be risky, the fact thatJ.J. Abramsused the same process for his first foray into theStar Warsfranchise should help breathe a sigh of relief.
The Rise of Skywalkerhas a lot of ground to cover and a lot of story to tell, considering this is bringing the entire saga to an end. Picking up a year after the events ofThe Last Jedi, the movie is set to once again pit the Resistance against the First Order, and conclude the ancient conflict between the Jedi and the Sith.
Will Abrams and Terrio’s somewhat haphazard approach pay off? We shall soon see whenThe Rise of Skywalkeris released on December 20. This comes fromThe New York Times.
