Though it’s possible you haven’t heard the word, unless you’ve been living on one of Saturn’s moons or in a subterranean lair, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you have. There’s a new Star Wars film less than a month away from release: The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth and final episode in what’s been imaginatively christened the Skywalker Saga.
What you may not have heard, however, is something that’s probably been taken for granted. J.J. Abrams, returning to the director’s chair for his second take on the franchise, gave an interview with Good Morning America to discuss the movie this week and uttered the obvious, immortal words:
“It’s done.”
Hooray! Naturally, this gave rise to the headline “The Rise of Skywalker is finished.” After months of reshoots that ran as close to release as October, fans can now rest easy that the final product is safely in the bag and ready to be screened in your local multiplex. Well. Sort of.
“We always knew we were going to have three fewer months to postproduction this film. So much is still being worked on. It’s literally a practical race to get it finished,” said Abrams.
It’s humbling to know that major multi-billion dollar blockbusters are handled in exactly the same way as anyone who’s ever had to hand in an assignment, with massive amounts of procrastination leading to a terrified panic to get everything done on time. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. We’re all living by them, from Hollywood directors to word-hacks. J.J. did offer one crumb of comfort though – there hasn’t been as much production re-jiggery this time around.
“We had more reshoots on Episode VII than this one. We had more story adjustments on VII than this one. We didn’t know if these characters would work, if the actors would be able to carry a Star Wars movie. There were a lot of things we didn’t know. On this, we knew who and what worked, and everyone is doing the best work I’ve ever seen anyone do. But the ambition of this movie is far greater than Force Awakens. What we set out to do was far more challenging. Everything is exponentially larger on this.”
Which is all mildly disconcerting, but we’re going to have to trust him. He’s made the landing once before, after all. Make sure it’s finished J.J. The fate of the galaxy depends on it.
