The Director and the Jedi Page #3

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I think that's what

this is about, really.

It does actually feel like

it's one of those situations

where we'll get exactly

what we're working to get

out of the location.

I think. I don't know. I don't know.

We really wanted to be on location.

However, we realized it's really not worth it.

Taking the entire crew,

going through a location which is very hard.

You still needed to build a tree,

and we've got the whole complication of

having the green guy there.

You have to build a physical place

from where he can operate.

Head down to the tree.

To the tree!

So, we made that call.

I think we made a good call, but you know,

you walk through the set and say,

"Wow, we build this crazy thing."

Next movie, we build a set like this,

we shoot it for a month.

Not for a day. Not for two days. Okay?

I spoke to Steve. I wanna test flame

on the tree, prior to you painting it.

I mean, the reason we test is, you know,

we want to eliminate

as many of the factors that could

cause a shot not to be very good,

because, every time we do another take,

it's a lot of people standing around

waiting for us to reload it.

So the idea of the testing is

to get rid of all those little glitches

so that we stand as good a chance

as we possibly can

of getting it in the first shot.

All right. So if I give you a, "Three,

two, one, action," you go on "one"...

- Go on "action."

- You go on "action."

It's funny, I haven 't had...

I guess at this point

I have had experience with rehearsing,

but I always, coming into it,

feel slightly nervous

just because I feel like

I'm kind of making up how they do it.

I think you probably have more

rehearsals than anybody else.

Yeah.

For sure. Don't you agree?

And you did have some rehearsals on there.

Oy!

- Then I hit the thing.

- Then you hit it.

Okay. Great. All right. Cool.

Another thing is we might play this whole sequence

coming off of a Force connection with you and Kylo.

So, when you're focusing on that rock,

you're really seeing...

- This is all about you kind of...

- Yeah. Okay. Sure.

"I have to get together

for when I kick his ass."

Okay.

When I started writing, I looked at where VII left off,

and I wrote down the names

of each one of the characters,

and I started just saying,

"What do I know about

each of these characters?

"What do I think they want?

Where can I see them going?"

And, "What would be the hardest thing

for each of them to come up against?"

And so, that was really the starting

point of the whole thing.

So, we start Rose in a really unflattering

maintenance jumpsuit uniform thing.

And then, she's in that until formal wear.

And there, we can really have fun.

So, you have to cast somebody tall.

It's not gonna happen.

We're looking at short, short people.

Really?

My intent is to cast someone

who you would not expect to see.

So, it'll make it hard on you.

Camera set.

And action.

You have to draw from fragments of things in your life

for the story, and for the characters,

and for what you care about.

And, I mean, that's entirely personal.

That's entirely from you.

And action, John.

When I wrote that character of Rose,

she was genuinely a nerd.

Like, someone who I would have

actually hung out with in high school.

She felt like a character

who didn't belong in a Star Wars movie.

And it appealed to me.

The only criteria I had to be true to

is who felt like this character

I had in my head.

And that was Kelly.

Another thing I wanted to ask you about

is our villain Benicio.

- Yes. Not a villain. Not a villain.

- Not a villain.

Don't believe the Internet.

Not a villain.

I don't think he should be in a tux.

I think he was there to meet a guy

about a thing, you know.

He was there on other business, basically.

And he was gonna get in and get out,

and then he got tossed in.

I mean, really subconsciously

what we want to evoke in the audience

is Han Solo.

We don't want to play it

too close to that,

but the whole thing of a scoundrel

and the audience expects him

to have a heart of gold.

Because of the scope of what we're doing,

it's not a schedule

based on actor's availability,

like most movies are.

It's a schedule based on

when sets are going to be ready.

So I have to see

when are those people going to work.

They've got something else, they've got windows.

Here is the situation with Laura.

The HBO show that she's supposed to

start working this week,

and us, ideally,

you know, trying to accommodate

so she can do both shows.

Yeah.

I'm just nervous.

What if we have to push by

an extra week or two weeks?

Who knows what happens?

And what about the casino?

Whatever it is.

I think it's Miami.

I think it's rich warlords

and slender supermodels.

Fellini-like. Fat, older rich women,

and, you know...

A casino in Star Wars, you know,

with fancy dress people,

it just seemed...

And I expressed my fears to Rian

and asked for more input.

And he didn't really make it easier.

He said he wanted them

to look very elegant.

We're doing a casting day for the casino scene.

It's gonna be huge.

They're very particular about the look,

and we've got models, we've got people

that have been dancers

because of their profile, and how they can stand.

We've got very quirky people coming.

- How are you?

- Fine, thank you.

You were in the original Star Wars?

With George Lucas.

With George Lucas.

And have you got your photos?

SALO GARDN:

That's the famous bar scene. Here.

- Is it the cantina...

- Cantina, yeah.

That's the bar scene itself.

I met some film stars in my time.

Could you just move that way?

Just a tiny...

They would have large groups

of people that I had chosen come in

so that we could actually see them

in life and see them moving,

and were able to, kind of,

actually design the costumes

for the individual person.

Ah, so great.

Oh, it's just gorgeous.

Yeah, the way it moves is just lovely. Yeah.

- You like?

- It's fantastic.

Just amazing work. So cool!

And it feels...

Yeah, it does feel Star Wars.

- I hope it feels Star Wars.

- It does.

They've never done anything

like this in Star Wars.

It has that simplicity that

we've been talking about the whole time.

Remember, when we rehearse and you're walking away,

it'll be on this line,

so going parallel to this.

And then the confrontation will happen

somewhere out here.

And the fight will happen

kind of along this line.

Mark, very understandably, wasn't thrilled

about some of the choices in the script.

The big things being the place

that Luke's head is at,

the fact that he's not the Luke Skywalker that we knew then.

Frankly, the fact that he dies at the end.

Let's go up and take a look

at your hut real quick, I guess.

Then, it was just a matter of

really being honest with myself

Like, "Is that what's best for this trilogy?

"Is that what should happen here?"

And just questioning that over and over again.

- Oh, for God's sake!

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