The Last Jedi Director Rian Johnson Initially Hated The Star Wars Prequels

Few fanbases love to rave and rant online as much as those who love the Star Wars franchise. One particular man has been the target of their ire over the past decade, and now he’s back in the news again for his original feelings on the 2000s prequel trilogy.

Star Wars is, well, the biggest multimedia franchise of the past fifty years. If 1975’s Jaws is the prototype that altered the trajectory of Hollywood filmmaking, 1977’s Star Wars is the blockbuster that warped everything to lightspeed. Coming out of nowhere to become a genuine phenomenon that was the highest-grossing film in history at the time of release, George Lucas’ Star Wars turned Tinseltown into a franchise-hunting assembly line always looking for the next hit that will spawn endless sequels and sell heaps of merchandise. Star Wars spawned numerous film trilogies, television shows, spin-off films, comic books, video games, novels, audio plays, theme park rides, and so much more. As one would imagine, the franchise’s popularity has created legions of fans who live and breathe all things Star Wars. There are numerous people out there whose entire identities are wrapped up in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars is, simply put, life and death stuff for them. And The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has found a way to piss off a whole lot of these fans.

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During an interview recently published in Rolling Stone, famed director Rian Johnson got to talking about his controversial Star Wars film The Last Jedi. Famously divisive online, The Last Jedi has been a never-ending talking point for the fandom since being released in 2017. While talking about Star Wars, Johnson used his initial hatred for the prequel trilogy to put The Last Jedi into perspective. “I was in college when the prequels came out,” he said. “My friends and I were Prequel Hate Central. Everyone was ruthless at the time. Now the prequels are embraced. I’m not saying that as a facile, ‘Oh, things will flip around in 20 years, you’ll see!’ It’s more that this push and pull, and this hatred to stuff that seems new. This is all part of being a Star Wars fan. Culture-war garbage aside, I think that essential part of it is a healthy part.”

Rian Johnson Believes The Star Wars Fandom Could Grow To Love The Last Jedi Somewhere Down The Line

They’ll Never Get Used To Green Milk, Though

The thing is, Johnson’s not wrong. The prequel trilogy was reviled by Star Wars fans for years, and it was only after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise that things began to turn around for the 2000s films. Sure, The Clone Wars went a long way to rehabilitate the rushed storytelling of the prequel trilogy thanks to years of solid animated action, but a lot of fans have never even watched that series. Why did so many people do a full 180-degree turn on the prequels?

For some, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. For others, the routes that Star Wars took under the House of Mouse made the prequels look better in retrospect. It’s hard to know for sure, but the prequels were a complete punching bag for years and now they’re not. The same could happen for The Last Jedi at some point in the future, as the prequels aren’t the only 2000s films to get reappraised by the internet over the years. Somehow, Spider-Man 3 and the original Fantastic Four films have become underrated by certain subsects of film fans since their release. Speed Racer has gone from “box office disaster” to “underappreciated gem.”

The Last Jedi could be the next Star Wars film to be reappraised by fans, but it won’t be happening any time soon.

Source: Rolling Stone