Colin Trevorrow is no doubt feeling a good deal of pressure at the moment. After J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens kicked the new wave of Star Wars films off in spectacular fashion, all eyes are now on Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, which is generating an enormous amount of buzz – mostly of the positive variety. It’s fully expected to be another smash hit for Disney then and as such, it’ll be up to Trevorrow to close the trilogy out on a high note, keeping up the momentum already put in place by his predecessors.
With Star Wars: Episode IX still so far out though, we really don’t know anything about it just yet, but that hasn’t stopped journalists from hounding the director about it over the past few weeks as he continues to do press for his new movie, The Book of Henry. The latest outlet to take a swing at getting some juicy tidbits is Fandango, and though they couldn’t get him to spill anything of real significance, the filmmaker did open up to them about why it’s so important for him to make sure Episode IX connects with the younger audience.
“Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia were all characters that we were able to identify with in various ways, and especially with the character of Rey and what she means to young girls right now, and the challenges that she’s up against. It is extremely crucial that I understand what actual children are feeling about these stories that we’re telling them, and I think it’s important that I have kids, and if filmmakers don’t have kids, they should go talk to them because they don’t see things the same way that we did when we were kids. So, yes, I am very dialled in to that because I think it’s a requisite of the job.”
Further in the interview, Trevorrow also touched on the tremendous team he has helping him put everything together, saying that he’s got tons of support.
“My hope is to make it as richly satisfying as it could possibly be. I have a lot of support, and a lot of really brilliant thinkers and storytellers around me. Kiri Hart and the Lucasfilm story group, and Michelle Rejwan, and Kathy Kennedy, my producers, and J.J. [Abrams] and Rian [Johnson], and Larry Kasdan, and when you look at this army of brilliant people that we have, it’s not me alone. It’s a whole team.”
Again, the director refrains from getting into any plot or character specifics – as expected – but it’s still nice to hear that he’s got the right ideas when it comes to making a film like Star Wars: Episode IX, keeping all audiences in mind and ensuring that the new faces of the franchise are characters we can all connect with. Given the tremendous job he’s done on previous efforts like Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed, we’re fairly certain that the project’s in good hands and are definitely excited to see what he brings to this beloved universe.
Unfortunately, it might be some time before we learn anything more about Star Wars: Episode IX, as it’s not due to fly into theatres until May 24th, 2019. Before then, however, we can look forward to The Last Jedi, which will be with us on December 15th.