We’re still over one year away from “Star Wars: Episode VIII” (title yet to be revealed), with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” easing the wait. But of course, Disney and everyone else involved with ‘Episode VIII’ (title yet to be revealed) will be keeping details about the movie under a shroud of secrecy, and so it goes that Adam Driver aka Kylo Ren couldn’t say too much when asked by Collider about the picture. However, his comments about where Rian Johnson is taking the film in terms of feel following J.J. Abrams’ throwback “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” certainly raised some eyebrows and stoked excitement.
“It’s similar to how ‘The Empire Strikes Back‘ has a different tone. For that people always go ‘oooh, it’s dark’ but I don’t know that it necessarily is. It’s just different in tone in a way that I think is great and necessary but also very clear,” Driver said. “He trusts [that] his audience is ready for nuance and ambiguity. He’s not dumbing anything down for someone and that’s really fun to play.”
It certainly sounds that after Abrams set the stage and got everyone reacquainted with the franchise they love, Johnson is now striking out into bolder territory. And Driver seems to have really enjoyed working with the filmmaker.
“Rian’s writing is so clear. I learned a lot of things about my character through his writing. Some things we talked about before and some things we didn’t. He was working on [the script] while we were still working on the first one. To understand what J.J. was doing and take ownership from there is kind of a remarkable thing,” the actor explained. “…A lot of times you need to rise to understand what the script is, and perhaps I’m beginning to be unclear, but he’s a great person to work with.”
We were already sold at Rian Johnson directing a “Star Wars” movie but this is certainly making us feel like our excitement isn’t misplaced.
‘Episode VIII’ opens on December 15, 2017.
