/Film Video Interview: Rian Johnson, Writer And Director Of 'Looper,' Talks Major Spoilers

Looper is exactly the kind of movie we all say we want, mixing a tried and true genre with new ideas and interesting themes. It's not based on an old property, it's not a sequel or franchise. Instead Looper is original and sure to spawn lots of discussion. We have writer/director Rian Johnson to thank for that. Coming off two small but solid movies (Brick, and The Brothers Bloom) Johnson proves with Looper that his ideas are bigger than his previous box office.

/Film once again sat down with Johnson to talk about the film and not only touched upon its unconventional blend of genre and theme,  but got deep into what makes the movie tick. I'm talking major spoilers. The bulk of what we discussed was highlighted in last week's article, Ten Mysteries in 'Looper' Explained by Director Rian Johnson, but here you can watch and listen to Johnson explain all the different facets of the film and plot mysteries himself, and in full.

Check out the spoiler-filled video below.

Note: For the first two minutes of our interview, my iPhone hasn't recording so the first two questions were audio only. (Always have a back up, kids. You can't time travel to fix mistakes.) So we'll start with those and then provide the video along with a timestamp breakdown of all the questions.SPOILERS BELOW

/Film: When did you decide that sci-fi action was the right genre to tell a story about the importance of parenting?

I had the sci-fi part because I had written it as this short script years ago. I had that basic hook, and it really was – when I picked it up again – that's what lead to, 'Oh, maybe this could be a bigger thing.' The idea of Sarah and Cid and baked into the first idea was this cycle of violence, this cycle of protecting something you love by killing someone who's a threat to it and the cycle that creates. And so the idea of what is the thing that could possibly break that and Sarah and this possibility of the next generation and instead of killing the problem, raising it right, that was what really ended up creating the ying and the yang of what fits together for the whole puzzle.

And what's great about that is none of that is in the marketing

There's not a frame of Cid in any of the trailers, it's really cool.

I think the only frames are a few of Emily Blunt of course and Bruce with the hand. Was that sort of you or what?

That was Sony, man. We were really lucky that we didn't have to fight for any of that because none of the kid stuff is very marketable. And I remember Bruce telling me this when we were sitting in his trailer before a day of shooting. He goes, 'You know the trailers are going to focus on the gun play, action stuff and time travel stuff, they're not going to say a single word about Sarah or the kid which is awesome because people are actually going to be surprised by a big element of the movie.' And he was totally right, Sony came back with their first round of trailers and I have not had to ask them to take anything out of them, it's all just focused on the sci-fi premise.

And the interview continued on video. The break down is below.

  • 000-100 – What's first? Old Joe being killed or escaping?
  • 100-334 – The confusing chicken and egg effect of the Rainmaker and Joe's life.
  • 335-359 – Why is Old Joe late both times he returns.
  • 400-556 - Consequences of murder in the future and the wife's murder
  • 557-607 – Why is the Rainmaker closing loops?
  • 608-719 – Why do you have to close your own loop?
  • 720-904 – How prevalent did you want the love story?
  • 905-1018 – Does Joe's decision at the end actually work? (The publicist enters to wrap up video here.)
  • 1019-end – Is Old Joe the same as Young Joe?
  • Looper is now in theaters.