'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's Chris Terrio Says He's "Never Rewritten A Film As Much As This One"
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the most divisive blockbuster since Star Wars: The Last Jedi, ended the Skywalker Saga with a heavy concentration of nostalgia and not enough attention paid to its overall plot. For some fans, those little dopamine hits of familiar references were enough to scratch their Star Wars-specific itches; for others, they were amusing distractions in a story that felt rushed and cobbled together. Well, according to one of the film's writers, Chris Terrio, the movie was rushed and cobbled together. And while rewriting major movies on the fly is nothing new (especially not for Star Wars), this one evidently took things to a new level.Business Insider (via The Playlist) got an early look at a copy of the delayed book The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker which was originally set for a December release, but was delayed until today (it's available for purchase right now). Amid pieces of concept art, there are some quotes from Terrio about his work on the movie, and it sounds like a true whirlwind:
"I've never rewritten a film as much as this one. It's like a tide. There's a new script every morning. But we just keep going at it and going at it, loosely thinking that it's not good enough. It's never good enough...Luckily, the production team is so good that they can shift and adjust. We're course-correcting as we go – we're trying things, and some things don't work and some things aren't ambitious enough. Some things are overly ambitious. Some things are too dense. Some things are too simple. Some things are too nostalgic. Some things are too out-of-left-field. We're finding our balance."
It's unclear exactly when Terrio gave this interview for the book (it sounds like it was during the production itself), but it seems as if he inadvertently ended up giving The Rise of Skywalker the most accurate review possible in those statements. While J.J. Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan were able to rewrite The Force Awakens on the fly into something well-liked by critics and audiences alike, that same alchemy didn't quite come together while making The Rise of Skywalker. Constant rewriting can be a good thing in the right hands (look at Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible movies), but when it doesn't work, the results are often obvious and the final product ends up feeling...well, rushed and cobbled together.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available On Demand and on Blu-ray and DVD today.