It’s no secret that Star Wars fans are vocal. The franchise has amassed one of the largest fanbases in the galaxy, so with every new release comes rounds of conversation and analysis to go with it. And in the age of social media, fans can easily reach actors and filmmakers with the power of “@”. The polarizing release of The Last Jedi significantly took aim at writer/director Rian Johnson and the one of the film series’ newest additions, Kelly Marie Tran.
The Last Jedi backlash may have led Rose Tico actress to quit social media, but peculiarly enough, Rian Johnson is still going strong on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Since the filmmaker has been promoting his star-studded whodunnit Knives Out, he’s been opening up about his relationship with social media following the release of the Star Wars film, and it sounds like he’s not giving the haters a decimal of a parsec. In his words:
Anyone who’s online is going to encounter some degree of trolling. Now, I have had. Slightly more than most people. Though people would be surprised if they had my timeline, to see how little of it I now have to deal with. It’s just the same assholes doing it over and over. I’ve blocked, like, 150 people, so my mentions aren’t so bad any more. I’m no martyr; if I wasn’t having a good time, I wouldn’t be on Twitter. Once it stops being fun, I’ll log off like a shot.
There you have it! A Twitter account is by no means necessary. Rian Johnson can press pause or delete it from his life any time he wants, but right now, he doesn’t mind it at all! In fact, as he recently told The Guardian, he actually finds it to be a “good time.” Once you block a couple hundred trolls, social media isn’t too bad!
In our recent interview with Rian Johnson for the ReelBlend podcast, the filmmaker talked about how grateful he is for the negative Last Jedi comments. Johnson said that before he was involved in Star Wars, he’d get wrapped up over one negative piece of criticism. Now, he’s learned not to attach his own self-worth to being liked on social media after being exposed to so much commentary on his work. It certainly seems like the writer/director has found a healthy way to deal with some often unhealthy discourse on the internet. Good for him!
Rian Johnson can perhaps take this into Lucasfilm’s reported plans to have him helm a Star Wars trilogy of his own! In the spirit of Johnson’s point, here’s a PSA from Jamie Lee Curtis, who stars in his new film Knives Out:
Star Wars’ Rey, Daisy Ridley, has also seen her share of haters online as well. The actress deleted her social media accounts after the trolls started rolling in too. Ridley recently talked about how she loves the discussion surrounding the films, but politely called out fans, asking them to not be “so vicious” when talking over a film hundreds of people pour so much hard work into.
Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is currently in theaters, so check out the modern take on murder mysteries!
