EXCLUSIVE: Rian Johnson Reveals How Leia Killed Ackbar
FSW sat down with famed director Rian Johnson for an exclusive interview, and he revealed a few new things about the much talked about the film. Regardless of how you feel about The Last Jedi, there’s no denying it stirred up the Star Wars fan base like no other piece of media in the saga’s 40 year history. The extremely polarizing Last Jedi and its director have been the topic of conversation for over the past year. Without further ado, enjoy the transcript of our interview, and prepare for a few bombshells…
FSW: Rian, thank you for joining us.
RJ: Thank you! It’s a pleasure being here. Big fan.
FSW: Please tell us, what’s been one of the most controversial scenes in your installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy?
RJ: For me, I think I’ve heard the most complaints about the scene of Leia in space. I don’t think the fans understood what I was trying to do there.
FSW: How so?
RJ: Well, due to the length of our movie being so long, we had to cut a lot of content. One of my favorite scenes was actually left on the cutting room floor. It was this epic space battle between General Leia and Admiral Ackbar.
FSW: Wait! What!? We haven’t heard about this!
RJ: Very few have. It was near and dear to my heart, and I didn’t speak about it openly. Ram [Bergman] and I butted heads over it.
FSW: You had our curiosity but now you have our attention. Please tell us about this scene.
RJ: Well, you see, in the final cut of The Last Jedi you see Leia floating in space with a little bit of ice on her body. You see her wake up, and use the Force to pull herself back to the Raddus. The thing is, prior to her waking up, she had just been in an epic battle with Ackbar over an event that was also cut from the movie.
FSW: Wow! We’re getting some good behind-the-scenes nuggets here. Tell us more.
RJ: Originally, Ackbar went to get some caf, and found out that Leia had taken the last cup of it. In the backstory, this had been going on for some time and this was the catalyst for what would unfold. Ackbar kept all of this pent-up rage deep inside himself, but the battle with the First Order was taking precedence. And when Kylo Ren led his attack on the Raddus, the bridge was destroyed – blowing everyone out into space.
FSW: Yes, that’s how Admiral Ackbar died.
RJ: No, that’s not true. It looks that way in the final edit, but Leia killed him during their space battle.
FSW: Wait a minute! What!?
RJ: That’s right! After they were blown into space, Ackbar tapped into the Force and …
FSW: No! Ackbar is not Force sensitive.
RJ: That’s okay. Kathleen Kennedy told me I can do whatever the hell I want. So Ackbar uses his Force power of ice shards to try and freeze Leia. They fly all around punching and kicking each other like a pair of cray beta fish in space. In the end, Leia wins by putting Ackbar in a choke hold and snapping his neck in cold blood.
FSW: Insane!
RJ: I know, right? I made the scene go silent at the sound of Ackbar’s neck breaking. Ram [Exec. Producer] thought having two scenes that go silent would diminish the Holdo maneuver, so we took this one out of the film.
FSW: I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. I can’t imagine how fans would’ve reacted to that.
RJ: Well, I brought a screenshot of the scene to show you guys. It has unfinished effects, and still needs some polishing, but I think it conveys the emotional impact of the scene well enough.
FSW: That is savage… yet beautiful. Sorry, I need a minute.
RJ: Here’s a tissue. Yeah… it’s pretty heavy. To get around two scenes of total silence, we played with lots of other ways to make “Ackbar’s Last Stand” feel epic in its own right.
FSW: Yeah, he definitely deserved a special goodbye.
RJ: Precisely. So we tried doing something dramatic with color instead of sound. Remember the little girl in Schindler’s List, how her red coat was the only pop of color in film? I thought it might be great to have everything go black and white during Leia and Ackbar’s fight scene with only Ackbar’s orange flesh tone coloring the scene, then slowly dying out as Leia robbed him of precious life. It was super dark, darker than Empire.
FSW: Wow… that’s absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing your story with us. It’s going to make a lot of Ackbar fans happy.
RJ: Anytime guys. Always a pleasure. With any luck, we’ll release a version of the film with all of the deleted scenes included, like Ackbar vs Leia.
FSW: You mean there are more scenes? Just last year, we heard there was only this one fight scene.
RJ: [Lights Newport cigarette, takes drag] A lot can change in a year, kid.
Huge thanks to Rian for taking time out from writing his Star Wars trilogy [YES, IT IS STILL HAPPENING!] to talk to us. What a bombshell — Leia killing Ackbar with her bare hands! And Ackbar being force sensitive… we’re still in shock. Who knows where Johnson is going to take Star Wars next, but we can’t wait to go there with him!
As always, stay tuned to FakingStarWars.net for all the finest Star Wars comedy, parody, and satire in the galaxy. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and subscribe to our Newsletter and Podcasts for even more unbelievable news from a galaxy far, far away. Also, consider supporting us on Patreon… for as little as a buck a month, you can help us fake harder, better, faster, stronger.
–Skye Guy
