The anticipation is incredibly high for Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi," so much so that the film's original running time would make the news. We know that the final cut is150 minutes and that makes it the longest Star Wars film yet. Next longest? Attack of the Clones at 142 minutes. The original three films in the trilogy were the three shortest. "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" clocking in at 121 minutes, 124 minutes and 132 minutes respectively. Johnson is clearly swinging for the fences with this movie. As I've said before, he is the most talented filmmaker that has ever helmed a "Star Wars" movie, it's not even close.
And yet, according to a recent interview he did with Collider, he originally had a three hour cut.
“We had a long movie from the start. It was well over three hours, the first cut… It’s much better at two and a half [hours] than it was at over three, but it was a cut I had put together, is where we started. And it was over three hours.”
Don't bother waiting for a director's cut of that 180 minute version, Johnson doesn't believe that was the best version of "The Last Jedi," but there is the likelihood that the scenes that made the cutting room floor will see the light of the day eventually"
“I’m really not into [releasing an extended cut]. I feel like the cut is what it is because I feel like it’s the best version of the movie, so the ‘director’s cut’ is the movie that’s going out in theaters. All the deleted scenes, no matter how much I love them, they came out for a reason and it’s all for the greater good of the movie itself. You can watch the deleted scenes on their own, I think that’s the way to watch them, but the movie is definitely the best version of the movie I think.”
I'm seeing "The Last Jedi" next Monday at a press screening.
[Collider]