Anna Daniels
So, The Rise of Skywalker is out, and it’s ended up being fairly controversial. Were you surprised?
It was so much fun to work on, and obviously I wish that people weren’t so polarized about the film in their reviews. I’m a little surprised that they are because I really believe the film is so good and so entertaining and so right about where it went and what it needed to do. I can say I was a little taken aback by the reviews, but now that the dust has settled, I guess the world is polarizing place right now and the reviews seem very reflective of that attitude.
You also edited The Force Awakens. How was your experience on that different than on The Rise of Skywalker?
Well, with The Force Awakens we were creating — or J.J was creating, and Larry Kasdan, the other writer, was creating — new characters. It was all about introducing these characters to the world of Star Wars, and coming back after a long period of time where there hadn’t been a Star Wars movie, and re-entering the world of Star Wars.
I think we did it with a lot of love and care and excitement, also introducing older characters back into the franchise that people, fans especially, will love and adore, and who hopefully newcomers would learn to love and adore. It was really super exciting.
I mean, I’ve always been a Star Wars lover. I grew up with Star Wars, so for me it was thrilling to be able to do it. And this one was taking those characters we created and lovingly giving them, not an end to their story, but finishing their journey. And I think I’m really satisfied with how we did that.
Were there differences on the production side at all?
Oh, look, when did we do Force Awakens? 2014? And now it’s 2018, ’19, ’20. Obviously, technology keeps racing along. So, there are more and more tools that I have as an editor.
I think we started two or three months later then we started The Force Awakens, so we had a slightly shorter time to do it, but the challenges on any movie are always the same. Are we telling the right story? Is it clear? Are people reacting? Is the pace right? Is the story right? Is the emotion right?
This movie, because it was so big and so epic, had the added challenge of people already having formed opinions about what they want to see when they go to the film. It’s an interesting thing. You go to a Marvel film, right? Or a Superman and Batman film, those characters. People know those characters. You know what you’re going to get with Superman and Batman. On this, I feel like J.J and Chris Terrio were creating these characters — or finishing creating these characters — and having you fall in love with them.
What I’m proudest of in this movie is that I feel like it’s an emotional journey. And when I read the script, that was my big thing, like, I hope we can make this as emotionally satisfying an emotional journey for the fans and for the newcomers.
Written by: Looper
