Oscars 2020: 'Knives Out' director Rian Johnson thanks angry 'Last Jedi' tweets for nomination
Rian Johnson's 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is perhaps the most divisive movie in the franchise, so much so that JJ Abrams spent most of 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' trying to retcon everything the previous movie did. But even though he was crucified online for 'The Last Jedi', Johnson's career is now bigger than ever after bagging an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for his movie 'Knives Out'.
Ironically, 'Knives Out' may never have happened if Johnson hadn't faced such terrible backlash for 'The Last Jedi'.
"Anyone who's on Twitter these days, God bless you because it’s rough waters out there, but there’s also wonderful stuff about it. That’s why we’re all still on it I guess," Johnson told Deadline in November. "That’s one of the things (Knives Out) engages with, the current state of online culture. Whether you made a Star Wars movie or you have a cooking show, whatever you’re doing on there, someone's going to be screaming at you about it probably. Let's put it on a screen in a way we can all maybe have a laugh about it."
Meanwhile, 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' has Oscar nominations for sound editing, music, and visual effects, which are pretty much the only departments in which the movie excelled. And though the franchise may have wasted its finale on doing away with everything he built, Johnson is still open to doing more work in the galaxy far, far away. He reportedly told Variety on January 13 that, "I'm still talking to Lucasfilm but they haven't announced anything on their slate yet."
'Knives Out' was written and directed by Johnson, with an ensemble cast that includes Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Katherine Langford, Lakeith Stanfield, and Christopher Plummer. The movie was released on November 27, 2019.