- J.J. Abrams addressed fan backlash toward "The Last Jedi" in an interview with IndieWire.
- He said that people who feel threatened by women can probably "find an enemy" in "Star Wars."
J.J. Abrams is returning to a galaxy far, far away for next year's "Star Wars: Episode IX," and he seems undeterred by the fan backlash against Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi."
In an interview with IndieWire, "The Force Awakens" director said that people who are "threatened by women" can find "Star Wars" to be an easy target, and that anyone can "find a problem with anything" in the Internet age:
"'Star Wars' is a big galaxy, and you can sort of find almost anything you want to in 'Star Wars,'" he told IndieWire. "If you are someone who feels threatened by women and needs to lash out against them, you can probably find an enemy in 'Star Wars.' You can probably look at the first movie that George [Lucas] did ['Star Wars: A New Hope'] and say that Leia was too outspoken, or she was too tough. Anyone who wants to find a problem with anything can find the problem. The internet seems to be made for that.”
The sexist backlash against "The Last Jedi" ran so deep that someone made a 46-minute edit of it that excluded all the women. (It was widely mocked.)
But as Abrams prepares to step back into the Millennium Falcon, these extreme measures from some disgruntled fans don't bother him in the slightest.
He told IndieWire:
"There’s a lot that I would like to say about it, but I feel like it’s a little early to be having the 'Episode IX' conversation ... I will say that the story of Rey and Poe and Finn and Kylo Ren — and if you look, there are three men and one woman, to those that are complaining that there are too many women in 'Star Wars' — their story continues in a way that I couldn’t be more excited about and cannot wait for people to see.”
The untitled ninth installment in the "Star Wars" saga starts filming in June and arrive next year. "Solo: A Star Wars Story" arrives in theaters in May.
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