It was no mystery that a lot of people were unhappy with The Rise of Skywalker, and when the rumor came out that the film was actually Disney's cut and not J.J. Abrams', a lot of fans had come online to demand the release of a ‘J.J. Cut'. Bad news though, because TROS actor Greg Grunberg says that no such cut exists.
Talking to THR, Grunberg was asked about the J.J. Cut, and he said:
"Yeah, I never understood that. I talked to J.J. as friends throughout the entire process. Every night, I'd be like, ‘How's it going?' Every time, he was so positive. I'm being completely honest here, but not once did he ever tell me that there was any pressure on him to cut things out. It's part of the creative process, obviously. Kathy Kennedy is brilliant; the people at Disney are brilliant. They give notes, but ultimately, it's up to J.J., the director, who they really trust."
It's also worth noting that Grunberg and Abrams are very close friends, and the reason he's even in Star Wars in the first place is because of their relationship. Grunberg goes on to say:
"Personally, I don't think there's any truth to that, and I would be surprised if there's a ‘J.J. cut.' Every movie goes through a series of cuts; it's just the nature of it. You see what works, what you need more of and where you need clarity. So, I think that's all a part of the creative process. I don't buy into it at all."
For now, I guess everyone is kind of contractually obligated to keep all their personal thoughts about a movie to themselves, after all Disney is still busy promoting the home release. If anything, we should give it a bit of time before the ‘honesty' finally sinks in; maybe in a couple of years. All we can really do is wait.
Personally, I'm still not a fan of The Rise of Skywalker, but after a second watching, I can kind of understand the structure better, now that I know how things go down.
Catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker now available on digital.
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