New York Magazine - USA (2019-11-11)

november11–24, 2019 | newyork 99

largelyexuberantreceptionandlookingas
if hehasn’t quiterecoveredfromtheprevi-
ousnight’s festivities.“Atthewritingstage,
you’re tryingtotella goodstory,”hesays.
“Whenyou’reonset, nomatterhowbigthe
array oftrucksis orhownicethecatering
is,you’re essentiallyalwaysdealingwitha
cameraanda coupleofactorsandtrying
tomakea scenework.” Thereare definitely
certainattendantweirdnessestomakinga
StarWarsfilm.“There’sa lotmore people

witha lotmorespecificity,”hesaysofhis

crew onTheLastJedi.“There’sthepeople

whoalltheydois sew feathersintoPorgs.

Butthereasonit’s scaleduplike that is the

demandsoftheproduction.So it’s notlike

you’re ontheset ofKnivesOutsaying,

‘Where thefuckare my Porgfeathers?!”

priortojedi,Johnsonhadbuilta repu-

tationasanartisanalwriter-director

basedonthreequirky, accomplishedfilms,

eachofwhichfeelslikea throwbacktoan

eraofcinemathat neverquiteexisted.

RememberwhenHollywoodwascrazyfor

noirfilmsset inhighschools?No?Yet

Johnson’s debut,Brick(2005),a hard-

boiledmysteryset at a sun-bleachedCali-

forniahighschool,seemedtotallynatural,

eveninevitable.His follow-up,TheBroth-

ers Bloom,wasa zany con-mancaperstar-

ringAdrienBrody,MarkRuffalo,and

RachelWeiszthat couldbetheanswerto

Johnson, left, on set with Christopher Plummer as the murdered mystery writer.