In a world full of millions of different fandoms devoted to many different television shows, movements, cultures and films, we can easily say that there are some crazy fandoms out there, and one fandom that has peeked out of the woodwork and has went to the top of that list is the fandom that is being described as the ‘toxic Star Wars fandom’. This came around after the release of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ which although the film reached critical acclaim and financial success, it left the fandom divided on their thoughts. Now flash forward to 7 months later and we now have a supposed dedicated group of ‘fans’ aiming to remake Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi.
When I first heard of this ‘movement’, it sounded absolutely insane for a bit and at first thought it was a troll but after over a month of the Remake The Last Jedi account still going strong, I decided it was time to talk with the people behind this ‘movement’ and see what was up, so that’s exactly what I did.
Immendiately when I emailed the folks at contact@remakethelastjedi.com, I was sent the following regarding the opportunity to ask questions to these folks: “Send some questions, can’t promise they’ll answer them but I can send them along.“ So it seems either they hired some online assistant or they were just pretending to have an assistant, either one is hilarious to me.
Although they would not shed light on my questions regarding the progress of Remake The Last Jedi and anything regarding the investors, I first asked them what motivated them to begin this ‘movement’ to remake the film, they responded with: “Our frustration with the film and the lack of objective criticism. (The Last Jedi received a 95% initial critic score on rotten tomatoes)”.
Clearly for The Last Jedi to be remade, you would have to have legal permission from The Walt Disney Company so when I asked them if they have had any discussions with the company regarding remaking the film, they responded with: “Our goal is to remake The Last Jedi and for us to do that they way we want. We would like Disney on board.” It seems they are blissfully unaware that they would need Disney’s permission for this.
I next wanted to see if these guys had any underlying motivations other than the fact that they hated The Last Jedi so I next asked them for their thoughts on Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy, they responded with: “They actually both seem like nice people. Kathleen Kennedy, we respect because she has been a part of a lot of movies that we love.” And then I asked them what their thoughts were regarding the people who say they are racist and sexist for their comments regarding the film, which they responded with: “We think this has been the response to the majority of people who have legitimate criticisms with the film, which seems unfair and attempts to silence people who want to respectfully have an opinion.” Both of these comments were very respectful, if only they were putting their kindness to something useful.
I then finally wanted to see if Seth Rogen had ever contacted them (via DM) since both of them follow each other on Twitter and what they would say regarding if Rogen is involved in Remake The Last Jedi, this is what they had to say: “He can speak for himself. But we think there is a general interest in what we are attempting to do.”
To end the interview, I asked them regarding the likelihood in their opinion of Disney remaking The Last Jedi and if they should do it, they responded with: “We can’t speak for Disney, but we have looked at this idea from a lot of angles and it actually can make a lot of financial sense if they hear us out.”
Obviously it’s pretty clear the remaking of ‘The Last Jedi’ will never happen however I visited their website and found that so far they have been pledged $410,717,330 for their remake, sadly you can no longer enter your own amount into the pledge ‘box’ so I just gave them a $10 pledge to make them happy.
