Movies

Here’s why #ReleaseTheJJCut is trending

A sensational, unverified report claims to have an inside look into the turmoil that was The Rise of Skywalker development process.

Patrick Ross

January 2, 2020

Multiple hashtags, such as #ReleaseTheJJCut #ReleaseTheAbramsCut are trending worldwide around the supposed existence of the “JJ cut” or “Abrams cut” of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker thanks to a sensational supposed look into the process behind making the movie that details infighting, last minute changes, and a tightened corporate leash that reports to have stifled Abrams’ vision for the movie.

The report comes out of the subreddit ‘SaltierThanCrait’, which describes itself as “a community for those who are critical of the recent new Star Wars revival from Disney and wish to have intelligent, respectful discourse about it.” Given this story fits directly in with the community’s mission statement and feels reminiscent of the “Snyder Cut” controversy surrounding Justice League, the story should be taken with, well, a grain of Crait salt.

“I’ve been corresponding with someone who worked closely on the production of TROS and works for one of the major companies I cannot disclose here,” the post reads. “I have verified the source to my satisfaction. ”

It then goes on to drop nuggets of information like (SPOILERS ahead for The Rise of Skywalker)

JJ Abrams suggested the movie be split into two parts to give more time to the story.

When that was turned down, Abrams was satisfied with a 3 hour, 2 minute cut of the film (the final film ended up being 2 hours and 12 minutes).
Abrams was “blindsided and devastated” by the final cut of the movie, as it was not what he worked on.
Abrams, in a fit of anger, supposedly asked something along the lines of “Why don’t you just put ‘directed and written by Lucasfilm’ then?”

Rose’s reduced role had little to do with CG problems surrounding Leia, and rather had to do with Disney wanting to avoid the type of backlash they received from The Last Jedi.
The “ending that will blow your mind” that JJ touted originally was far more epic, featuring visual shots of Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, and every other Jedi that ended up merely speaking to Rey in the final cut. This was supposedly cut to appease China, whose government does not allow images of apparitions or ghosts.
Abrams, Oscar Isaac and John Boyega pushed for Finn and Poe to have a romantic relationship, but was met with resistance by Disney. Isaac did claim in an interview “Disney overlords were not ready to do that,” seemingly confirming this.

“My source knows JJ well enough to know that he’s just not the yelling type but apparently in a meeting he yelled something along the lines of “Why don’t you just put ‘directed and written by Lucasfilm’ then?” My source wasn’t present for that exchange but knows some who were.”
“Disney demanded they shoot some scenes that would have things in it for merchandise. “They fly now” is one of them. It’s also JJ’s least favorite scene. At a November screening of a 2:37 cut, he cringed, groaned and laughed when the scene was on.”

Again, it’s impossible to verify any of this. While some of the bullet points in the report seem to make perfect sense, especially given the tepid comments cast and crew have made in the promotion of the movie, others can easily be read as wishful thinking. However, it’s no secret that some who worked on The Rise of Skywalker are unhappy with the final result. While it’s interesting to think about, I advise you not to put much stock into this until more confirmation is found.