Just as Rian Johnson asked J.J. Abrams for droid help, Colin Trevorrow needed a small scene for his upcoming Star Wars sequel.

Part of Star Wars: Episode IX was shot during the making of The Last Jedi

Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker type Movie Where to watch Close Streaming Options

Episode IX has already started shooting. At least a tiny part of it.

Writer-director Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi is coming this December, but the filmmaker putting together its sequel, due in 2019, asked his Star Wars colleague to use his sets and actors to film a scene he needs.

Colin Trevorrow, currently promoting his new offbeat family dramedy The Book of Henry, told MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that although he’s still working on the script, there was a specific piece he needed Johnson to supply.

“There was one little thing. It wasn’t an adjustment, it was just, ‘Could you shoot this one extra thing while you’re in this place on this day?’ And he did, which was great. But, it’s part of the collaborative process that exists – everyone is in communication,'” Trevorrow said.

Similarly, Johnson asked The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to slightly change the ending of his movie to place R2-D2 on the mission to locate the exiled Luke Skywalker rather than BB-8.

Why Trevorrow (Jurassic World) felt he wouldn’t be able to shoot this scene within the schedule of his own movie, or whether this was just a practical request so Lucasfilm wouldn’t have to store a large set for a small scene – or bring back certain actors – is unclear.

Mostly, it’s just an example of collaborative storytelling, with each member of the team requesting a little set-up help from the filmmaker who comes before. That allows each film to have a singular voice, but with a little compromise to avoid boxing in the person who is up next.

“There’s such a genuine want to get this right from everybody, and I think that one of the misconceptions is that there’s some kind of great corporate overlord that is dictating this story to everybody, and that’s what it’s going to be because that’s going to sell the most toys,” Trevorrow says. “The reality of it is that it’s a small group of people, but it’s actually kind of large when you think about it. And none of them are corporate, all of them are creatives and all of them are genuinely, very sincerely, wanting to do the work of their lives in order to realize this.”

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