Rian Johnson: As a kid I hated Empire Strikes Back but now it's my favorite Star Wars film

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As a kid, I distinctly remember being disappointed by The Empire Strikes Back.

Was that the first one you saw?

That was my first one.

Me, too. Because you couldn’t just “watch Star Wars” like now. It’s whatever was in the theater at the time.

I think my dad took me when I was really young to see A New Hope. Yeah, no, I remember, especially in the context of Return of the Jedi, which as a kid I adored. And so, yeah, I remember very vividly. But then Empire slowly became my favorite one. Look, man, same about you, we were in our twenties when the Prequels came out. I remember the Prequels, that acrimony of the prequels. I think people forget exactly the tenor of the danger. We remember because we were in the thick of it. So, I mean, I don’t know. I think that anything with a passionate following always has a passionate following and Star Wars is that, even more so. You can’t be angry at one side of it when it’s also the reason the positive is so passionate, you know? It’s all part of the same thing and it always was like this basic thing. That’s why I love it.

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