Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey describe why the reference to Darth Vader originally was set to happen earlier in the film.
When American Cinema Editors unveiled the nominees for its annual Eddies Awards on Monday, two of J.J. Abrams’ longtime collaborators, editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, received a nod for their work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The pair’s storytelling prowess helped Abrams and the team hit a home run — the film has grossed $1.54 billion worldwide and continues to climb.
The duo recently talked with The Hollywood Reporter about the editing, as well as what might have been the world’s most secure cutting room. (With that box office figure, we’ll assume you have seen the movie, but we’ll still mention, spoilers ahead.)
For starters, we discussed the scene during which Kylo Ren talks to what’s left of the Vader mask.
“That originally came much earlier in the film,” explains Markey. “It was scripted to happen after Poe and Finn escape from the Star Destroyer, and Kylo Ren would be berate himself for having seen that Finn was a traitor on the battlefield and not have done anything about it. But we realized the moment was wasted there. It wasn’t a big enough event and and it came too early in the film.”
“We moved it to later in the film and made it about his fear about his father’s coming to the planet and his feelings of being pulled toward the light. It had a greater resonance there and greater importance for Kylo Ren’s character.”
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