Colin Trevorrow traveled to the Ischia Global Film and Music Fest this weekend to receive the fest’s Breakout Director award. He introduced his recent work The Book of Henry to Italian audiences on Friday, calling the film “a piece of art” and, for him, “purely artistic expression.”
The director — who also helmed Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World — also thanked Italy for its history of supporting the arts and said, “In America right now, it is difficult to make art.”
Stateside, The Book of Henry has been widely panned, with a current 23 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But because Trevorrow will next helm Star Wars: Episode IX, the bad reviews dominated the Hollywood news cycle after its release, with many critics and Star Wars fans questioning online if Trevorrow is the right person for the job.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Trevorrow said he hopes fans know he’s the right man for the job. “Not only did I grow up on these stories, like all of us did, [but] I think that the values of Star Wars are values that I hold very close and very dear in my life,” he explained. “I feel that the message of the way that the Force teaches you to treat other people and show respect for others, and the way it guides you through life, is really important to me. And I hope everybody would realize that that set of stories has affected me as deeply in my life as it has affected them.”
The weight of tackling something with such cultural significance as Star Wars is not lost on him. “I think the challenge for me is to recognize that everyone has their own personal relationship with these stories, and it’s different depending on who you are,” he said. “And I need to make a film that you’ll appreciate, even if your experience with it was different, which is making something that will be deeply emotionally resonant and satisfying for people all around the world. And I think about it a lot.”
In response to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s recent exit from the untitled Han Solo film over creative differences, Trevorrow critiqued the tabloid response to the fallout. “Movies are very personal, and art is very personal, and for people to try to turn that into something that is salacious or something that will get clicks is frustrating and sad for me because I know that [movies] mean a lot to everyone involved,” he said. “And everybody involved in that movie is passionate about it and worked on it very hard and continues to work on it very hard.”
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