Among the many new locales Rian Johnson has introduced in The Last Jedi, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly the casino city of Canto Bight. Situated on the planet of Cantonica, Canto Bight isn't just another chance for Neal Scanlan's creature shop to cut loose designing an alien menagerie but plays a key part in the story, right around the movie's halfway mark. John Boyega's Finn and Kelly Marie Tran's Rose find themselves among the high rollers on a vital mission that we won't spoil here, but you can see them both facing off on the gaming floor in this exclusive picture from the October issue of Empire.
"I wanted a new environment that was like dunking your head in a cool bath of water, right in the middle of movie,” explains Johnson. “Apart from the prequels, all the touchstones that make something feel like Star Wars have to do with griminess and dirt. I wanted to do something completely different."
Also in the issue, Johnson describes the complete freedom he had to take The Last Jedi in whatever direction he chose, without having to follow a roadmap laid out by either J.J. Abrams or Lucasfilm.
"The perception of these films is that they’re all planned out on a secret sheet of paper in advance, but that’s just not the case," he says. "I wasn’t given an outline of where it goes or even a list of things to hit. It really was just, ‘Okay, what’s next?’”
“I was terrified coming into this that I was gonna be like Barton Fink and have a script that was due six months ago and I'm still on page three writing about fishmongers. But it’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing something. The whole experience was incredible: just tapping into my ten-year-old self. Even though it’s Star Wars, the whole thing has felt bizarrely similar to my experience making Looper or Brick or The Brothers Bloom.”
For our full, eight-page feature on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with more exclusive images and interviews, pick up the October issue of Empire, on sale Thursday. You can also Subscribe to Empire here.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in UK cinemas on Friday 14 December.