'The Last Jedi' bonus features include "music-only" option; Rian Johnson & Mark Hamill premiere Star Wars doc at SXSW
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released on digital download this week (it’ll be on Blu-ray 3/27), and as director Rian Johnson revealed on Twitter, one of the bonus features is a “music-only” version of the film. According to Johnson, this version of the film solely consists of John Williams‘ score, and includes no dialogue, FX sounds, or related background noise. This exclusive version is only accessible to those who already bought a copy of the film, via Disney’s Movies Anywhere app. Read Johnson’s tweets with further info below:
The Last Jedi’s out today in the states for digital download, blu in two weeks. Of all the special features, my favorite one is kinda hidden, so wanted to call it out. If you buy the movie anywhere online (or the blu) you have access to a music only version of TLJ.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) March 13, 2018
This is the full movie, but with no dialogue, fx or backgrounds… just John’s score. I really wanted to put this out, it’s really something to see John’s music play with the movie, like a silent film.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) March 13, 2018
The one hoop you have to jump through to get it: get the Movies Anywhere app and link whatever account you bought the movie with to it. It’s free, it works pretty painlessly. Kinda a pain I know, but I think it’s worth it to get this version.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) March 13, 2018
One of the other bonus features with the home video/streaming release of The Last Jedi is the documentary The Director and the Jedi, which focuses on the relationship between Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill (you know, Luke Skywalker) on set of the film. Johnson and Hamill hosted a screening of the documentary earlier this week at the SXSW Film Festival which included a post-screening Q&A. As Austin Chronicle points out, Hamill talks about his early criticisms of Johnson’s decisions, but put them in context:
“I was no different with George [Lucas],” Hamill said, and disagreeing with the direction did not mean rejecting it, or not throwing himself into the challenge. He compared it to “going home again to a house I didn’t recognize at all. […] What happened between the last one and this one, where the most optimistic man in the galaxy becomes a suicidal, cranky old man telling people to get off his lawn?” Moreover, Johnson said, “This process happens on every single movie with characters. Because it’s always a dialogue between the director and the actor, and that’s a healthy thing.”
You can watch the trailer for The Director & The Jedi, and stream John Williams’ full score, below.
