It may be tracking to make as much, if not more, money than its predecessor, but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has not been immune from criticism. Many have charged that it capitulates too much to The Last Jedi haters, backtracking on many of the innovations that Rian Johnson brought to the decades-old franchise. Perhaps the biggest complaint is that it mysteriously sidelines Rose Tico, the series’ first major character of color, whose actor, Kelly Marie Tran, was driven off social media by bullying and/or racist trolls.
Now someone wants to do something about it: As caught by Deadline, Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu went to Twitter to lobby for a Rose Tico spin-off series.
Ok @disneyplus . Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter @starwars
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) December 27, 2019
“OK @disneyplus,” the filmmaker tweeted Friday. “Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter”
After Rise of Skywalker viewers noticed the conspicuous dearth of Rose, Slate ran an article in which they clocked her screentime at just over a minute, total. In The Last Jedi, by contrast, she was in nearly 11 minutes, even establishing herself as a possible love interest for John Boyega’s Finn. In Skywalker, however, she mostly stays at homebase, barely conversing with any major characters.
Chu has long established himself as one of Hollywood’s most prominent Asian-American filmmakers, having helmed everything from Step Up sequels, Justin Bieber concert movies, and sequels in the G.I. Joe and Now You See Me franchises. He’s currently working on the movie version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights musical. Here’s hoping the Disney+ social media team is checking their mentions.
(Via Deadline)
