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Rian Johnson: Kylo Ren is ‘so much fun’ to write

Rian Johnson found Kylo Ren "so much fun" to write for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.
The 43-year-old filmmaker helms the upcoming eighth instalment of the popular sci-fi franchise, and as said the movie’s villain Kylo – played by Adam Driver – was one of his favourite roles to write, as he believes despite the character’s evil streak, he is someone audiences can "relate" to.
Speaking to Empire magazine, Rian said: "Writing Kylo Ren is just so much fun. ‘Star Wars’ boils down to the transition from adolescence into adulthood. That’s the heart of these films and Rey is most obviously the one that hangs on. But it’s also Kylo.
"In the originals you project entirely onto Luke, while Vader is the scary other – he’s the minotaur. The fascinating thing about Kylo and Rey is that they’re two sides of something.
"We can all relate to Kylo: to that anger of being in the turmoil of adolescence and figuring out who he’s going to be as a man; dealing with anger and wanting to separate from his family. He’s not Vader – at least, he’s not Vader yet – and that’s something I really wanted to get into."
And writing Kylo’s character wasn’t the only thing Rian enjoyed about working on the movie, as he previously stated he had "the time of [his] life" on set.
He said: "My friends, whenever I talk to them recently … ask me what the experience was like, I always come back and say I had the time of my life making this movie. Part of that is what Star Wars means to me, and what it means to a lot of us."
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is due to hit cinema screens in December, and will see Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega reprise their roles, as well as the late Carrie Fisher – who passed away in December 2016 – making her final outing as Princess Leia.