Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker actor Greg Grunberg debunks rumors of the film's alleged "J.J. Cut." Shortly after The Rise of Skywalker released to mixed reviews this past December, some fans took to social media to protest the movie, getting the hashtag #ReleaseTheJJCut trending. An obvious spin on Justice League's famous #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, the hashtag spurred from unsubstantiated speculation Disney forced numerous Rise of Skywalker story changes upon Abrams during the film's development process. Chief among those supposed alterations was the removal of Hayden Christensen's cameo as Anakin Skywalker's Force ghost.
There are some notable parallels between The Rise of Skywalker and Justice League, but the existence of an entirely different cut is (so far) not one of them. Whereas there's concrete evidence the Snyder Cut is real and many people have seen it, there's yet to be any proof of there being a "J.J. Cut" of The Rise of Skywalker. And it doesn't look like there ever will be, if the latest comments from Grunberg, a close friend of Abrams', are to be believed.
Speaking with THR about his Star Wars experience, Grunberg was asked about the J.J. Cut rumors that spread earlier this year. While in the same interview, Grunberg did admit there were some huge things cut from The Rise of Skywalker's theatrical version, it sounds like that was all Abrams' doing:
Yeah, I never understood that. I talked to J.J. as friends throughout the entire process. Every night, I'd be like, "How's it going?" Every time, he was so positive. I'm being completely honest here, but not once did he ever tell me that there was any pressure on him to cut things out. It's part of the creative process, obviously. Kathy Kennedy is brilliant; the people at Disney are brilliant. They give notes, but ultimately, it's up to J.J., the director, who they really trust. Personally, I don't think there's any truth to that, and I would be surprised if there's a "J.J. cut." Every movie goes through a series of cuts; it's just the nature of it. You see what works, what you need more of and where you need clarity. So, I think that's all a part of the creative process. I don't buy into it at all.
This isn't to say Mouse House executives didn't have any say in The Rise of Skywalker (Oscar Isaac blamed "Disney overlords" for the lack of a Finn/Poe romance), but it sounds like whatever influence they had was limited when compared to the Justice League situation. On the DCEU team-up film, WB mandated a 2-hour runtime and commissioned nearly 80 pages of Joss Whedon-led reshoots that fundamentally altered the movie. That's why there's been such a vocal outcry over the past few years for the Snyder Cut to see the light of day. In contrast, The Rise of Skywalker has the standard collection of deleted scenes (which sadly are not available on the home media release) and nothing else more nefarious. It's apparent Abrams felt a good deal of pressure to get the film done in time for its December 2019 release date (they were editing on-set during principal photography), but he still had enough leeway.
Conspiracy theorists might claim Grunberg wouldn't publicly say anything if there really was an alternate Rise of Skywalker cut out there, but his quote lines up with what most people have been saying for months. For all intents and purposes, the version released in theaters last winter is the "J.J. Cut." Clearly, not everyone was happy with the way The Rise of Skywalker turned out, but that doesn't mean the studio swooped in and took control of the film away from Abrams, mucking up his vision for the sequel trilogy finale. It might be fun to think there was something more outrageous going on behind-the-scenes, but it looks like this all simply boils down to a matter of viewer taste, with nothing else to unpack.
Source: THR