Christopher McQuarrie says he was an 'innocent bystander' in toxic fandom row

25 July 2018

Christopher McQuarrie says he was an "innocent bystander" before being caught up in the row about toxic 'Star Wars' fandom.

Christopher McQuarrie

The 50-year-old filmmaker recently ruled out ever helming a 'Star Wars' movie after he was subjected to abuse purely because Rian Johnson - whose 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' divided the franchise's fanbase - hailed Christopher as one of the industry's most accomplished screenwriters.

After being attacked by internet trolls, Christopher tweeted: "My friend, After five minutes of this, I don't know why you're still on Twitter.

"I would have loved to make a Star Wars film someday. I'm cured. (sic)"

The director has now reflected on the situation, saying he can understand the passion of 'Star Wars' fans.

Asked about the subject of toxic fandom by Collider, Christopher replied: "I can tell you from my limited experience - I got caught up as an innocent bystander in a bunch of 'Star Wars' stuff.

"Look, movies are very emotional. They're extremely, extremely emotional. A movie like 'Star Wars' or movies like Marvel where you're dealing with comic books, this is stuff that's coming from their childhood. It's the same thing as campfire stories, and in some cases it's the very fabric of their growing up. It's something of which they're hugely protective."

The acclaimed director explained that he had some previous experience of the situation, likening it to his 2000 directorial debut 'The Way of the Gun'.

He said: "Going back to 'The Way of the Gun', what I did in 'The Way of the Gun' is I defied the expectations of the viewer; I subverted them right from the very beginning of the film. And I learned a valuable lesson which is that people tend to react quite extremely when you don't meet their expectations or when you don't tell them the story.

"What I did in 'The Way of the Gun' was I was asking you to figure it out instead of telling you what I wanted you to feel. Mass audiences - I'm not saying everybody - but mass audiences tend to reject that sort of thing."