ABC/Rick Rowell(NEW YORK) — The Force was strong at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium Saturday night for the world premiere of the highly anticipated eighth installment of the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
“This feels just as overwhelming,” Daisy Ridley, who returns as Rey, told reporters of being back on the carpet for her second Star Wars film. “This feels just as overwhelming,” she admitted before joking, “I need to sit down and … be alone for a while.”
The evening was dedicated to Carrie Fisher, who played Leia and who died last December.
“I want to dedicate tonight to Carrie, who is up there right now flipping me the bird, saying, ‘Damn it Rian, don’t you dare make this night a solemn tribute,'” the film’s writer and director, Rian Johnson, said on stage ahead of the screening.
“I’m very proud of the movie, so I’m very confident of that. Obviously, I’m really nervous. I hope they like it,” Johnson told ABC News before taking the stage. “That’s the whole reason that we do this, is to get people like a good Star Wars movie they can enjoy, so … I’m feeling good, overall. I know I’m really proud of it.”
Star Domhnall Gleeson, who plays Gen. Armitage Hux in the film, waited until Saturday to see the final product with fans.
“I want to sit in with them and hear my first experience of this movie — to hear all the gasps, to hear the laughs, to see everybody lifting their seat for the exciting moments. I want that to be my first experience of it, so I’m really happy I waited,” he said.
And as for who exactly is the titular Last Jedi? Ridley tells ABC News, “Rian has said a number of times that the last Jedi is Luke, but no one believes him. Believe the director!”
ABC News and Lucasfilm are both part of parent company Disney.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
