In case you missed it a month ago… because I’m just seeing this now – Gareth Edwards (director of Star Wars Rogue One and Godzilla) gave an INSANELY motivational speech at SXSW.
In his speech he tells the story of how he went from working in visual effects to becoming a director – a long journey accompanied by both triumph and failure… all sandwiched between this recurring idea –
“Never let anyone tell you you can’t join the Rebel Alliance and blow up the Death Star.”
I feel like pretty much anyone who has ever had a goal can relate to what he is saying. It even reminded me of my own journey through life, trying to find my purpose.
One of the interesting things revealed in this speech was the origin of the name for the planet Scarif. They didn’t have a name for that planet in previous Star Wars lore, and thus had to be named. The name he chose was “Scarif”, which came from an incident in which the name “Gareth” was misheard by a coffee house barista, and he ended up with a cup that had “Scarif” written on it.
The other really interesting factoid – Gareth made a cameo in Rogue One – as the Rebel who launches A New Hope by pulling the lever to set the Tantive IV on its way.
As a kid, you have all these fantastic dreams of what you want to do… some of those dreams seem impossible or unreachable the older you get – and if you get nothing else from this speech, know that NOTHING is impossible… even joining the Rebel Alliance and blowing up the Death Star. Check out the keynote speech below, it just might change your life!
