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How an Apple MacBook Air Kept the ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Script Secret

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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January 12, 2018, 11:10 AM ET

Next time you look over at someone typing away on a computer at the coffee shop, you might be looking at someone creating the next big Star Wars script.

In a piece published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Rian Johnson, the writer and director for last year’s blockbuster Star Wars: The Last Jedi, revealed that he wrote the entire film on Apple’s thin and lightweight notebook, the MacBook Air. But in a world overrun with security threats and people lusting after early access to a Star Wars script, Johnson needed to take some extreme measures to keep the script safe.

Johnshon explained in his Journal article that he kept the MacBook Air “air-gapped,” a term used to define a computer that never accesses the Internet. He also only used the MacBook Air for writing the script and when done, would turn it off and kept it hidden away in a safe at the studio.

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“I think my producer was constantly horrified I would leave it in a coffee shop,” he wrote.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters to widespread fanfare in December. While the film has proven to be a blockbuster hit, it’s also been polarizing among Star Wars fans, with some loving the film’s direction and others taking issue with it. Still, with box office earnings in excess of $1 billion, the film has earned its place as one of the most popular Star Wars films ever.

And who knew the whole time it was just hiding on a MacBook Air?

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