Domnhall Gleeson Says Hux Was "Written For Laughs" In Ep8,Hopes Hux Will Be Comedic In Ep9

Could work. It just lacks a slap on his face.

 

The film directly addresses why Snoke has Hux in such a position.

It's fine to not like the story decision but to ask a targetted question that the filmmakers already took the time to answer, doesn't make sense.

yes, the film does address the issue. but it makes absolutely no sense at all. No sane leader would put ineptitude at the head of his army and the most powerful weapon the galaxy has ever seen during a war. now if his position was ceremonial I could understand it. Plus in the first film Hux seemed to be a well-respected leader by Snoke then suddenly he isn't. This is one more case where the director decided to subvert expectations just because.

 

i'm not happy with the way Hux was treated in TLJ on a variety of levels, but i will say that he wasn't any more particularly humiliated than anyone else in the film due his failures (in keeping with the theme). part of the problem is that the film opened on a gag that somehow colored his character for a lot of people. and the other part of the problem is that Gleeson himself (either as an acting choice or under Johnson's direction) chose to play Hux in the broadest terms possible (give him a mustache and let him twirl it, why don't you ~ha!).

i don't think there will any problem course-correcting Hux in IX. from the end of TLJ, i'm pretty sure Hux is already plotting his coup against Ren, and both Gleeson and Johnson agreed that Hux should still be considered a formidable opponent, despite the manner in which he gets trashed in TLJ.

and frankly, seeing that finger-biting scene gives me hope: it's maybe an amusing scene, but it needed to be cut because it's pretty silly. not only can i not imagine Hux dirtying his hands by touching Rebel scum, but i also can't imagine him not killing Rose right then and there without a second thought the moment her teeth clamped down. : o p

Gleeson is a great comedic actor and he probably really likes chewing scenery (hence his comments in the interview), but hopefully Abrams injects some restraint back into his performance. : D

 

I too dislike the way Hux was portrayed in TLJ. In TFA, he seemed competent, sharp, seemed to be respected, he was intriguing, and interesting. Now, quite frankly, he seems like it's the opposite. He seems to be incompetent, not sharp enough to be in command and people seem to mock or at least doubt him.

He's still unpredictable, perhaps a bit more now, and quite dangerous, but he was ridiculed by the movie. The intro scene was clearly a bit over the top, in my opinion. I got a very clear space balls vibe from the whole intro scene, and while I love that movie I didn't like to be remembered of it while seeing a proper Star Wars film. That scene took me out of the movie, and it seems many others as well.

Hux is still interesting in my view, and I look forward to what he may do next. I'm sure he could play an interesting role in his fight for power with Kylo. However, he may only get a minor role this time or even return to TFA's original posture, where he was more threatening and firm. Who knows at this point.

I have nothing against using humour and I even like it in TLJ to a good extent, but ridiculing the enemy's general in command was not something I appreciated, unless there was some film fact or story behind that, like Snoke using him because he thinks he's unpredictable, dangerous, even incompetent. But, if so, why lecture him in the bridge for his failure in the intro scene? He could be toying with him though.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I think they exagerated a bit on that intro scene., and I just wanted to take this out of my chest.

 

Just having a few comedy moments doesn’t make a character less threatening, not in a SW film where the tone changes so much from a scene to the next. As @FN-3263827 mentioned before, that last look Hux gives Kylo at the end of TLJ as well as that moments when he says “that’s enough! do you think you got him?” seem to indicate Hux will give kylo a thing or two to worry about in ep9. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hux were to display much more gravitas in the next movie. Everybody knows that bullied bullies are the worst. For me panto Hux was one of the less jarring comedy attempts in TLJ. Gleeson is incredibly watchable and he made the most of those lines he was given. As he said, his scenes were written comically more than played comically. It’s evident that RJ just wanted to use him for the lols.

 

Maybe I'm a dour, glum jerk, but I don't think Hux should be Comedy Central. I liked him a lot better in The Force Awakens.

 

It seems that some people who don't like the film just hate everything about the film. If Hux was Tarkin 2.0 they'd be complaining he's too serious.

 

Which isn't terribly different from how some people who like the film will defend anything and everything about it. We could have had Hux turn into Jar Jar 2.0 and we'd have to listen to how it was brilliant filmmaking, it was a logical continuance of the character's narrative, it was really the only direction the filmmaker's could have gone with him when you really think about it, and anyone who doesn't like it just isn't smart enough to understand good movies.

 

That's the Hux we knew. The one that gives those looks and gives those firm orders. He even seems wise to an extent, but only at the end of the movie. I know that is probably intentional, to give more dynamic to the character, and to obtain some contrast in his interactions with Kylo. However, it seems like two different characters at times. So, on one hand we have what seems to be the inexperienced brat in the beginning (e.g. "Can he hear me?", "What's the point of all this, if..."), and then the focused commander (e.g. "That's enough!", "Don't get distrated. Our goal is...").

I like the movie, that's not the issue. I just wanted to express that I would have preferred for Hux to be more consistent, and more inline with TFA and the ending of TLJ. The humour is ok, even good at times, but that Hux intro? I don't know. It's like suddenly Piett would start to act goofy, or Darth Vader started making jokes, I'm sure you get the point. Humour: great; act silly and inconsistently: not good.

 

I think that's an unfair reduction of the argument.

For me, at least, it has to do with how he was presented in Force Awakens. Sure, he came across as snivelling once or twice, but he also came across as a character his underlings respected. I mean, for goodness' sake, he was the guy who gave a loud, angry speech before ordering the Hosnian System to be destroyed. Does he need to be, or should he be, like Tarkin? Of course not. But reducing him to someone to laugh at for the majority of his screen time made for an out-of-character development.

 

Hux wasn't terrifying in TFA, but he was menacing, you could see him becoming a monster. There is very little menacing about him now. If it was intended all along that the FO leadership were fanboys of the Empire, and emulated their dress but not their military talent (in a parallel of how Kylo emulated Darth Vader but lacked his strength), then the turn in TLJ makes sense. If we are supposed to take Finn's admonition in TFA seriously (i.e. "You don't know a thing about me, what I've seen... We all need to run) than I think TLJ subverts that. The FO isn't really that dangerous. The threat they present is more a function of their resources as opposed to their ideology. Did they blow up Hosnian prime? Yes. Could they do it again? No because they failed to protect a super weapon several times larger than the Death Star (which probably took decades to build). They couldn't have spared one of the several SD at their disposal to defend against attack? The Resistance X-Wings never should have even made it to the surface of the planet.

 

I think TLJ Hux would work if he was a bigger character given more time (maybe portray him as a Norman Bates type) but given he has so little screen time, when 2 or 3 of his scenes are off from what we're used to it becomes difficult to process his character. Subverting for the sake of doing something unexpected but without formed reasoning behind it (or a story arc) throws fans off needlessly.

It fits with much of TLJ. Everything he did could have worked if this was live action SW with 20 some episodes of 45 minute length to delve into the side characters and their motivations. As a 2 hour 30 minute movie, it failed for me quite miserably. As a fan I feel I have to write entire chapters on side characters to make anything make any kind of sense, and then just to have my justifications subverted and me blamed for creating my own head canon some time down the road.

Not interested.

 

Convenient way of thinking.

I don't remember anyone complaining about Chewie not being a serial killer.

Someone made a comparison with Hogan's heroes and it was a good one.

 

Also, consider the background of the Imperial officers. Not only was the Empire Palpatine's plan, but many of the officers (such as Tarkin and Yularen) were "trained" by fire in the Clone Wars. That's why Canady feels so much more familiar than someone like Hux- he's an Imperial veteran, and wasn't born and raised in the much more "chaotic evil" First Order, as opposed to the Empire's "lawful evil".




Hux, on the other hand, was basically bred as a serial killer/psychopath, not a seasoned commander. You get what you pay for, I guess.

Honestly, even if I don't 100% love how Hux was portrayed in TLJ, I can definitely admire the continuity of portraying these two different backgrounds.

 

same here; this is one of those: "i like the idea, but i'm not fond of the execution."

i don't think Hux is "ruined" by this. i have no doubt in my mind he'll come back more formidable than ever. i was hoping for a more nuanced story with him overall, but ultimately this is Star Wars and they likely will go with some pretty broad and obvious themes in the end.

 

People really lose sight of the fact that only like 4 characters have EVER had a nuanced on screen story.
Luke, Vader, Palps, Obi-Wan

Obviously the new group is not finished yet but Finn and Rey seem very likely to join those ranks.
Even Leia's story isn't THAT nuanced. She's very much the same strong capable leader she always was.
Han was always Han. (That's why Ford wanted him dead in ROTJ)
They get little bits here and there but nothing I'd call nuanced.

 

i'm honestly not sure that any of those characters have a nuanced story (Star Wars isn't much for nuance ~ hahahaha).

i think some of us got spoiled by the world-building Wendig started in Aftermath.
i know some people don't care for those books, but Wendig really went all-out to show both sides of the story and TFA seemed to be upholding that theme of good and bad not being the whole story. the ST is still kind of working with this ambiguity, but Johnson really painted some broad strokes in TLJ and Hux epitomizes that, unfortunately.

i take comfort in the fact that, really, the character is still intact and there's still hope for him getting treated with a little more sensitivity.
his description in the children's book Heroes of the Galaxy actually fashions him as misguided rather than evil (the word evil is reserved solely for Snoke).

 

I'd argue Luke's journey from farm boy - to war hero - to Jedi Master is a nuanced one.
From baby Anakin to angsty Anakin to Vader is nuanced...not told the best but nuanced lol.
Obi-Wan might have the most nuanced story of all of them when it comes to his belief in the Jedi ways to the increasing disillusionment he faces up through Sith
And Palpatine orchestrating everything is fairly nuanced.

This isn't Oscar winning character development nuanced but in the context of Star Wars, it's as nuanced as it gets lol
So if your character grows, hey, that's a nuanced Star Wars character! lol

 

hahahaha ~ okay i will concede that in the realm of Star Wars, this is as sophisticated as we can hope for.
i honestly think Han has a more nuanced character arc (especially with TFA). i also think this is part of why he's such a popular character.
and interestingly, i think Obi-Wan and Darth Maul win big points for how their stories come to an end, which is much more nuanced than the ham-fisted way either of them began.

so it's definitely possible and desirable! and i actually think the ST and its EU are trying to give it all that. even in TLJ, we got DJ, who is an interesting anomaly in this world (his giving Rose back her pendant is hands-down one of the nicest moments in the film, i think).

now i just want that kind of care taken with someone like Hux, who frankly deserves it.