Rian Craig Johnson born December 17 1973 is an American filmmaker He made his directorial debut with the neonoir mystery film Brick 2005 which received positive reviews and grossed nearly 4 million on a 450000 budget Transitioning to higherprofile films Johnson achieved mainstream recognition for writing and directing the sciencefiction thriller Looper 2012 to critical and commercial success Johnson landed his largest project when he wrote and directed the space opera Star Wars The Last Jedi 2017 which grossed over 1 billion He returned to the mystery genre with Knives Out 2019 which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and its sequel Glass Onion 2022 Outside of film Johnson directed three episodes of the television drama series Breaking Bad 20082013 He received the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing Drama Series in 2013 for his work on the season 5 episode FiftyOne