STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE Filmmakers Reassure Fans on Reshoots, Dark Tone, Unique Style, and More
This past month there have been lots of rumors regarding the reshoots for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Some of the biggest rumors claimed that Disney was unhappy with the first cut and that over 40% of the film was being reshot! Well, in an interview with EW, director Gareth Edwards reassures fans that things aren’t as bad as they sound on the internet and everything is moving forward according to plan.
"It was always part of the plan to do reshoots. We always knew we were coming back somewhere to do stuff, we just didn't know what it would be until we started sculpting the film in the edit."
As I’ve said before, it’s not that uncommon for films to go through reshoots like this. It’s normal practice these days, and this doesn’t seem like it’s anything to be concerned about. The director explains that the new things being shot will be added to preexisting footage:
“There’s lots of little things that we have to get, but it’s all little things within the preexisting footage."
One of the things that makes the reshoots a bit more complicated and the reason why the reshoots will take so long to complete is because of the actors’ schedules. Edwards says:
“Obviously, you’ve got to work around everyone’s schedule, and everyone’s on different films all over the world, and so it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare. That’s why I think it’s been blown out of proportion a little bit. It’s funny, making a film stops you believing anything you’ve ever read on the Internet.”
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy also chimed in on the matter and backed up Edwards saying:
“There’s nothing about the story that’s changing, with a few things that we’re picking up in additional photography. I think that’s the most important thing, to reassure fans that it’s the movie we intended to make.”
She goes on to talk about Edwards’ directing style and how it’s unlike anything we’ve seen in a Star Wars film before.
“One of the things we’re doing with these Star Wars stories is embracing the uniqueness of the different genres, and we’re very deliberately leaning into the various styles of directors that we’re approaching so that each of these movies will very intentionally have a very different tone and style from the saga films. Gareth has shown a stylistic preference that’s much more handheld, visceral, inside-the-action kind of feel.
“He does a lot of handheld, intimate, close-up work. That’s not something you’ve necessarily seen in a Star Wars movie before. And we brought in [cinematographer] Greig Fraser, to shoot it, who had done Zero Dark Thirty. So a combination of Greig and Gareth has been, I think, fantastic, and it just gives it a really unique style.”
On top of that unique style, the dark tone we’ve all heard about with this film will still be present, and the studio is supportive of it. Maybe they aren’t trying to lighten things up after all. The director reassures us:
“I’d definitely describe it as: It’s got dark tone. The studio has been very supportive of that. I mean, the sort of tone we were going for when we started was the tone you have in films like The Empire Strikes Back. And that’s not in any way been compromised.”
Edwards concludes the interview by talking about how retooling the film during the filmmaking process is an important part of retelling the story.
“We have a lot of attention on this. I’d be [worried] the same if I wasn’t involved in it. So it’s just part of the privilege of making Star Wars. But hopefully, people will get to see it when it comes out, and everyone will feel the same way we do.
“A film is a very creative, organic process, and it evolves over time,” he says. “There’s no right or wrong. There’s just ‘better’ and ‘best,’ and with Star Wars, nothing but the best is going to do. So we’re just putting a lot of pressure on ourselves until the very end, making this the greatest film it can be.”
I was never really worried about how Rogue One would turn out, but it’s nice to get a first-hand account from the producer and director about what is really going on. Do their comments make you feel a little more at ease?