BetweenSuicide SquadandRogue One: A Star Wars Story,if there’s one thing this year has taught us (besides the fact that Jai Courtney might have been secretly awesome this whole time), it’s that reshoot rumors can be nasty business for a film trying to earn good buzz. With regard toRogue One, there have been murmurs of trouble in Lucasfilm paradise since mid-May, when reports surfaced that Disney’s firstStar Warssolo film wastesting poorly,and since Disney don’t play, the film would undergo extensive reshoots over the summer.
Lo and behold, a few months and a lot of rumors later,Rogue Oneis in the midst of five weeks of reshoots withMichael ClaytonhelmerTony Gilroyre-tooling the script and directing second unit for a planned end date ahead of the July 15th Star Wars Celebration. But what is the nature of those reshoots? Is it the majortonal overhaulreports have suggested, or simply some pre-planned additional footage as the studio insists? We’ve heard from studio sources who claim the reshoots are simply minor moments and from co-starMads Mikkelson, who insists thatRogue Oneis “the same film”, but today brings word from directorGareth Edwardshimself and Lucasfilm chiefKathleen Kennedy, and naturally they’re downplaying the severity of the reshoots.
“I mean 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,” Edwards toldEW.
He continued, saying that the shots were “all little things within the preexisting footage,” and that getting the large ensemble cast back together has been the biggest hurdle. “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,” he said. “That’s why I think it’s been blown out of proportion a little bit.”
Kennedy backed Edwards' play, insisting that the story itself isn’t changing and the film will still have theBand of Brothers, war story tone promised at last year’s Celebration. “There’s nothing about the story that’s changing, with a few things that we’re picking up in additional photography,” she said. “I think that’s the most important thing, to reassure fans that it’s the movie we intended to make.”
Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyopens December 16th and also starsDiego Luna,Forest Whitaker,Donnie Yen,Alan Tudyk,Riz Ahmed, andBen Mendelsohn.
So what do you guys think? Is this your standard big-budget additional photography, or a great round of damage control? Sound off in the comments.
Click here for all thingsStar Wars, and catch up with more of the latestRogue Onenews in the links below.
