As we reported earlier in the week, unconfirmed reports suggested that Rogue One is due to undergo a number of reshoots and that Lucasfilm were unhappy with what director Gareth Edwards had shown them.

Subsequent reports also mentioned that anything up to 40% of the film was being reshot and that Christopher McQuarrie was being drafted in by the studio to help with reshoots and rewriting the script. We ourselves speculated that the reason for the reshoots was the much more darker tone Rogue One is set to have and that, as well as being the first spin-off in Star Wars cinematic history, it's also a big part of their strategy going forward.

As with any kind of rumour-mill story, things have gotten way out of hand. So here are some facts that Lucasfilm execs imparted in a recent interview.

Firstly, that 40% of the film being reshot? Not true. According to high-level sources, the plan was always to have reshoots scheduled in for Rogue One. As we thought, that's standard practice nowadays. However, the 40% rumour have come from the fact that the reshoots were moved up from Spring to mid-Summer in order to allow Edwards' time to decide upon which scenes he needs to reshoot and why.

According to one insider, the reshot scenes are mostly dialogue scenes. The entire plot, they said, is not being rewritten - nor are major battle sequences.

What's more, the plan is to have the film locked down by August with a view to scoring the film in September. Alexandre Desplat has been lined up to begin recording for the film at that time; making him the first composer since John Williams to write music for a Star Wars film. The source also added that "(if) we were rewriting the movie and reshooting 40% of (the) movie, we would not be finishing in August. People really would be panicking - and changing the release date."

It's true that the release date for Rogue One has been locked since all the way back in 2014. If it's not working or if it was looking like it wouldn't be finished in time, Lucasfilm would have no problem pushing that. They did so already for Star Wars: Episode VIII so it tracks that they'd do the same here. What's more, the reason for the lengthy time of reshoots is down to the ensemble cast itself.

As the source stated, "(it) is a complicated schedule trying to pull people in around other things they’re doing (and) this cast is spread out all over the world." Again, that makes a lot of sense. Felicity Jones has Inferno, Mads Mikkelsen has Doctor Strange whilst Ben Mendelsohn has signed on for Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, which has begun pre-production. That's just three cast members. Rogue One has a central cast of nine, including Forrest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna and Weng Jiang.

With regards to Christopher McQuarrie's involvement, there's a kernel of truth to it. According to the source, McQuarrie DID offer some help to earlier drafts of the script, but has since departed for Mission: Impossible 6. The source has it that Tony Gilroy, director of Michael Clayton and co-writer for the Bourne series, has been drafted to polish some of the script for Rogue One AND to act as second unit director for the reshoots.

Now, to the real story. Is Rogue One's gritty, darker style being watered down to make it more family friendly and palatable? Sources say... no. "The movie is very different than (The Force Awakens) and that's intentional. It's a war film."

PHEW. More footage of Rogue One will surface online in July at the annual Star Wars Celebration, which, according to the source behind all these tidbits, will be "insane."

You might think that this is all damage control by Lucasfilm / Disney PR, but a lot of it really does make sense. As we said, reshoots were expected and, yes, Rogue One is going to systemically different from previous Star Wars films. Would Disney kick up a fuss and order reshoots on that basis?

It's possible, but not plausible. From the very get-go, Gareth Edwards was talking up how Rogue One was closer to Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down than The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm's top brass - Kathleen Kennedy, in other words - wouldn't have put a mic in front of Gareth Edwards without making sure what he was going to say and how he was going to say it. In other words, this change in tone for Rogue One has been sanctioned by the highest levels. To think they'd flip out because he delivered exactly what he said he would doesn't make sense.

Right, that's enough deep-dive analysis. Watch the trailer and maintain excitement levels for December 18th when Rogue One lands in Irish cinemas.

 

 

Via EW.com