Oh dear, it really doesn’t seem to be a very good week for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It all began when news surfaced that the film would be undergoing reshoots as Disney had issues with the first cut. Of course, that sent the internet into a frenzy, with many people concerned that Gareth Edwards’ film was having problems. The studio soon cleared up the confusion though by announcing that the reshoots were simply to make room for a “special cameo.”
After that, everyone calmed down and went on with their business until last night we heard that the whole situation might be a lot more serious than we first thought, as 40% of the film needed to be reshot and Christopher McQuarrie was being brought on board to assist. This morning, however, McQuarrie shot down those rumors and again, everyone quieted down.
That brings us to tonight, where EW is reporting that yes, there are going to be about 4-5 weeks worth of reshoots, but apparently, these reshoots were planned before production even began and having nothing to do with the quality of the film itself.
“The changes just involve more intimate moments – not redoing entire battle sequences or plot lines,” said a source. “It’s a lot of talking in cockpits. The reshoots have to do with character development and clarity.”
Further in the report, EW notes that Disney has brought in Michael Clayton writer/director Tony Gilroy to assist. Apparently he gave some notes on the first cut and even wrote some additional material for Edwards. For the reshoots, he’ll be writing even more new scenes and will also act as second unit director. And for those of you who are worried that too much of Edwards vision will be compromised by the changes, EW’s source mentions that the tone of the film will definitely be more of a war movie and will be quite different to what we saw in The Force Awakens.
The report ends there, and while it’s reassuring to know that the reshoots were planned all along, from everything we’ve heard this week it’s a bit difficult to have full confidence in the film at this point. There’s obviously something going on that we’re not hearing about, and while reshoots on a blockbuster certainly aren’t an uncommon thing, it’s hard not to have a bad feeling about how Edwards’ entry into the beloved franchise is shaping up.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens on December 16th. Tell us, are you concerned about how the film will turn out? Or are you still confident that it can reach the same heights as The Force Awakens?
