During the summer months, few news stories gathered as much traction in the film industry as those revolving around Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and its purported reshoots. Whatever side of the fence you find yourself on? – a storm in a teacup, or something more troublesome – there’s no question that the additional filming, which drafted in directorial assistance Tony Gilroy, sparked heated debate among fans.
All of the subsequent announcements to come out of Rogue One since have played down the extent of the reshoots, and Mads Mikkelsen – on board to play Galen Erso, father of lead protagonist Jyn – even went so far as to stress that despite some last-minute nipping and tucking, Gareth Edwards’ picture remains the same.
Bouncing off this, Felicity Jones addressed the drama head on while chatting to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s an extensive and fairly insightful cover piece, documenting the actress’ rise to prominence and, perhaps more intriguingly, speculating as to where the so-hot-right-now Brit will go next.
First up, though, is a headline role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. On the topic of those extra scenes, Jones believes the upcoming offshoot is prone to heightened criticism purely because of the Star Wars name on the masthead. That, and the fact that the reshoots were “always planned and nothing unusual.”
“I’m sure if you picked up the phone and called every single large, technical movie and said, ‘You ever gone in and done reshoots?’ they’d all say, ‘Oh God, yes,’ ” she says. “So why has it turned into a big story? Because it’s Star Wars, and they put a spotlight and scrutinize every single thing that gets done. But it was always planned and nothing unusual.
“Obviously when you come to the edit, you see the film come together and you think, ‘Actually, we could do this better, and this would make more sense if we did this,’ I’ve done it so many times. I mean, you wouldn’t just give your first draft on this story, would you?”
Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will jump-start Disney and Lucasfilm’s output of Star Wars Anthology films on December 16, before our attention is drawn back to the primary timeline for Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII late next year.
