More bad news emerging from the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story camp today. Not long after we heard that nearly 50% of the film is being reshot and a new director may be brought in to supervise the reshoots, we’re learning that Disney execs have watered down scenes from the film for fear that they may be too dark for younger audiences.
Granted, this information is coming from a Reddit user who’s apparently involved with Gareth Edwards’ Anthology film, so while we advise taking it with a grain of salt, it’s definitely still worth looking into.
Apparently, one scene that studio execs aren’t comfortable with features none other than Darth Vader (who has been rumored to have a role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for quite some time). According to the Reddit user, the scene in question depicts the iconic villain taking out a Rebel ground Squad:
“In a night scene Vader absolutely lays waste to a Rebel ground Squad,” Reddit user KeepR1Dark writes. “Unfortunately this is one of the scenes we have to water down. We made it like something from the old slasher/horror films. Rebel soldiers who joked about a boogie man with magical powers and then minutes later are absolutely wasted.”
The thread also touches on those aforementioned reshoots, with KeepR1Dark claiming that Gareth Edwards is “livid” as Disney is trying to make the film more family friendly so that they can ensure a bigger box office haul.
Again, since this isn’t coming from the trades, we do advise taking it with a grain of salt. It does, however, line up with what we’ve been hearing so far, which is that Disney basically wants to make Rogue One: A Star Wars Story more like The Force Awakens and that what they have on their hands right now closely resembles a gritty war film, which is apparently what Edwards wanted to make from the start. It’s also what a good majority of the fans want to see.
Regardless, it’s clear that the studio is going to have to issue an official statement on all of this quite soon, as things are getting out of hand rather quickly and as of now, the buzz surrounding Rogue One: A Star Wars Story isn’t too positive.
