Two months ago, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was seemingly thrust into jeopardy when Disney ordered reshoots of Gareth Edwards’ hotly-anticipated spinoff after taking issue with the first cut.
Things began to snowball soon thereafter – unsurprisingly, given that Edwards’ Anthology film is emerging so soon after The Force Awakens – with claims that close to 40 percent of Rogue One required some form of tinkering. To whip things into shape, it was confirmed that the House of Mouse had welcomed aboard director Tony Gilroy to oversee four-to-five weeks of additional filming. But if Deadline is to be believed, Gilroy did much more than simply lend a hand to Rogue One in its time of need.
At the time, the official word from Disney noted that those alterations “just involve more intimate moments – not redoing entire battle sequences or plot lines. It’s a lot of talking in cockpits. The reshoots have to do with character development and clarity.”
However, according to Deadline’s Mike Fleming, there has been chatter that it was actually Tony Gilroy orchestrating the Rogue One reshoots in lieu of Gareth Edwards. Said he: “They keep news about ‘Star Wars’ locked up like Fort Knox, but I heard on those ‘Rogue One’ re-shoots, it was Tony Gilroy behind the camera and not Gareth Edwards.”
Until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story jets into theaters on December 16 though, it’s impossible to tell how much of an effect those reshoots had on production.