It's gotten to the point that when I see a trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story I have to wonder how much of that will be in the final cut. Or I'm compelled to explain to whoever is with me that the film is undergoing reshoots and may look different. Whatever the case, some stuff is going down with Gareth Edwards' film and depending on who you ask it's either a really big deal or nothing to be concerned about.
So where do things stand now? Earlier a report surfaced that said 40% of the film was being reshot over the course of weeks, with Christopher McQuarrie coming on to oversee the whole thing after doing some scriptwork some months back. McQuarrie denied that story about as bluntly as possible, but it does appear that someone is coming aboard to help out. That person is Tony Gilroy, best known for writing all of the Jason Bourne movies. He was also the writer/director behind the film Michael Clayton, which was nominated for 8 Academy Awards. So dude is no slouch. He also has a connection to producer Frank Marshall through the 'Bourne' films, and did some uncredited rewrites on Edwards' Godzilla. Basically, he's a known commodity to everyone involved, not just some hired gun brought in out of the cold.
That news comes from EW's high-level sources, who also provide a breakdown on what the reshoots entail, and it doesn't sound like anything worth worrying over...
In what may reassure fans, reshoots were scheduled for the film before even a single scene was shot. It’s standard practice now for large-scale films to build in additional weeks of shooting so filmmakers can tweak a movie after the first assembly cut.
Those reshoots were originally planned for the spring, but were bumped to mid-summer to allow for extra time as director Gareth Edwards and the creative team decided what they wanted to alter. “The changes have everything to do with clarity and character development and all take place [as inserts] within scenes we’ve already shot,” said one source on the project.
In other words, they changes involve more intimate moments – not redoing entire battle sequences or plot lines. “It’s a lot of talking in cockpits,” as one insider described the new footage.
But what should assuage any fan concerns is EW's assertion that it will still be a war movie, not lightened up to be something completely different. They add, “The movie is very different than [The Force Awakens], and that’s intentional."
At this point it's probably stupid to think this is the last we'll hear of this story. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is still set to open on December 16th.
