Star Wars spin-off Rogue One was in 'terrible trouble' before reshoots, says director

Director Tony Gilroy, who was drafted in to rework Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has been brutally frank about the situation he found the movie in.

Lucasfilm brought in movie veteran Gilroy, helmsman of The Bourne Legacy and Michael Clayton, after being unimpressed with British director Gareth Edwards’ finished product.

Speaking about the job he did, he told The Moment with Brian Koppelman podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter): “If you look at Rogue, all the difficulty with Rogue, all the confusion of it … and all the mess, and in the end when you get in there, it’s actually very, very simple to solve.

“Because you sort of go, ‘This is a movie where, folks, just look. Everyone is going to die.’ So it’s a movie about sacrifice.

“I’ve never been interested in Star Wars, ever. So I had no reverence for it whatsoever. I was unafraid about that.

“And they were in such a swamp… they were in so much terrible, terrible trouble that all you could do was improve their position.”

The prequel movie, which starred Felicity Jones, picked up the story of the Rebel spies who stole the plans for the Death Star, which later allowed Luke Skywalker and his band of X-Wing pilots to destroy it in Star Wars: A New Hope.

As for whether Gilroy – who was said to have made $5 million for his efforts – would be up for another Star Wars experience, it would seem not.

“It doesn’t appeal to me. But I don’t think Rogue really is a Star Wars movie in many ways. To me, it’s a Battle of Britain movie.”

Yahoo Movies UK spoke to the movie’s editors last year, who revealed the extent of the scenes which were added to the finished movie.

Meanwhile, actor Ben Mendelsohn, who played Orson Krennic in the film, confirmed that an ‘enormously different’ version of the movie exists.

It was first reported in May, 2016, that Disney had ordered the reshoots, after Edwards version didn’t stand up.

“Anything less than extraordinary won’t do,” a studio insider said at the time.

Read more
The Rock reveals struggle with depression
Rogue One writer teases Last Starfighter reboot
Black Panther enters all-time top 10