Rogue One reshoots: Lucasfilm insider gives update on Star Wars spin-off, confirms grittier tone and release date

They also confirmed Tony Gilroy will be working on the film with Gareth Edwards

Star Wars: Rogue One cast. Left to Right: Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen (Jonathan Olley ©Lucasfilm 2016)

Star Wars fans were left with more questions than answers this week after it was announced extensive reshoots are taking place on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Some recent reports pointed to over 40 percent of the film being reshot, a remarkably large percentage considering the film is due for release in December this year.

One rumour going around was that Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie was supposedly overseeing the reshoots, something he has vehemently denied.

“If there are any reshoots on Rogue One, I’m not supervising them. For any outlet to say so is not only wrong, it’s irresponsible. Gareth Edwards is a talented filmmaker who deserves the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

“Making a film – let alone a Star Wars chapter – is hard enough without the internet trying to deliberately downgrade one’s years of hard work. Who does that even serve? Let him make his movie in peace.”

Since his statement, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed some more details about the reshoots, stating how “four to five weeks of reshoots, beginning this month and ending just days before the Star Wars Celebration fan event in London on July 15.”

In the report, the magazine spoke to “high-level sources” at Lucasfilm, who defended the reshoots, explaining exactly what they will entail.

They confirmed reshoots were always booked to happen, being left late so director Gareth Edwards could decide what needed changing. Promisingly, they said: “The changes have everything to do with clarity and character development and all take place within scenes we’ve already shot.”

The insider described the changes as not focussing on battle sequences, instead “It’s a lot of talking in cockpits.”

Timeline wise, they hope to lock the picture for mid-August and begin scoring in September - an earlier timeline than with The Force Awakens. Speaking about the ’40 percent being reshot’, the insider said: “If we were rewriting the movie and reshooting 40 percent of movie, we would not be finishing in August. People really would be panicking – and changing the release date.”

Complications have arisen from getting the cast back together, as many are working on other projects: “It is a complicated schedule trying to pull people in around other things they’re doing,” a source familiar with the reshoots said. “And this cast is spread out all over the world.”

While the aforementioned McQuarrie will not be working on the reshoots, another collaborator has been brought in: Tony Gilroy, the writer-director of Michael Clayton.

Gilroy has previously worked with director Edwards on Godzilla, for which he did similar, uncredited work. He will also act as a second-unit director.

Meanwhile, fears over the film being made lighter in tone have also been confronted, one source saying: “The movie is very different than [The Force Awakens], and that’s intentional. It’s a war film.”

As with other reports, they confirmed there were no test screenings, saying there may never be test screenings for a Star Wars film again.

Of course, whenever these reports are given, they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. However, EW is a reliable source, and with the release date for Rogue One currently remaining for this December, it seems unlikely the reshoots can remain hugely extensive. Unless the release date changes, fans can be somewhat assured filming is hopefully under control.

In other Star Wars news, it was recently confirmed when the Han Solo spin-off will start filming.