Inside the Rogue One Director’s Cut

when Rogue one came out fans were quick to notice that several iconic shots from the trailer were nowhere to be found in the final film and that's because during post production the film went through significant rewrites and re-shoot dramatically altering the movie leaving many fans to wonder what Gareth Edwards original version of Rogue one would have been like so let's dive in and find out ever since Star Wars first came out many fans have joked about one of the film's glaring plot holes why would the Empire build a death star with such a major design flaw where it could easily be destroyed with a well-placed torpedo hit and while Rogue one answers this question I think it's important to point out that this was never a plot hole hitting the exhaust Port was not only a one in a million shot great shot kid that was one in a million but it took a wannabe Jedi using the force to do it don't forget not only does the first attempt by this guy fail netive it didn't go in but by the end of the battle the rebels are down to only a handful of ships proving what a suicide mission This truly was plus when Tarkin is informed of the station weakness evacuate in Our Moment of Triumph I think you overestimate their chances he considers it insignificant which also serves to illustrate the Empire's hubris as foreshadowed by Vader earlier in the film don't be too proud of this technological Terror you've constructed the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force nevertheless whether Rogue one was created to address a plot hole or not is inconsequential as the story of the rebels stealing the death star plans always seem to hold the promise of a potentially riveting movie I just started thinking you know that idea from the opening crawl of of New Hope of stealing the Death Star plans you know it's a just a bit of backstory but seemed like you know that could be a pretty compelling film just by itself during production of Revenge of the Sith George Lucas began planning for a liveaction Star Wars television series to follow that would be set between the time of the prequel and original trilogies this inspired Lucas's visual effects supervisor John null to write a short treatment for an episode depicting how the rebels stole the Death Star plans he would call his episode destroyer of worlds but after pitching it he realized his story didn't quite align with the show's premise or timeline which focused on criminal and political power struggles During the period when the empire was trying to take things over regardless the series would never be made anyway fast forward several years to Disney's acquisition of Lucas film which saw Kathleen Kennedy lucasfilm's newly appointed president announc she planned to create Standalone movies distinct from the Skywalker Saga inspiring nol to pitch his idea again worried he'd always regret it if he didn't and he came in and and essentially pitched the idea that's spelled out in the opening crawl of New Hope about Rebel spies that go in to steal the plants to the Death Star following this director Gareth Edwards hot off Godzilla would be hired to helm the picture but after shooting wrapped and Edwards finished his first first cut of the film Disney execs weren't happy with what they saw feeling it fell well short of the force awakens and as the first Anthology film there was immense pressure on Disney to ensure its success as they worried that a poorly received film could potentially hinder future spin-offs from the Skywalker Saga and given what transpired with solo later on their apprehensions were Justified this is why writer and director Tony Gilroy famous for writing the born series was swiftly brought in to rewrite rework and reshoot parts of the movie one of the B old choices made in the film was to kill off the main characters however in the original script the characters were kept alive at the end of the film as Edwards assumed that Disney wouldn't let him kill off the entire cast a rebel ship would have come down and got Jen and Cassian off the surface before jumping away to hypers space to rendevu with Leia's ship as Darth Vader pursues an A Star Destroyer Vader Star Destroyer would then begin attacking the ship that J and Cassian are on as they desperately try to transfer the information from the data tapes to Leia's vessel finally Vader would have destroyed their ship leaving the audience to think that they were dead as Vader Star Destroyer chases an escaping layup the film would have ended with us focused on the debris field from the destroyed ship as the camera pushes in on an escape pod suggesting Our Heroes escaped if this sounds familiar it's because Han Solo uses a similar trick and Empire Strikes Back as the Falcon floats amongst a bunch of garbage when Disney and Kathleen Kennedy read the script much to Edward's relief and surprise everyone felt the character should die since they're not in episode before and while this change of jyn and Cassian surviving was made before going to camera and never shot many other changes were made to the end of the film during re-shoot and rewrites the biggest of those changes was the inclusion of the most striking scene in the film featuring Darth Vader cutting his way through a swath of Rebel troops in a last ditch attempt to recover the Death Star plans surprisingly this scene wasn't suggested by Gilroy or Edwards but by one of the film's editors J bz Olsen who felt Vader needed not only one more Scene but a should be a badass one too when he mentioned this it was about 4 months maybe from from release and so he thought oh maybe we've missed the opportunity to do this and Kathy Kennedy came in and uh JB pitched this idea to her and she really loved it within a week or two Edwards was back at Pinewood shooting the scene and while the crew brainstormed and Pitch plenty of outlandish ways for Vader to Showcase his command of the force Edwards ultimately chose to stick to a more grounded approach staying consistent with what we've seen the character on screen before but treating it like a greatest hits the creation of this scene also allowed for a cameo by Edwards himself I wanted to have a cameo in the film because I love Star Wars so much but I was saving it for the right thing and it felt very appropriate to play the guy who runs down the corridor and pulls the handle because that way I get to survive and therefore technically according to Star Wars cannon I'm in episode 4 A New Hope allegedly this scene originally depicted Admiral rtis in his mon lamari crew organizing an evacuation of the ship while moving down the corridor the looming shadow of the Death Star passing overhead would have engulfed them in darkness understanding that escaping the ship was not an option they would have exchanged determined glances focused solely on completing their mission which they successfully accomplish also cut from the film but glimpsed briefly in the trailer was a scene of Vader aboard the Death Star which would have seen him having a conversation with Tarkin and also krennic some of the most breathtaking and heart pounding shots in the trailer saw our heroes running through the base then across the beach dodging Blaster fire on Scarff and that's because in the original cut of the film the transmission tower was separate from the main base and to transmit the plans Our Heroes had to escape and run along the beach before going up the tower this is also where the shot of director krennic comes from as he pursues Our Heroes to the tower Disney felt this whole sequence just ran on way too long so as they brainstorm ways to cut it down they realized that a fast and easy solution would be to just put the tower in the base so so that they don't have to run across the beach to get there which resulted in cutting that entire sequence out and re-shooting the events at the top of the tower Edwards would call cutting these scenes along the beach heartbreaking but understood that they needed to keep the film's runtime to 2 hours one of the most iconic shots from the trailer saw Jin erso limping forward at the top of the transmission tower only to come face to face with a TIE fighter and while fans were surprised to see this moment absent from the film apparently was never even part of it with a TIE fighter being added in solely for the trailer at the the Hest of the marketing team JY cassan and bod's introductions were all changed as well with new scenes for each added near the start of the movie originally the film would have cut from The prologue that saw jyn as a little girl to her as an adult in this meeting which everyone felt was a pretty bland way to introduce her character as well as Cassian to remedy this and add more excitement and Intrigue at the start of the film they added the scene with JY in prison followed by her escape from the transport the same went for Cassian and bod as well with their introductions Cassian meeting the informant to learn about the Death Star and bod being led through jeda to see saw Guerrera added to give their character stronger introductions not only that but Cassian scene in particular which sees him actually kill the informant so that the Empire doesn't learn of his subterfuge helped to set the tone for the rest of the film as it makes it clear we're not in for a typical wholesome family-friendly Star Wars Adventure Forest Whitaker saw gerrera also had his scenes drastically reworked as evidenced by the noticeable change in his appearance from the teaser trailer where he appeared bald to the final version of the film where he's depicted as an older character with gray hair many of his lines from the trailer are also absent in the final film and his characterization seems to be different too now full disclosure I can only speculate on what his original scenes were as I Look to repe them from the trailers and the trailers suggests that unlike the film The Rebellion isn't sure what the Death Star is yet but they're aware of a weapon test for some sort of super weapon and need to learn what it is and how to destroy it and for that they go to jyn as a way to get to her Father which is why jyn then goes to saw for help in her quest to reach him in two of the trailers we see jyn in Saw's headquarters explaining to him that the Empire is building a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet and encouraging him to help this is your chance to make a real difference which is a further tip off that she's there trying to convince him to help her and the rebels since in the same scene in the movie she just makes an introduction before trying to leave deeming her role in the mission accomplished they wanted an introduction they've got it I'm out now rest of you could do what you want additionally after Jen asked for help in the trailer we see a concerned in caring saw caution her about joining the Rebellion almost trying to talk her out of it what will you do when they catch you what will you do if they break you but the version we see of him in the film is paranoid and completely mistrusting even of JY did you come here to kill me since Rogue one came out many fans have wondered two things first would Gareth edwards's original cut of the film have been better and two will we ever get to see it it's important to note that Edwards was never kicked off the film and while Tony Gilroy came in and did a lot of work to punch up the script and oversee some of the additional photography Edwards has stressed that they all work together as a team until the very last moment to improve the picture with Edwards present the entire time even directing the iconic Corridor scene with Darth Vader Tony Gilroy for his part gave a definitive answer on which version was better saying what was released was the absolute best possible version of the film you could have leading me to believe both Gilroy and Edwards consider the theatrical cut of the film The Definitive Edition and Edward's original cut of the film more of a work in progress thanks for watching everybody and don't forget to like And subscribe to bullets and Blockbusters for more great content

Channel: Bullets & Blockbusters

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Length: 10min 50sec (650 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 14 2023