“A lot of talking in cockpits:” EW weighs in on the Rogue One reshoot rumors

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Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican has reached out to Lucasfilm sources to check out what really behind all the Rogue One reshoot brouhaha that’s been going on this week.

Lucasfilm isn’t ‘officially’ commenting on the rumors, but given that EW has been one of their most frequent choices for film reveals in the past few years, this is probably as close as we’re going to get. Here’s the rundown:

→ The reshoots were indeed preplanned, though they have been moved back to summer to allow for adjustment. They expect to lock picture in August, with scoring beginning in September – earlier than The Force Awakens, which locked in October.

→ They are not reshooting 40% of the film, as Making Star Wars claimed yesterday. If that was the case, the film would likely have been pushed back.

→ The reshoots “have everything to do with clarity and character development” and are parts of larger scenes that are already shot. “It’s a lot of talking in cockpits,” one insider said.

→ One reason the reshoots are for such a long period has to do with scheduling the actors. With things being pushed back, the actors have other commitments that need to be worked around.

Christopher McQuarrie contributed to an earlier draft of the script, but is not involved at the moment. EW did find another script collaborator, though: Tony Gilroy, who came aboard in the spring and “has even been recruited to consult on other Star Wars projects.” He has a long association with Frank Marshall and also worked on Edwards’ Godzilla. He will act as a second unit director for the reshoots.

→ There have been other rumors/fears flying that the film is being “watered down” to appeal to the traditional Disney demographic. These accusations are unfounded, EW says, and Rogue One is still very much a war movie. The only people within Disney who’ve seen it are CEO Bob Iger and studio chief Alan Horn. There’s no feeling of “meddling” from the parent company, EW sources say, just gratefulness that they allowed the schedule alteration.

→ There have been no test screenings with the public. (Did anyone ever really buy that one?)

→ And, in what is no surprise to anyone, we’ll see more of Rogue One at Celebration Europe in July. Expect to be blown away.

Read the whole story at Entertainment Weekly.

Rumor: How and why of the Rogue One reshoots

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Making Star Wars’ Jason Ward dug into his sources regarding the Rogue One reshoots, and he got a fairly detailed (though not spoilery) breakdown of just how much there is to be done, why they need so much time, and what the mood of the crew is.

UPDATE: Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, who worked on the script, says he is not supervising the reshoots. (MSW says he’s “helping out.”) “For any outlet to say so is not only wrong, it’s irresponsible,” he tells Slashfilm. “Gareth Edwards is a talented filmmaker who deserves the benefit of the doubt.”

MSW also found out that Scott Z. Burns did an earlier pass at the script.

Let’s not freak out over Rogue One just yet

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A report emerged yesterday from Page Six claiming that Disney executives are worried about Rogue One, that that the movie is “in crisis,” and that they are thus having do – gasp! – reshoots.

Now, here’s a ‘scoop’ for you: Reshoots happen on all big effects movies these days, to the point where they are planned in advance. They are standard. It’s not an unusual move. Rogue One may indeed have some issues, but there’s plenty of time yet to refine it. So reshoots alone are not a reason to panic… And a report from Page Six alone is not going to make me worry.

In other news, the Queen is on the cover of June’s issue of Vanity Fair, meaning we’re not getting a Rogue One spread just yet. I’m beginning to suspect we won’t see it until the publicity machine really kicks in – probably the fall. And no, that’s not a reason to panic, either.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has weighed in – a source a bit more hefty than Page Six. Their source says director Gareth Edwards’ first cut was “a solid showing,” but “anything less than extraordinary won’t do.”

And here’s what they have to say about the aim of the reshoots:

The goal of the reshoots will be to lighten the mood, bring some levity into the story and restore a sense of fun to the adventure.

As we recently learned from Oscar Isaac, a similar thing happened with The Force Awakens, a similar thing happened with The Force Awakens reshoots, which brought in the film’s first bit of lightheartedness – the “who talks first” line.

Rogue One’s new stormtrooper types, AT-AT names revealed

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Key art for this summer’s Celebration Europe was revealed on today’s new episode of The Star Wars Show. It features several characters from The Force Awakens as well as a lot of Rogue One folks, and StarWars.com has given us terminology for some of them.

They’re not confirming the names we heard of from the leak last week, save for the black-armored stormtroopers, which are indeed death troopers. The film’s other new stormtroopers are shoretroopers, and the new class of AT-AT is an AT-ACT, aka All Terrain Armored Cargo Transport.

Video: ‘Chewbacca Mom’ is everywhere, including The Star Wars Show

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Now officially the ‘Chewbacca Mom,’ Candace Payne has appeared on Good Morning America, The Late Late Show with James Corden, got props from Mark Zuckerberg and now… The Star Wars Show.


Andi and Peter also reveal the key art from Celebration Europe, and they’re also asking for questions for Dennis Muren next week.

And it even starts off with a pair of very special guest appearances…

Disney movies are coming to Netflix in September (but not The Force Awakens)

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Netflix announced today that come September, they will be “the exclusive U.S. pay TV home of the latest films from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar.” The date is new, but the deal itself is old news, as is one key fact: The Force Awakens is the last film under Disney’s former deal with Starz, which means it’ll first run on the traditional pay cable channel in the U.S.

Unless you’re in Canada, Rogue One will be the first Star Wars to have first-run on Netflix, alongside Disney’s other 2016 releases, like The Jungle Book (above,) Zootopia, and Captain America: Civil War.

Rogue One character names, new starfighters revealed in Visual Guide preview

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Jedi Bibliothek spotted preview pages for Rogue One: The Official Visual Guide Story on Edelweiss, which reveals several character names and new vehicles – plus our first clear look at two new aliens and the droid glimpsed briefly in the trailer. These may be considered spoilerly, so check out what we’ve learned under the cut.

Continue reading “Rogue One character names, new starfighters revealed in Visual Guide preview”

Kathleen Kennedy, Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards and ‘special guests’ to headline Celebration Europe

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Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards will present a special panel at Celebration Europe along with “special guests.”

The Friday event could be similar to The Force Awakens reveal at last year’s Celebration Anaheim, which featured several stars (John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, among others) as well as a second teaser trailer.