Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards Reassures Fans About Reshoots

"It was always part of the plan to do reshoots. We always knew we were coming back somewhere to do stuff, we just didn't know what it would be until we started sculpting the film in the edit."

That's the word directly from Gareth Edwards, director on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, speaking to EW in regards to the much-talked about and much-rumored reshoots on the film. Indeed, as pointed out several times before, many, if not most, blockbuster films have reshoots built into their schedules to allow for touch-ups and new takes on certain scenes once the editing bay is the primary home for the director. For some unknown reason, perhaps merely because of the high level of anticipation for Rogue One and the fact that it's the first of these new Star Wars standalone films, the news of reshoots spiralled quickly out of control, with rumors that Disney was unhappy with the film and that half of it would be reshot (itself a patently ridiculous rumor, that half of a movie could be reshot in a few weeks, and all those visual effects be redone in less than half a year to meet the December release date).

"There's lots of little things that we have to get," he explained, "but it's all little things within the preexisting footage," hopefully putting to rest any ideas that the film is in dire need of drastic changes. With a large ensemble cast including several in-demand actors, the schedule for the reshoots had to be far-reaching in order to fill every need.

"Obviously, you've got to work around everyone's schedule, and everyone's on different films all over the world, and so it's a bit of a logistical nightmare. That's why I think it's been blown out of proportion a bit," Edwards posited.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy – the de facto final word on all creative decisions made by Lucasfilm (Disney's corporate structure doesn't typically deal any direct creative control over any of their brands, be it Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, or Walt Disney Studios), backed up Edwards, insisting, "There's nothing about the story that's changing, with a few things that we're picking up in additional photography. I think that's the most important thing, to reassure fans that it's the movie we intended to make."

She further praised Edwards' aesthetic, one she described as a "much more handheld, visceral, inside-the-action kind of feel" than has been seen in one of the "saga" or Episode numbered films. "He does a lot of handheld, intimate, close-up work. That's not something you've necessarily seen in a Star Wars movie before. And we brought in [cinematographer] Greig Fraser to shoot it, who had done Zero Dark Thirty," she mentioned, calling back to the very personal war story they're intending.

The reshoots will end shortly before Star Wars Celebration in July, and Edwards plans to have the edit locked in August, with score (by Alexandre Desplat, who scored Godzilla and followed in John Williams' footsteps once before by scoring the final two Harry Potter films) and sound effects locked in September, comfortably early for a December release.

"A film is a very creative, organic process, and it evolves over time. There's no right or wrong. There's just 'better' and 'best,' and with Star Wars, nothing but the best is going to do," Edwards concluded. "So we're just putting a lot of pressure on ourselves until the very end, making this the greatest film it can be."

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in theaters December 16, 2016. Visit our Rogue One hub for all the latest on the film, including new character reveals, information about the villains (including Darth Vader!) and more.