Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Actor Downplays Rewrites and Reshoot Impacts on Story

Films undergoing rewrites while filming and reshoots after principal photography has completed is standard for most blockbusters, but in the case of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a number of reports emerged that director Gareth Edwards’ film underwent a bigger overhaul than a typical event film, though star Mads Mikkelsen recently detailed that some of those reports were blown out of proportion. We might never know the complete details of just how different various elements of the spinoff film originally were as compared to what was released in theaters, but Mikkelsen did admit that the experience of shooting caused some confusion when changes were made in the middle of filming scenes.

“Some of it was a little chaotic. There was no secret that there was some rewriting in the script while we were doing it,” Mikkelsen shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “And when you do that … it is obviously very tricky for the actors to know ‘What am I carrying into this room now? I opened the door. I’m not back to what happened before.’ So there was some of that.”

He added, “Having said that, it always felt like a solid story. A young girl lost, [who] doesn’t know where she belongs in the world. Then an Oppenheimer story unfolds. She’s always heard [her father Galen] was this, and then she realizes he was that. And it was quite beautifully written. At the end of the day, the changes that were in the film were not as dramatic as people talk about. It was tweaks, but obviously, if you do it while you’re working it can be confusing.”

Most Star Wars fans could tell you that they come to expect creative changes to films, as Rogue One reshoots were followed by original Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller departing the project during production, while Colin Trevorrow was replaced on Star Wars: Episode IX by J.J. Abrams.

Tony Gilroy, who reportedly helmed a majority of the film’s reshoots, previously detailed that one of the biggest challenges on the original production was telling a story about characters who were on a path to sacrifice.

“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,” Gilroy shared with The Moment With Brian Koppelman podcast back in 2018. “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.”

The Rogue One prequel series, Star Wars: Andor, is expected to debut on Disney+ next year.

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