Rogue One Star Diego Luna Did Military Training and Own Stunts in Star Wars

Everyone knows that anyone who is in the military is expected to keep up a pretty demanding physical regimen. It turns out that goes for a ragtag, rebel army as well, and even for the actors who play such characters on the big screen.

Diego Luna is one such example. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Luna plays Captain Cassian Andor, a Rebel Alliance Intelligence officer who has to lead the rebel team tasked with stealing the plans for the Death Star.

But Luna is an actor, not a soldier, so for him to get into character for Rogue One took a bit of homework.

“My character’s a captain and intelligence officer,” Luna told the hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America. “So yeah, I had to do a lot of military training to understand how the mind of someone in the military work, because I’m supposed to keep this team together through the mission. and I know nothing about war.”

The training extended further than just training Luna’s mind to think like a military officer. He also had to get his body into military shape, which was helpful in another way since he did so many of his own stunts on Rogue One.

“I had to do a lot of research, and it was a lot of fun,” Luna said. “Also, just the physical training to be able to do the stuff we made on this film because here was no, ‘the double will do that, and the double will that.’ This was awesome.”

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From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16, 2016.