Category Archives: Rogue One

Rogue One Trailer Coming This Week

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Via Gamespot.com:

A new trailer for this year’s Star Wars movie, Rogue One, is coming very soon.

Lucasfilm announced today that the video will air this coming Thursday, August 11, as part of the 2016 Summer Olympics. It’s not immediately clear when specifically the trailer will air, but sometime during prime-time seems like a safe bet; the Summer Olympics are broadcast on NBC.

During Star Wars Celebration in July, Lucasfilm released a behind-the-scenes clip from Rogue One. Lucasfilm also showed panel attendees some new footage that featured Darth Vader. It’s possible this is the video that will be released on Thursday, but this is not confirmed.

Rogue One hits theaters on December 16, 2016. It is directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards, and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Forest Whitaker, and Mads Mikkelsen.

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Jimmy Smits Confirms Cameo in ‘Rogue One’

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Via Variety.com:

Jimmy Smits, who played Bail Organa in “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith,” confirmed on The Talk that he will show up in “Rogue One.”

“Can you say the word cameo?” he said laughing. “Can you say the words small part?”

Star Wars fans will know that Bail Organa was the adoptive father to Princess Leia. He also bit the dust in “A New Hope” after the Death Star blows up the planet Alderaan. However, since “Rogue One” takes place before “A New Hope,” Smits’ character has yet to meet his end and is presumably working with the rest of the growing Rebel Alliance.

This won’t be the first time that Smits has returned to his Star Wars role. He offered his voice to the “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” video game back in 2008.

Bail Organa isn’t the only classic Star Wars character showing up in “Rogue One.” It was confirmed earlier this year that the big man himself, Darth Vader, would be making an appearance.

Rogue One’ Director: Darth Vader Will Be ‘Huge Presence’

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Via Inquisitr.com:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards has revealed that he needed to take care while utilizing Darth Vader in the upcoming film, noting that the iconic Sith Lord’s “gravitational pull” ensured that the character would be a massive presence onscreen, potentially overshadowing the rest of the production.

Speaking at Star Wars Celebration in London last week, Edwards noted that Vader’s appearance in Rogue One was one of the more daunting challenges he had to deal with. Bringing together elements both old and new due to its unique place in the Star Wars timeline, Rogue One could easily have found itself overshadowed by the iconic villain’s presence, if not for the skilled hands of its production team, as Gizmodo points out.

“He’s got such a gravitational pull, the second he shows up you just get sucked into Darth Vader. So it was a process to try and figure out how to pepper that in in a way that felt right.”

While Vader’s role in Rogue One has long been rumored, it is now confirmed, with the dark lord making a brief appearance at the end of the film’s second trailer, as the Guardian notes. Revealed at Star Wars Celebration, the clip ended with a shot of Vader from behind, underscored by his unmistakable mechanical breathing.

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No Hayden Christensen In Rogue One

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Via Cinemablend.com:

Welcome to another addition of: Stuff you won’t see in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Yesterday, we learned about one character from the original trilogy who won’t be in the movie (sorry, Han). Today, we have news on a prequel actor, who also won’t be anywhere near the film. If you were expecting to see Hayden Christensen make an appearance in Rogue One, then we’re terribly sorry. The head of Lucasfilm says it’s not happening.

Yesterday, we covered the rumor that Alden Ehrenreich’s new young Han Solo will not have a cameo in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Today, we follow-up on a rumor that Hayden Christensen could be making some sort of an appearance as well. Extra asked Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy about it, and she denied it in the strongest possible terms.

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Rogue One: 8 Ways It Could Enhance The Star Wars Mythology

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Via Whatculture.com:

There are a healthy number of Star Wars fans who aren’t on board with upcoming spin-off flick Rogue One for the simple reason that it’s a prequel.

Set to recount the gritty tale of how a group of Rebels managed to steal the plans for the Death Star out from under the Empire’s nose (thus enabling Luke Skywalker to destroy the moon-sized weapon at the end of the original film), they see Rogue One’s aim to fill in this particular gap in the mythology as an unnecessary endeavour.

We already know how the story ends, after all; we know that the good guys are going to ultimately prevail, nab the schematics and send them across to Princess Leia kicking the original trilogy into action.

What the naysayers have failed to see, however, is all the ways in which Rogue One could enhance the Star Wars mythology; ways in which this prequel could lend a lot of weight to the films that follow on from it chronologically, which – in turn – could actually serve to make the classic Episodes even better…

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15 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THE ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY PANEL

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Via Starwars.com:

ALL THE BIGGEST NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY PANEL IN LONDON!

The filmmakers and cast behind the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story came together tonight — in a special panel hosted by Gwendoline Christie — at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016. They talked about their characters, their experiences making the movie, and much, much more. Here are 15 of the biggest insights, highlights, and surprises from the panel.

1. Rogue One will look and feel unique from all other films set in a galaxy far, far away. “It’s a style that is unlike any other Star Wars movie,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said. She recounted seeing director Gareth Edwards, camera on his shoulder, testing shots guerilla-style as sign that this movie would be different. “I think that’s what’s so amazing about his style,” she said. “This is going to be an incredibly immersive experience when you see Rogue One.”

2. Gareth Edwards was star struck when he met a certain Jedi. “It’s just been the most insane, most surreal experience,” Edwards said. One day, someone nudged him and asked, “Do you want to meet Luke Skywalker?” Mark Hamill was visiting the set and wearing a Godzilla tee shirt; Edwards had directed 2014’s Godzilla. “I don’t know what I said to him,” Edwards said. But he had one thought: “Please Lord, somebody be taking a photograph of this.” Later, Edwards revealed that one George Lucas also paid a visit. “None of this would be happening if not for George Lucas,” he said. “The guy’s a genius.”

3. The concept for the film — the Rebels’ theft of the Death Star plans — dates back to the once-planned live-action Star Wars TV show, discussed around 13 years ago. The idea came from John Knoll, digital effects innovator at Industrial Light & Magic, who thought a Mission Impossible-style mission would be a good fit for the show. He dropped the idea, however, when he heard the timeline for the series, which wouldn’t fit with a pre-A New Hope story. But when they announced the standalone series, Knoll recalled his story. “I was thinking, ‘That original idea could make a good standalone film,’” he said. The more people he told the idea, the more he was encouraged to formally pitch it. Finally, he did, and the rest is Star Wars history. Knoll thought, “If I don’t [pitch], I’ll always wonder what might’ve happened if I had.”

4. Prepare to visit the sunny beaches of Scarif — that’s the beach world seen in the teaser. And shooting in such a real-world location was (not) hard for everyone. “Just so happens it was set in paradise,” Edwards said. “So we had to go to paradise to film it.”

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Rogue One May Not Use The Star Wars Opening Crawl

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Via Radiotimes.com:

Star Wars and the yellow text crawling across the screen go hand in hand. It’s how Star Wars films always begin. Everyone knows that.
But it looks like the iconic opening is not set in stone for Rogue One: a Star Wars Story, with news that the spin-off may well go its own way.
“The crawl and some of those elements live so specifically within the ‘saga’ films that we are having a lot of discussion about what will define the [standalone] Star Wars stories separate and apart from the saga films. So we’re right in the middle of talking about that,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly.
It won’t be the first time. The animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars is so far the only theatrically released film to go without the crawl, opting for a voiceover instead.
On the one hand it makes sense for a new opening to be used here. It’s a spin-off and is literally called the ‘rogue one’. Why not change things up? On the other hand, it is a staple of the franchise for many fans. Plus, given its setting – between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope – it might be useful to be given some more context at the beginning.

Rogue One Creators Address Reshoot

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Via Ew.com:

Not since Greedo vs. Han Solo have Star Wars fans been so obsessed over what was shot first.

Reports of additional filming this summer on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story have understandably alarmed the faithful, many of whom have interpreted that as a sign of trouble for the first stand-alone movie from Lucasfilm.

Others have found reassurance in the fact that reshoots are not only commonplace on large-scale films like this, they’re the norm for projects with deep pockets and the ability to regroup cast and crew for a few weeks of alteration late in the editing process.

Still, hand-wringing persists, partly because a Star Wars film is never just another movie. It’s one of the most powerful pop culture touchstones that exists, and now the pace of releasing films from this universe has increased to one a year, putting extra pressure on the studio and filmmakers to not mess up.

When Entertainment Weekly spoke with the makers of Rogue One for our new cover story, we asked them point-blank to discuss the reshoot situation and explain why it was necessary to change course.

But first, the background:

What is true and false?
Rumors about the reshoots are so varied, it’s hard to know what to believe. Some reports say nearly half the movie is being redone and that the tone is being shifted from heavy war film to a lighthearted caper.

EW’s sources have insisted that’s impossible — that an effects-heavy film like this couldn’t reshoot that much of its story in the summer and still be finished in time for the Dec. 16 debut. In our own deep-dive into the rumors, we found that about five weeks of reshoots were set, wrapping up just before Star Wars Celebration in mid-July.

Our confidential sources also revealed that Bourne screenwriter and Michael Clayton filmmaker Tony Gilroy was being brought in to write additional dialogue and direct some secondary units on the movie — alongside director Gareth Edwards, who collaborated with Gilroy in a similar capacity on 2014’s Godzilla.

But what fans want to know is: Why? What do they need that they didn’t capture the first time?

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James Earl Jones To Voice Darth Vader In Rogue One

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Via Ew.com:

Cue the heavy breathing.

Darth Vader is alive, angry, and merciless.

As part of EW’s Rogue One cover reveal, we confirmed the Sith lord will be back at the height of his powers in the Dec. 16 film, which takes place just prior to the events of 1977’s original Star Wars.

Ever since Lucasfilm announced that the plot of its first stand-alone movie would focus on the Rebel warriors who staged a heist of plans for the first Death Star, fans knew – or at least seriously expected – that the most iconic villain in film history would return to the screen. If he didn’t…? The collective rage of the Star Wars fandom would probably Force-choke whoever nixed him.

Rogue One is a new kind of movie for Lucasfilm, a story that explores territory beyond the core “saga” films of the first three classic movies, George Lucas’ prequels, and the new trilogy that started with J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and will continue in 2017 with director Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. The next stand-alone film after Rogue One will be a young Han Solo story, coming out in 2018, which delves into the history of the captain of the Millennium Falcon long before he encounters Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi in that cantina on Tatooine.

Lucasfilm has said the main difference between the features is that the “saga” films are focused mainly on the Skywalker family – but now we know that doesn’t mean Rogue One will be completely devoid of Skywalkers.

In her interview with EW, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was asked about which characters from the original trilogy may turn up alongside the new heroes and villains.

After a momentary hesitation, Kennedy said: “I think we can talk about Vader…”

Those were the seven words fans wanted to hear.

At 85, James Earl Jones will also reprise his role as Vader’s foreboding voice, while a variety of large-framed performers will embody the character behind the mask. (David Prowse, now 80, was often inside the suit in the original trilogy.)

Jones has lately performed the character on episodes of Disney XD’s animated Star Wars: Rebels – but many actors have imitated the voice over the years for games, cartoons, and other products. Onscreen, however, there can be no substitute.

That leaves the question: How much Vader are we going to get? The answer – just a little bit. (That’s why there isn’t a new image of him, unfortunately.) Kennedy says Rogue One has to make careful use of Vader. “He will be in the movie sparingly,” she says. “But at a key, strategic moment, he’s going to loom large.”

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Why Disney Should Let ‘Rogue One’ Rebel Against Star Wars Formula

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Via firstshowing.net:

“This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.” Who would have thought that line, spoken by actress Felicity Jones’ character Jyn Erso in the Rogue One teaser trailer, would have such great significance for the actual film itself? According to several unconfirmed sources, Rogue One might’ve rebelled a tad too much. That’s the story that has been sweeping the internet this week with major rumors that the first film in the Star Wars Anthology series, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will undergo significant reshoots after initial internal test screenings at Disney apparently failed to impress senior executives. Let’s examine why I think that might not bode well for the spin-off and why the film should rebel against the famous Star Wars formula.

When Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (at first called Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, a much clunkier title before this one) was originally announced, it was met with much enthusiasm by Star Wars fans. Even though we’ve seen seven installments or episodes in the Star Wars saga, they have all been in one form or another about the Skywalker family. Thanks to the Expanded Universe (which is now referred to as the “Legacy” series and deemed “not canon”), die-hard Star Wars know there’s a wealth of stories to be told that don’t feature someone named Skywalker or a Jedi Knight. There’s been tens, if not hundreds, of published material (both in narrative book form and graphic novel/comic book form) that focus on bounty hunters, aliens, side characters and all others in between. The Star Wars films have only scratched the surface at the untapped potential the franchise possess in those galaxies far, far away.

As details further emerged during pre-production regarding Rogue One, the prospect of a live-action story existing in the Star Wars universe but focusing on new, different characters became much more enticing. Once the trailer dropped, fans got to see firsthand how different and unique Rogue One would truly be. As a refresher, check out the original teaser trailer that got fans so excited in the first place:

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