Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (partially found unreleased Gareth Edwards cut of space opera film; 2016)

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Rogueoneposter.jpg

Theatrical release poster for the film.

Status: Partially Found

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (or simply Rogue One) is a 2016 space opera film that is set in the week just prior to 1977's Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) during which the Death Star blueprints that provide that hope are first stolen and handed over to the Rebel Alliance.

While Rogue One was originally directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz, Edwards' rough draft of the film went through extensive reshoots which added several new scenes to the film, all of which were written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Edwards' original cut has gone unreleased and is not likely ever to resurface officially.

Background

Reshoots were first reported in May 2016. While post-production adjustments are common for films of this scale and genre, these were notable inasmuch as Rogue One was the first attempt at a Star Wars story outside of creator George Lucas' original vision. As such its creative direction was a matter of great concern to new franchise owner Disney, with executives reportedly in a "panic" after watching Gareth Edwards' first cut of the film. Writer-director Tony Gilroy was hastily brought on board to supplement existing scenes with new footage[1][2] in an effort to drastically reshape the film's overall tone, from a wartime spy drama to something closer to the pure action-adventure of the first Star Wars trilogy.[3]

Reshoots began in June 2016, adding scenes that also helped flesh out originally minor characters like Cassian Andor and Bodhi Rook.[3] Actor Ben Medelsohn, who played Orson Krennic, claimed that up to “20 or 30” of Edwards' original scenes were changed.[4] Massive changes were also made in the editing room, with some scenes either being cut down or replaced.[5]

Known Altered or Deleted Scenes

  • Scenes of Darth Vader on the Death Star were replaced with ones of him in his castle on Mustafar.[3]
  • An alternate ending, wherein some of the characters survive the final battle on Scarif.[6] K-2SO and Cassian Andor would not have survived in this ending, instead dying on the beaches of the planet.[3]
  • A much larger scale chase sequence towards the end of the film. Shots from this sequence can be seen in the footage reel shown at Star Wars Celebration 2016.[3]

Availability

The original cut of the movie has never been released, but some scenes from it survive in promotional material. No deleted scenes from the film were included on the home media release of the film because according to Gareth Edwards: "There's not an individual scene that you can drag and drop and put on a Blu-ray. There are little things that would come and go during the process of post-production, but they're not scenes.”[7]

Gallery

A footage reel for the film shown at the fan convention Star Wars Celebration which contains some deleted scenes.

A story by ABC News that shows the behind-the-scenes creation of the droid K-2SO. It seemingly shows behind-the-scenes footage of his original death scene at 0:44.

See Also

References