Who’s Really Directing Star Wars: Rogue One?
Tony Gilroy is "supervising" the edit, but what else has he done?
A couple of months ago word hit the internet that Star Wars: Rogue One was going to be getting extensive reshoots. What they were for is unclear; some reports suggested it was simply the usual fine-tuning, while others pointed towards Gareth Edwards delivering a substandard product, while an alt-take suggest Lucasfilm's vision for the Star Wars Story enterprise, once cited as tonal offshoots, had completely changed following the massive success of The Force Awakens.
Whatever the case, it certainly seems like there's something going on behind-the-scenes. Nothing was said about the reshoots at Star Wars Celebration, where Edwards was there front-and-centre, but just a couple of weeks after everyone was all smiles on stage THR have broke a story that Tony Gilroy is "supervising" the edit.
Now, The Bourne Legacy director has already been a strong creative presence on the film, working on the script and overseeing the reshoots (Deadline reported earlier this week he was the one calling the shots), which suggests that there is indeed something creatively questionable going on that's been kept hush-hush. Could it be that Edwards has been put aside and is now only acting as director in front of the press, with Gilroy really in charge?
An alarmist could certainly say that, although looking a bit deeper it seems like things are a little more complicated. All sources are, as always, keen to point out things are ultimately running smoothly, and the phrasing of reports skew closer to the notion that the latter-half of the movie's production has, for whatever reason, become collaborative. And that in and of itself isn't news; Gilroy was on hand to help Edwards with Godzilla a couple of years back, so it's very possible this is part of their "process".
Still, it's more Rogue One worries. None of this is a damning inditement of the film, sure - as THR points out in their article, few Star Wars movies have run smoothly, and on a wider scale reshoots and re-edits are all part of the creative process - but it's starting a discussion you can bet the Lucasfilm top brass would rather wasn't being had.
What do you make all of this commotion around Rogue One? Who's really the director of the film? Have your say down in the comments.
Star Wars: Rogue One is in cinemas from 16th December 2016.