Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be going back for extensive reshoots, but the real moment of danger came months ago, when Disney rushed in Christopher McQuarrie (writer of Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher and the most recent Mission: Impossible) to fix the Rogue One script by Chris Weitz (Cinderella, The Golden Compass).
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla proved him an effective visual stylist. Yeah, the script sucked, wasting too much of our time with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but no other American monster movie has captured the giant monster sensation so well, largely by maintaining a human perspective and refusing Pacific Rim CGI bashes without significant story investment. Godzilla gave every indication that Gareth Edwards could easily handle a production on the scale of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
So what are we to make of the Page Six story citing a “Hollywood source” with unknown motivations, who claims “ The execs at Disney are not happy with the movie, and Rogue One will have to go back into four weeks of expensive reshoots in July”?
It’s worth noting that most blockbuster movies go back for reshoots, even if Rogue One’s extra month seems beefier than most. “Disney won’t take a back seat, and is demanding changes, as the movie isn’t testing well,” the anonymous source said.
But there are plausible alternatives to complete disaster. With Alden Ehrenreich recently cast as a young Han Solo, the reshoots could involve a rumored Han Solo cameo in advance of his solo movie expected in 2018.
The reshoots could also add more Darth Vader. It’s long been known that Darth Vader will appear, but the rumors have disagreed on whether his presence will be a mere cameo or something more substantial. After the success of Marvel comics event Star Wars: Vader Down, Disney execs could be looking to beef up Vader’s battlefield action.
But it’s likely the script problems that dogged the production months ago are rearing up once again. It’s a lesson studios fail to learn over and over: whenever there’s a schedule crunch, it’s always the script that suffers. Bad writing made a mess of Batman v Superman, turning something that should have been a billion dollar movie into a film that probably won’t crack the top 5 biggest box office draws of 2016.
While reshoot reports are often used to make a movie look troubled, it was the January script problems that were the real Rogue One warning signs. Hopefully, McQuarrie’s polish substantially improved the outcome and these reshoots are picking up some McQuarrie changes that didn’t make it into the principal shooting schedule.
We’ll know for sure Dec.16, when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters.
