‘Rogue One’ director Gareth Edwards: ‘I’d do it again if I had a time machine’

Christopher Rosen
·4 min read
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The backstage mishegoss that happened before the release of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is the stuff of legend. The film underwent numerous reshoots before its 2016 release – so much so that close readings of the “Rogue One” trailers revealed numerous scenes not present in the final film. Widely reported as unmoved by the direction filmmaker Gareth Edwards had taken the “Star Wars” prequel film, Lucasfilm executives brought aboard “Michael Clayton” screenwriter Tony Gilroy to work on new material for “Rogue One” before its release. Gilroy eventually received a screenwriting credit for his contributions.

In interviews, Gilroy later said that “Rogue One” was “just in so much terrible, terrible trouble that all you can do is improve their position.” This year, while promoting the Disney+ show “Andor,” itself a prequel to “Rogue One,” Gilroy said, the film that ended up in theaters was the best possible version of the project.

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“I’m not going to go into any more detail,” Gilroy said to The Hollywood Reporter. “But the more authority that you hear people talk about online about what happened on that movie, the less they know. That’s all that needs to be said. Maybe someday … but no. That’s the absolute best version of that movie that you could possibly imagine in the time that was given.”

Now it’s Edwards’s turn to discuss “Rogue One.” The filmmaker is back for the first time since its release with a new film, “The Creator,” and in interviews during the press tour, his rocky “Star Wars” past has come up frequently.

“Look, the only thing I can say is I was incredibly lucky,” Edwards told Variety when asked about the film. “I got to make a ‘Star Wars’ film. I won the lottery, in that sense. The idea of someone as privileged as me in any way implying that it was anything other than the amazing experience that it was to some extent — like, I don’t have any empathy for that person, and I don’t want to be that person either.”

In an interview with Uproxx, Edwards was asked if he felt somewhat vindicated by the trouble Lucasfilm has had with “Star Wars” films since “Rogue One.” Filmmakers such as Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Colin Trevorrow, and Patty Jenkins, all of whom were attached to “Star Wars” projects, were similarly pushed aside either during production or before production even started in earnest. 

“I have to respectfully disagree,” Edwards said when asked if this was a Lucasfilm problem. “I do think there’s a lot of conversation about ‘Rogue One’ and me and everything. And I honestly feel when I watch Rogue One, the person who doesn’t get enough credit is … George Lucas. Everything that’s great about that movie, you can pretty much trace back to George. And even the Darth Vader scene that lots of people talk about? I can’t take credit for it. Because it’s all George. You know what I mean? And if you see, it’s not a character from my film, it’s Star Wars. And we got to play in that sandbox for a bit and so I wouldn’t complain about any of it. I’d do it again if I had a time machine.”

All’s well that ends well, however, as “Andor” is one of the best-reviewed “Star Wars” shows to arrive on Disney+ since the streaming service launched, and “The Creator” has gotten strong notices for Edwards. That film is out next week.

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