Felicity Jones on Her Role in Rogue One
In another piece for Entertainment Weekly, Anthony Breznican talked with Felicity Jones about her role of Jyn Erso, leader of ragtag team of Rebels tasked to steal the plans for Empire’s new major weapon – The Death Star.
Jones talks about the first meeting with Gareth Edwards about Rogue One, physical preparations for the role and Erso’s role in the world of galaxy far, far away.
In a ‘life imitates art’ scenario, the secrecy surrounding Rogue One reflected the recruitment of Jyn Erso in the movie when Edwards met Jones at dawn in a quiet restaurant after being hired himself to direct the movie:
“We were both working at the time and we met at something like 5:30 a.m. in a hotel restaurant,” Jones recalls. “Most of the meeting was conducted in whispers as he explained the story and the character. My first introduction was definitely one shrouded in secrecy and being very careful no one overheard what we were talking about.”
After seeing the trailer released on Thursday, we can predict a grueling and challenging battle for our heroes. Felicity Jones seems to be pushed to the limits herself during the filming:
“I’m laughing now, but at the time, it was physically exhausting,” says the actress, 32. “It took a lot of hours of practice, and I worked with a kung fu coach, and I learned to fight, even though I never thought beating up Stormtroopers was something I’d be doing in my job. It came through hard work and lots of practice and rehearsals.”
“She is absolutely a very unlikely heroine,” the actress says. “She’s someone on the edges and fringes of society. Physically, she’s smaller than everyone else around her, but… when someone has something they believe in, that’s what powers them, that’s what motivates them, that’s what can give someone enormous strength.”
Besides her diminutive stature (she is 5’2”) that might help the audience to empathize with her more easily and her acquired fighting skills, Felicity Jones brings other unique qualities to her role. Edwards is full of praise for his lead.
“There were a lot of people who could learn how to fight and beat people up and do the physical side of it. For me, the most interesting thing is when there’s a crack in the armor, when you can glimpse the vulnerability in someone,” the director says. “You can just hang the camera on Felicity and not say a word, and you can feel her having a million different thoughts. You get interested in what she’s thinking and what’s going on. She can be very observant within a scene. It doesn’t always have to be about her directly, but we’re experiencing it through her. She just has that knack for pulling you in.”
From the previous EW interviews and the trailer itself, we could conclude that Jyn will have a close relationship with Saw Gerrera played by Forest Whitaker. But, Rebellion extremist is not the only one Jyn Erso is looking up to.
“I would say there’s a huge amount of respect for women in the Rebellion. Mon Mothma is ultimately, for Jyn, someone she looks up to,” Jones says. “So even as the film opens [Jyn] has a very strong female role model in front of her, and someone she respects.”
One detail in Breznican’s article caught my eye. He says that Jyn Erso “will fight in space, on land, in the pouring rain, and under a sweltering desert sun.”
In the past fans had expressed their disappointment in not seeing any space battles in new Star Wars movies and, if Breznican is to be believed, Rogue One remedies that.
To read the entire article, follow the link at the top to Entertainment Weekly site. Rogue One, A Star Wars Story, hits theaters on December 16th, 2016.
Staff member, comic and book reviewer. Cheers for the Light Side, but would drink with Grand Admirals.
Felicity Jones is pulling a Hayden Christenssen in this movie, trying to look tough and badass but ends up with and angry fac or a resting B face. That’s not how you convey badassery! BADASSERY is natural, that’s why both Christenssen and Felicity are miscast.
Oh shut up with your whining. And no, I’m not hurting you because you stated a different opinion, but because you have trolled enough already.
Well said.
You know it!
Hayden had a lot more issues to deal with than just his own acting. Like script and directing. I still say Hayden himself isn’t that bad. I thought Jumper an Awake were pretty decent. Even that recent American Heist…. while the movie itself fell apart at the end the acting was fine.
I don’t think Anakin was, as you call it a “badass.” He wasn’t supposed to be a Terminator Rambo who parades around like a tough guy and spits in the face of danger. He was cast because he could convey crazy rage in the blink of an eye, which he succeeded in ..
Both Anakin and Jyn are supposed to have had a rough childhood, they all look like upper class sheltered teenagers with pristine skin and perfectly shampooed hair. They all lack charisma. Christenssen fits od rage were awful, but I guess it’s George Lucas’ fault.
People from rough upbringings are incapable of using shampoo once they have escaped that situation?
Felicity Jones is (and looks) in her early 30s, certainly not a teenager.
No, she’s 32 and looks 23, good for her, but not for her character.
Jeez you must have some rapid aging going on where you live. Looks exactly her age to me — noticeably older than Daisy Ridley. Not in the sense she looks haggard or prematurely aged, obviously, but, yeah, I’d peg her as late 20s, early 30s.
She’s short and skinny, makes her look younger but weaker as well
I thought it was that her hair was too nice and she looked like a 23 year old teenager.
Sexism suits you. Brings out the color in your stupid.
You can’t judge a performance from a trailer. She’s an accomplished actress. We all know you have a problem with the so-called feminist agenda of letting a woman be the lead in a movie.
I didn’t know Hayden Christenssen was a female
Poor comeback.
Played one in the 2 movies ive seen him in
I suggest that you sit down, at the kitchen table, and write a detailed letter to Kathleen Kennedy, pointing out their failure (and why you know better).
Write in big easy-to-read letters (oh, t’s best to use a different coloured crayons and make the occasion letter backwards.)
Don’t forget to lick the stamp!
He’s a troll intentionally being negative about everything to get people riled. I blocked him.
I don’t block them. I laugh and point at them.
Its like reality television – you’re just so happy that you aren’t as stupid as them.
No, you didn’t
And since Platinum star has obviously seen the movie already. Why such a douche platinum star?
Same goes for those who are thrilled after watching the trailers. Or have they already seen the film?
If you give me her address I’d be glad to send her a torrent of insults, because she deserves it
You are a sad, strange little man. You have my pity.
If you want to be an asshole to one of the best producers — and most decent human beings in the Industry — get YOUR OWN addresses!
OR you could make a sincere effort to find the GOOD in things.
She sounds like a vicious backstabber to me. She agreed to use George Lucas treatment for the sequels and the EU for other projects like spin offs but once he signed, she flipped 180°, Michael Arndt had to quit and JJ Abrams was hired to make a quick and dirty cash grab that consists of the laziest possible reboot of ANH with a gender swapping, racially stereotyped characters and misandric overtones.
Everybody knows that it’s the worst scenario Lucas would have imagined, he would never have sold to Disney, let alone pick that woman if he expected it to turn that way. That’s why he publicly said he sold his babies to white slavers!
I’ve watched some of her interviews, she talks typical corporate jargon, you can tell she’s been coached like a politician. She’s boring, soulless and fake.
This…was hilarious. Really gave me a laugh. Good job my friend…good job!
Here are some pictures I compared from Behind the scenes and Trailer
Not going to lie… she was the one I was most worried about. Hearing Gareth talk about her is heartening. I just hope he doesn’t have a creative crush. That he sees something in her we may not.
I’m not remotely worried enough to think it’ll ruin the entire film… just maybe make some character interactions fall flat. We’ll see! Can’t really judge by such short snippets.
To me she’s awkwardly reserved. Though I’m optimistic about it because with all the footage we got from TFA featuring Finn. We really only got one snippet of his personality during a brief moment with Han on Starkiller Base about being ready to face the first order and he lets out his hell no.
True. Disney and the casting directors… no body wants the star to flop. That alone means she’d probably got something going for her.
She does 100%, for me the dialogue they gave her is a tad dicey.
Dicey, ya know based on like the three lines she actually speaks in the trailer hahaha?
hey, those are the lines they chose to highlight and they weren’t the best. besides, overreacting is what we do. 😉
Out of context, that “I rebel” line felt flat.
Watch The Theory of Everything. She’s got chops to spare. I think the out of context delivery for “I rebel” was awkward but she is very expressive with her face based on past performances.
Why on earth would you be worried about her she’s an incredible actress
I hadn’t happened to see her in anything and the trailers weren’t really helping is all. I didn’t realize she was in the Theory of everything.
Your worries are understandable nonetheless. Just going off of what we’ve seen for this film, we’ve only really gotten one vibe from her which is the “i rebel” one. The trailers we’ve gotten to see have shown a little more multidimentionality w/ respect to the other characters. But my guess is considering she’s going to be the lead, that her father Galen is probably going to be a big part of this story as well I’ve been assuming we’ll get more than enough depth from her in the film, they just want us to get on board with the rest of the team before diving in.
RIP Kenny Baker
That’s in another thread.
Even so.
stay on target
A lot of wannabe cinephiles and armchair filmmakers commenting on here…
“Fans expressed displeasure that TFA didn’t feature things in previous Star Wars movies”. Hahahaha best and worst fans in the world