Gareth Edwards Talks With Fans About Working on Rogue One, Darth Plagueis, George Lucas, the Name Scarif and More
Star Wars has always been a film series that has had some absolutely incredible directors. From the creator himself, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, J.J Abrams, and the most recent, Gareth Edwards. All have done an incredible job of bringing the universe to life and leaving their distinct mark on Star Wars, but often times what’s happening behind the camera can be just as interesting as what’s happening on it. Gareth Edwards proved that this week when he gave the keynote speech at SXSW Film and shed some light on the beginning of his career in film, Star Wars, and an important visit and misspelling at a Starbucks. He also did a Reddit AMA session sharing even more interesting bits with the fans.
It’s crystal clear that Edwards is a huge Star Wars fan, in fact from the moment he saw Star Wars for the first time, he wanted to join the Rebel Alliance and fight the Empire. As he grew older someone let him know that he couldn’t do that and would have to find something else, and he chose to become a “professional liar” aka a filmmaker.
What I found most interesting and humbling about his talk was his struggles in the film industry and how it wasn’t what he thought it would be. Like almost every director of the past 30-40 years Edwards looked up the legendary Steven Spielberg and thought his rise would be just like his. Go to school for film, make a professional short film, and then get a contract with major movie studio to make films. He sent in his films to a producer and they sent him back a rejection letter. Succeeding in the film industry can be incredibly hard and comes with a lot of rejection, seeing that and how it affected Edwards makes me like him a lot more to see he persevered and finally succeeded and thrived.
Finally the name for the planet where the Death Star plans were hidden in Rogue One, Scarif came from a Starbucks barista misspelling Gareth Edwards’ name. The barista asked for his name and when he said Gareth, the barista heard “Scareth” and wrote it on his cup. It’s a really funny story and shows that creativity can come from just about anywhere.
There is a lot details in the article itself and if you’re even remotely interested in Edwards or Rogue One, it is well worth the read.
The whole article can be found here.
And here are the most interesting bits from the Reddit Ask Me Anything, where fans ask questions on Reddit in real time and the director answers:
Q: Was there anything cut out of Rogue One that you’d like to put back in?
A: There are millions of things that I would like to have put in the film… unfortunately films are only 2 hours long, so many ideas fall away before the final release… I guess if we had another 10 years to finish the film, the final version would evolve even more. The goal is to make sure the version that goes out into the world is the best possible version. So in that sense, no real regrets 🙂
Q: Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
A: No, sorry, I hope he gets well soon.
Q: How did it feel knowing that George Lucas approved and really enjoyed your adaptation of the star wars universe.
A: The biggest relief in the world. George Lucas is GOD. Without him, no of this would exist. I would have traded his positive review for everyone else in the world if I’m honest.
Q: If you had to add an opening crawl to Rogue One, what would you have it say?
A: Gary Whitta actually wrote one in the first draft. You’ll have to pester him for it 😉 …I do believe that those opening crawl words are actually floating out there in space somewhere. We just have to fund NASA well enough so their deep-space telescopes can find them, lets crowd fund it and make it happen.
Q: Will we ever find out what the changes and reshoots were behind the scenes of Rogue One? From the first promotional material to the final cut of the film, it’s pretty clear a lot changed during production.
A: Lots of great shots were grabbed during filming, some of them were specifically designed for a sequence, others were just opportunistic. Marketing end up falling in love with things that might fall away during the post production of a film, and also might help strengthen others. I’m just glad they found a way to get into the world.
Q: What was your favourite easter egg that made it into Rogue One, and did you have any input on the inclusion of them?
A: I’m very bias… But my cameo would be my favorite… I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say he was probably the savior of the entire rebellion 😉
Q: How many of the decisions that will probably influence the rest of the anthology films did you yourself take part in? Like, the lack of the opening crawl, or not having John Williams score…things that separate them from the core “episodes.” Were those decisions you made?
A: We knew from the start that John Williams would not be available for our film… The opening crawl decision was made before we started filming.
Q: If you could pick one character from your spinoff movie to do a spinoff about them which would it be?
A: Mads and Ben… Galen and Krennic or Baze and Chirrut or maybe it would be cool to see what happens to the Death Star plans, and if the rebels manage to actually blow-up the Death Star, that would be a cool movie!!!
Q: How do you feel about Micheal Giachinno’s score for Rogue One? What was he like to work with?
A: Michael is a massive Star Wars fan, and a great human being. He had very little time to write the music for the film, and I think there are moments within it, especially Jyn’s theme, where he smashed it out the park, it’s perfect for what we needed at that point in the film. Everyone had massive smiles on their faces during the recording sessions.
Q: What’s your favorite Star Wars movie, besides Rogue One?
A: My favorite is not Rogue One, but thanks for assuming it might be, my order would be:
A New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
You can check the whole thread here.
Gary Whitta will be at Salt Lake FanX this weekend, I might need to pester him for that crawl like Gareth suggests…
Do it man ! Or ask him if it’ll end up on a Collectors Edition BluRay or something……
I like how he’s rockin the George Lucas look in that last image 🙂
That is Giachinno, not Gareth. 🙂
I think Masked Avenger means the plaid shirt
Garreth knows that plagues is Snoke !
I bet he don’t even know who he is.
I really hope you don’t go to casino often.
Well, his joke looks like more he wanted to avoid the question.
But Plagueis is dead
Is he? Or maybe a wise plague? I don’t know the rest of the story. He could be dead.
He is dead. He had the power to save others. But not himself.
And some just let things go right over their heads.
Yep, pretty much anyone with a theory involving Plagueis certainly do that. It’s sad. Star Wars fans should watch Star Wars.
I’ll never forget the look of confused BEWILDERMENT on Lawrence Kasdan’s face when asked about Plagueis at one of the SW Panels — Kasdan literally had no clue who the guy was talking about. We won’t be seeing any Plagueis in the new Trilogy.
Sarcasm: it has a strong influence on the weak minded !
Here’s my sucky Snoke theory: Krennic looks up at the Death Star, sees its about to shoot, dives into the elevator and hits down. The elevator makes it just far enough to save him but the blast takes out the surrounding wall or roof and an automatic force field activates. Krennic now knows the destruction that’s about to be wreaked and uses his access codes to route all available power to the force field as his only option. This action and the fact that he’s still high up in the tower where the blast isn’t as powerful as down on the ground is just enough to save him, barely – He is horribly burned and injured. When the Emperor comes to inspect the destruction, Krennic’s faint life signs are detected. The Emperor uses his knowledge, gleaned from Plagueis, to save Krennic from death, this imbues Krennic with force abilities and turns him into a sort of force vampire, who feeds on force sensitives.
In your theory, why did Palpatine keep Krennic around?
I have actually heard that a bunch of people didn’t like the rogue One score… I enjoyed it. The Imperial Suite is quite epic.
I liked it. I loved the trailer themes though, expecially the teaser score.
Trailer theme was the best score piece written for the movie. I felt most of the music felt short, unfortunately.
I’m quite partial to Jyn’s theme and “Hope”, but “The Imperial Suite” is definitely the best new track of the score in my book.
I didn’t like it.
It grew on me as I listened to it in isolation and could appreciate the subtle New Hope references.
I now have a much greater appreciation for it and only hope that Giacchino gets another crack at a Star Wars score, but next time I hope he gets time to develop the themes and perhaps create concert versions.
I prefer it to the TFA score, in some ways it’s more classic Williams than Williams is now!
I didn’t love TFA at first, but after 7 theatrical viewings…. i loved it lol
And yeah, I hope they give Giacchino Han Solo… but let him start working on and recording THIS YEAR lol
Erm, could you please add ‘Richard Marquand’ to your list of SW directors in your opening article ? 🙂
He is describing incredible directors. Marquand…bless him, was not.
That’s ‘opinion’. I’m referring to ‘respect’. They listed all the SW directors bar one. Add him.
Also, he’s Welsh. And he died at a tragically young age. And it took three to craft ROTJ.
Then it is the writer’s opinion that he was not “incredible”.
You are referring to respect, but the writer is referencing something else.
I have to concur with this. It was an OT film, and to not even credit the director of it is just plain disrespectful.
Thanks for fixing it. It was the right thing to do, no matter your personal opinions on the matter.
Now knowing that he can direct a good SW film, I’m much warmer to the idea of directors with few credits coming aboard.
Everything was flawless in the film besides one major factor which I felt hurt the experience. He doesn’t know how to connect the audience to the emotions of the actors (and acting was good in this movie) I don’t know what is it about his directing style, but many people I talk to felt exactly the same: great cinematography, awesome action, characters seem to say what’s important, plot is concise. Yet, there are very few moments where I was emotionally invested. Besides that major drawback I still enjoyed it a great deal. Just wished it had the dramatic gravitas of LOGAN.
Do you find this familar?
“I guess if we had another 10 years to finish the film, the final version would evolve even more” I think he sounds like some director…
All directors
Exactly
Rogue One brought out the best from Gareth Edwards. It’s his best movie so far, and a worthy addition to the OT.
And I think the soundtrack is very good. I got a bit of LotR vibe listening to it (especially the Guardians of the Whills Suite). I would go as far as saying it’s better than TFA’s score…
Very much looking forward to the home viewing release of Rogue One, not because I want to see it again (I don’t), but so we can move on to The Last Jedi.
Gareth Edwards comes across as a genuinely nice guy, but I find his movies range from slightly above average to poor. Monsters being the best of the bunch, which was carried by the very talented B Actor Scoot McNairy.
When i saw RO in the cinema, almost 20% of the people didnt return after the break. I had the feeling they had no idea what the movie was about. My friend who is an average SW fan didnt like it either. Iam okay with the movie though, but never felt the urge to go see it again.
I thought I would see it one or two more times, even after I was not crazy about it on first viewing, but then just never felt the urge. When/if it comes to my local second-run theater, I’ll most likely go.
I’m a life long Star Wars fan, but was disappointed in RO. I saw TFA 8 times in the theater. I have seen RO only twice. The movie seemed kind of scattered, and relied too much on action movie cliches.
Which action chlishes, if I may ask?
Too many to mention them all, but here are a few:
– Rag tag team of misfits that bands together into a high performing team overnight
– Baze Malbus on his death march – getting shot multiple times but keeps going and shooting out of anguish of his friend’s death
– Chirrut is derivative of (not inspired by) many martial arts movies (by contrast, I would say many OT characters are inspired by, not derivative of)
– Shooting without looking
– Jyn Erso’s entire story:
– Recruited by a group she never heard of
– Wanted nothing to do with the group’s objective
– Only agreed to participate because her dear old dad was in danger
– Ends up miraculously (and unbelievably) becoming the cause’s champion and giving the inspirational speech
The list goes on. This is part of what I was worried about before the movie came out and unfortunately it came to pass.
-I would argue the fact that the team banded together and especially that they were “highly performing” (which they weren’t). This is indeed a pretty boring chlishe, but R1 managed to avoid it, at least in my opinion. Usually the chlise goes like this:
Team members don’t like each others >> Plot makes them like each other>> “team moment” >>Team members become inseparable.
The R1 team wasn’t really bound together and they never really had any conflict (outside of the Eadu thing). Everyone had their own reason to join the fight, but they weren’t really a team… Just Cassian and a couple of people who fought along him. They didn’t have a “team moment” (the pike of the chilse).
– “getting shot multiple times but keeps going and shooting out of anguish of his friend’s death”
Imo this is only a chlise if the wounded character crawls to achieve something which proceeds the plot (usually to blow up something). Since for Baze it was just a crawl to death I didn’t feel it as a chlise.
-I’m pretty sure Jyn has heard about the Rebels and their activity before…
-It’s arguable that Jyn wanted nothing with the group’s objective even if she said so imo. At least her objection wasn’t as emphatic as in other movies, but yeah, this is indeed a chliséd team story.
-I’d also argue that she became the cause’s “champion”. Outside of giving inspirational speeeches she didn’t do anything outstanding. It was pretty much a team effort, even if she was in the focus.
“derivative of / inspired by” – Can you please elaborate what do you think the difference is? How is Chirrut a derivative of other characters, but Han for instance, not?
THE movie was made to mirror action movies, and I’m glad. The story kicked Ep. 7 azz
Gareth Edwards is great with visuals and camera work. His films seem to get get tripped up by the script and odd pacing (the first 30 min of RO is all over the place). He needs a good script and Producers to guide him along. I’m sure Edwards will improve as a Director as he gains more experience. I’m confident he’ll make something that will blow everyone away and elevate him as auteur like Ridley Scott.
I’m LOVING Gareth’s list of FAVORITE Star Wars Films ! And I love his “Prequel diss” of not knowing about Darth Plaugeis LOL
It’s not real ou a PT diss. Most Star Wars fans feel same, but if enjoyed the PT more than Ep 7.
Roque One is full of prequels easter eggs. Soo he is not hating prequels, he is just joking. Also TFA is not on his list.
Rogue One was a good film — but it is what I expected from the “spin
off” films —- great visuals and action sequences but DEVOID of
emotional-gravitas / depth. I prefer the emotional-engagement that the
Trilogy Films can provide —- but will continue to support the “spin
off” films as “therapeutic filler” that helps me get through the years between Trilogy Films 🙂
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Daft Prequels the Despised?
MADE MY DAY
Rogue One left me cold, it had no heart, no depth, no sincerity, the fake looking cgi Leia and Tarkin were aptly symbolic representations of the whole synthetic affair.
Anyone else think Scarif was named after the island near Skellig where e7 & 8 filmed???
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scariff_Island
Why does everyone have to have something negative to say these days.
Pre internet there was none of this, just fans who chatted and bonded over their excitement and love of something.
When you love something you forgive it its sins.
But thats the problem now, everyone is too judgemental, none of it helps, not in the long run.
I’ve loved all of Star Wars, despite and sometimes because of it’s flaws. No other set of movies has ever given me so much. The ingratitude of peolpe towards the artists who devote themselves to making these films horrifies me.
People put blood sweat and tears into these films.
Especially when these opinions come from people who think they know film and art. And clearly don’t, just couch potatoes, who think that because they’ve seen a few films in their short lives that they have some degree of expertise.
Yes, everyone is entitled to a view. But please know what youre talking about first. And think about the hard work that went into making the thing you casually dismiss.
It’s like picking up a fine swiss watch and saying you don’t like the colour. Or forgettig to look up at the night sky and look deeply at the stars, because someone sent you a funny cat video on your phone.