UPDATE! Dave Filoni Did Not Direct the Big Darth Vader Scene at the End of ‘Rogue One’
Freddie Prinze Jr., the voice of Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume on Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, has indicated that Dave Filoni (who was behind both of the aforementioned animated shows, alongside Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, and Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, and the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka) may have guest-directed the big Darth Vader action scene at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. However, others believe that while Filoni was involved, his role wasn’t that substantial.
UPDATE!
Lucasfilm Creative Executive Pablo Hidalgo has shared a message fully debunking the claim that Dave Filoni secretly directed the scene, verifying a report from Umberto Gonzales and other previous comments on the creative process on the scene:
https://twitter.com/pabl0hidalgo/status/1632083185269092353
In addition, ILM visual effects artist Hal Hickel (who Hidalgo quoted above) has stated that Gareth Edwards was, in fact, present during the filming of the scene as the director, while sharing some other anecdotes confirming that this is the case:
I was on set, and watched Gareth direct it. Also: pic.twitter.com/8TUj5wIJpe
— Hal Hickel (@halhickel) March 4, 2023
So in all likelihood, Filoni could have helped storyboard the sequence that Edwards and his second unit director Simon Crane would go on to direct, and Prinze Jr. may have misheard a few things about the process of bringing that scene to life. The article, as it was originally presented, continues below.
Rumors indicate that there were always plans for some kind of a Darth Vader action scene near the end of Rogue One, but it wasn’t shot during principal photography, which was just as well considering that so much of the film’s third act was reshot anyways. Had it factored into the story, then Vader presumably would’ve had a presence on Scarif – which would’ve presented continuity issues, given that a substantial amount of the planet’s surface got glassed by a low-power Death Star laser, and obviously Vader would’ve had to make it out alive while nobody else did. But after most of the reshoots on Rogue One were completed, it was proposed that there was just enough time to add an action sequence to better bridge the end of the movie with the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope, so Lucasfilm took their shot.
Director Gareth Edwards handled principal photography on the film, and while he was not dismissed from the project when it was overhauled in reshoots by Tony Gilroy, his overall role on the project in post-production was reduced. Edwards cameos in the scene as the Rebel Alliance soldier who throws the switch to detach the Tantive IV before Darth Vader can board the ship, allowing it to fly off into hyperspace before the Devastator can capture the ship over the planet of Tatooine a short time later.
Due to his presence in one of the shots, some have believed that Edwards directed the scene. However, Freddie Prinze Jr. indicates that this was not the case. In an interview with the Lights, Camera, Barstool podcast, Prinze Jr. stated that Dave Filoni guest-directed the scene:
“I don’t know if people know this, maybe I’m not allowed to say this, but I don’t care anymore. [Dave Filoni] directed that scene in Rogue One where – basically, the whole end of the movie, where Vader comes through, and you see basically what’s gonna happen in A New Hope. He directed all that. He also recast Darth Vader – they cast another actor, and they asked Dave to watch the movie, to see what he thinks. And I remember him going ‘Well, you got some of the buttons wrong, some of the lighting wrong. Why’d you hire an Italian?’ And they go ‘What do you mean? How’d you know we hired an Italian?’ And he’d go ‘Well, Darth Vader doesn’t talk with his hands, but this one clearly does.'”
Darth Vader’s on-set actor was originally played by Spencer Wilding for scenes shot during principal photography, such as the meeting that he has with the film’s villain Orson Krennic, but was portrayed by Daniel Naprous for the action sequence. It is known that Filoni was getting a crash-course in live-action directing at the time for future projects (thanks to Kathleen Kennedy arranging for him to watch directors J. J. Abrams, Gareth Edwards, and Rian Johnson at work on their respective films, getting tips from them in the process), but saying that he first cut his teeth on one of the most memorable scenes in Rogue One is quite the claim. Shortly after this quote went viral, The Wrap reporter Umberto Gonzalez claimed that Prinze Jr. was mistaken – while Filoni was involved with the creative side of planning the sequence, second unit director Simon Crane actually filmed the scene, most likely under the supervision of either Edwards or Gilroy. This is supported by the film’s co-writer, Gary Whitta, who stated that Edwards was present when they were cutting together the footage after shooting it:
I still remember vividly Gareth excitedly showing me the first cut of this. No music or VFX, wires still visible, but even in that nascent form it was clear that it was going to straight-up murder audiences. As I recall Peter Jackson was on set that day also losing his shit. https://t.co/IsPSNtLpvf
— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) February 21, 2022
You can see the original interview snippet, alongside Gonzalez’s clarification, below:
Factually inaccurate. Filoni was involved with creative but the actual scene was shot by 2nd unit director Simon Crane.
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) March 1, 2023
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is available on home media formats and is streaming on Disney Plus, which is also home to the first season of the prequel series Andor.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
