One of the most defining characteristics of the recent run of “Star Wars” films have been their troubled productions. One of the first signs that something went wrong though was with 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”.
Originally helmed by “Godzilla” helmer Gareth Edwards, this first of a planned series of standalone non-episodic films was famously taken over and retooled by writer/director Tony Gilroy.
This week actor Mads Mikkelsen, who played key Death Star designer and Jyn Erso’s father Galen in the film, reflected on the retooling with Happy Sad Confused podcast and says he wasn’t bothered by the changes the film underwent:
“Some of it was a little chaotic.There was no secret that there was some rewriting in the script while we were doing it. And when you do that…it is obviously very tricky for the actors to know ‘What am I carrying into this room now? I opened the door. I’m not back to what happened before.’ So there was some of that.
Having said that, it always felt like a solid story. A young girl lost, [who] doesn’t know where she belongs in the world. Then an Oppenheimer story unfolds. She’s always heard he [Galen] was this, and then she realizes he was that. And it was quite beautifully written. At the end of the day, the changes that were in the film were not as dramatic as people talk about. It was tweaks, but obviously, if you do it while you’re working it can be confusing.”
Even now, several years later, it’s still not clear what was shot that was lost beyond a couple of scenes like one shot of Krennic walking through Stormtrooper corpses on Scarif, and a scene with Darth Vader in front of a viewscreen. A new shot from the latter came out the other day and can be seen below:
Last Rogue memory for today: pic.twitter.com/iJd5GDu1fQ
— Hal Hickel (@halhickel) February 2, 2021
Mikkelsen will next be seen in the long-delayed sci-fi adaptation “Chaos Walking” alongside Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. Check out Mikkelsen in a new clip from the film below which offers a better understanding of ‘The Noise’ element of the film.