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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was nearly a disaster, until a hero saved the day

By Neil Harrington

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was nearly a disaster, until a particular modern-day hero swooped in, saving the day.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a complete and utter disaster until a hero saved the project from the depths of the Dark Side. Evidently, Lucasfilm was not pleased with the version Gareth Edwards initially submitted — with Kathleen Kennedy playing hardball, bringing in a closer from the bullpen to salvage the film.

During June of 2016, Lucasfilm brought in Oscar-nominated writer Tony Gilroy to work his magic on Rogue One, and boy did he impress. Lucasfilm was so pleased with Gilroy’s progress; they ended up paying him millions of dollars to reshoot much of the movie — including adding the badass Darth Vader scene at the end.

The screenwriter, who salvaged the ‘Star Wars’ project, says the situation was so dire.

It’s hard to imagine Rogue One without that scene of the Sith Lord mowing down Rebel scum, but without Gilroy, it never would’ve happened. Even though Gareth Edwards is credited with directing the movie, Gilroy is known as the “ghost” director among cast and crew.

Give Edwards loads of credit for playing ball, humbling himself in the process and turning the film into a true team effort — unlike Lord and Miller who refused to on the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story, leading to their dismissal in the progress. More on that duo in a moment.

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Back to Gilroy and the disaster of Rogue One, where he swept in saving the day, embracing his inner Luke Skywalker. Recently, Gilroy spilled the beans on his “involvement” for the standalone Star Wars film — where he does not hold back in the slightest in a recent interview on The Moment With Brian Koppelman podcast.

"“I’ve never been interested in Star Wars, ever. So I had no reverence for it whatsoever… They were in so much terrible, terrible trouble that all you could do was improve their position.”"

Thank the Maker Gilroy had a unique perspective on the film since he evidently could care less about Star Wars. I’ve had discussions with fans over the years on the matter; that those involved with Star Wars films must be a die-hard fan. Evidently, that’s not necessarily true.

That task goes to the Lucasfilm story group in protecting the lore and integrity of a galaxy far, far away; while it’s the job of the actors, writers, and directors to create a great film. Mark Hamill even admits that he’s not really into the lore of the Star Wars extended content and he’s only seen the Star Wars films just a handful of times.

The same rings true for Rogue One, with an “outsider” saving the film from crash landing into a supernova. A similar fate (apparently) awaited the upcoming Solo film, but Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy had a case of deja vu — faced with the same issue once again.

Unlike Edwards, it appears Lord and Miller refused to make the appropriate changes for Solo, which seems to be the reason they were “let go” from the project. Initially, an uproar began at this news, with many Star Wars fans having a “bad feeling” about this film.

However, this is a good indication that Solo is now on the right track, and major kudos to Kennedy, Lucasfilm/Disney, and all those involved, stepping in before the Falcon crashed and burned — undoubtedly knowing that it would result in a public relations nightmare, which it was.

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Thank you, Mr. Gilroy, for transforming Rogue One into the masterpiece it is now; we are eternally grateful for your efforts. Hopefully, we will extend the same praise and thanks to Ron Howard with his course correction of Solo: A Star Wars Story. We will find out soon enough, on May 25, 2018.

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