So remember when it was announced that ROGUE ONE was gonna go through some pretty hefty reshoots? Of course you do, because it was the day when the light left our lives, and a cloud of despair and torture was seen on the horizon. Well, new details on those reshoots have emerged, and depending on your opinion of them, could elicit either excitement or fear.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, not only did ROGUE ONE go through said reshoots, but it turns out Disney brought in someone else to help director Gareth Edwards get the job done—THE BOURNE LEGACY and MICHAEL CLAYTON director Tony Gilroy.
Gilroy (who is also an uncredited writer on the movie) was reportedly brought on to oversee numerous issues with the movie, including the ending. He is now remaining on for the duration of the production to help supervise through the editing process. However, that doesn’t mean Edwards is being locked out in favor of Gilroy. A source has said the process is still very much a collaborative effort, with Gilroy merely assisting Edwards:
There are not two separate editing rooms; they are all in there with their ideas. Tony's a strong force, but they're all working together."
This is not the first time Gilroy has come to the aid of Edwards. Back in 2014 the Edwards-directed movie GODZILLA also had to go through some reshoots, and Gilroy was brought on then too. As well, Gilroy has been brought on to help movies in the past, like BOURNE IDENTITY, when the producers were having trouble with director Doug Liman. So yeah, the guy is basically a cinematic medicine man.
Now, when the word “reshoots” gets thrown around the first thing everyone does it scream “fire!” and then proceed to run around like chickens with their heads on fire. Reshoots don’t necessarily mean a movie is bad, and now someone has to try and make it better. A movie could be great, but just needs extra time to get even greater, or a movie could potentially suck, and reshoots do nothing but beat the dead horse (see the reviews for SUICIDE SQUAD, a movie that also famously went through reshoots).
Gilroy is a talented director and the movies he has helped with, like BOURNE and GODZILLA have all turned out fine. My only concern is that this is the second time he’s had to come to the aid of Edwards, which leads me to believe the latter may not be ready for big-budget affair, which could be bad for his future projects, like GODZILLA 2. But hey, we can cross that bridge when we get to it…probably with the help of Tony Gilroy.
ROGUE ONE directed by Gareth Edwards hits theaters on December 16.