Garreth Edwards On Challenges of Rogue One; New Photos Released

One of the biggest questions going into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is how will director Garreth Edwards manage to capture the tension of the rebels spies stealing the Death Star being that we know they will succeed but most likely meet their demise before it’s all over. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Edwards explained that rather than focusing on the film’s ending, the bigger challenge was determining just where to begin the story in a way that gets us invested in the new characters and still manages to fit into the Skywalker saga as the film will lead us up to the moments before the original classic A New Hope begins with Darth Vaders Star Destroyer, “The Devastator” chasing down Princess Leia on board the Tantive IV attempting to escape from the Empire with the newly stolen plans for the Death Star.

“The thing every [filmmaker] typically struggles with is ‘How does it end?’” says director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla). “But we knew how our film was going to end. Our problem became ‘How do we reverse engineer from that and know where to start?’ You’ve got a finite number of options and you go through them all like a puzzle to find the one that’s going to lead to the strongest result.” One of the most important pieces: Darth Vader, back to menace the deep reaches of space once again.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) are briefed along with Rebel pilots and soliders at the Rebel base on Yavin IV as they embark on their mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. (Image via Entertainment Weekly)

Edwards also spoke with USA Today about the origin of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who’s father we know was taken away from her at a young age as he was the main scientist forced by the Empire to help develop the technology that powers the super weapon of the Death Star. The director explained Erso does have similarities to Luke Skywalker in that they are both initially reluctant heroes, however. The path that Erso will follow will be a very different one from the Jedi Master.

Events take place that just shatter her life and send her off to basically be raised as a soldier in the midst of a war. She ends up not the person she was supposed to be. Even though we’re not telling the story of Luke Skywalker, it was important to me that we capture the same themes and emotion, but the film doesn’t unfold how you think. It’s not the same path as Star Wars.

Jyn Erso and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), the former Imperial security droid who has been reprogrammed to assist the Rebels in their mission. (Image via USA Today)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16, 2016.

SOURCES: EW, USA TODAY (VIA SCREENRANT)

‘Rogue One’ Director Explains How Director Krennic Fits in With The Empire

Since the main antagonist for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) was revealed, fans have wondered just how the character would fit into the pre-existing hierarchy of the Empire first introduced in the original classic A New Hope back in 1977.

In an interview with USA Today, director Garreth Edwards divulged just exactly where Krennic stands with the Empire.

[Krennic] hits a brick wall in the hierarchy where they won’t let him in the club and it’s going to turn into a them-or-us situation: either Krennic or Tarkin and the others.

Edwards also added that Krennic is a “working-class” Imperial officer who ascended to his position “through sheer force of personality and ideas”.

Krennic hitting the brick wall or glass ceiling means that the character was most likely born in the outer rim of the galaxy. Fans who read the books know the Empire is extremely prejudiced against non-human species or those born outside the inner rim of the galaxy. Where is this guy from, Jelucan? One thing is for sure, he wasn’t born on Coruscant.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16, 2016.

Head on over to USA Today read more of the interview with Edwards including a brief account of what it like shooting a scene with Mendelsohn opposite Darth Vader.

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. In theaters December 2016.

SOURCE: USA TODAY