'Rogue One' Debuts New Footage and Poster at 'Star Wars' Celebration
Star Wars Celebration is now underway in London, and the center of attention this year is undoubtedly Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. One of the highlights of its day-one panel on Friday was the appearance of the entire Rogue One cast along with debut of a brand-new reel of behind-the-scenes footage from the production, which definitively positions the prequel as a gritty war film about the high-stakes heist to steal the plans for the first Death Star.
In the nearly three-minute clip (watch above), we’re provided with an extended look at director Gareth Edwards manning the camera and orchestrating the action of Rogue One. Much of that chaotic combat takes place on or around a beach on the paradise-like planet called Scarif, where rebel soldiers led by Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso are facing off against Imperial forces, including Stormtroopers stalking through crystal blue water.
The image is a clear echo of the newly released poster.
The overriding impression is that Edwards is aiming for a beach-and-jungle battlefield vibe akin to Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line or the Normandy Beach opening sequence of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
Corroborating what was said by the filmmaking team during their Celebration panel discussion, the production seems to have put a big emphasis on shooting on location — with genuine explosions and stunts — rather than using green-screen technology.
The clip offers a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it image of cast member Alan Tudyk wearing the motion-capture suit he used to help embody the character of K-2SO, an Imperial droid who is reprogrammed by Diego Luna’s character, Cassian Andor, and who – in a later, finished-CGI clip shown at Celebration – seems to have little interest in taking orders from his human masters.
In the other big surprise, we learn that Warwick Davis — who played Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi — has a mystery role in the new film.
Otherwise, there are new shots of Donnie Yen as blind, staff-wielding spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe.
And Ben Mendelsohn’s Imperial villain Orson Krennic gets an ominous moment aboard a space cruiser.
If the new Rogue One sizzle reel is light on spoilers, it’s heavy on conveying its intense war-drama vibe, epitomized by a prolonged slow-motion pan of Felicity Jones’s Jyn Eros (clutching what appears to be a small, vital case) and Luna’s Cassian running across a beach while sand flies around them and fellow soldiers are sent tumbling by enemy fire in the background.
Jyn closes the clip by telling her comrades “Let the Force be with us,” and no doubt, this new footage of Rogue One should continue stoking powerful anticipation for its release later this year on Dec. 16.
At the end of the panel, the audience in the convention hall was shown even more footage that featured Darth Vader, whose appearance in the new movie was reconfirmed at the event. We’ll have more once that clip gets released wide.
