Here’s why we should be worried about Star Wars: Rogue One getting reshoots

The internet has had its feathers ruffled after it was revealed that Disney execs were not happy with the first cut of Rogue One; that it didn’t match the high bar set by The Force Awakens, and that extensive reshoots were going to be taking place in July to amend the situation.

Yes, as many people online have pointed out, almost every big budget movie goes through reshoots, but that is usually to fix maybe some technical mistakes or have the actors give a slightly different read of a line. Reshoots should not be used to redefine a movie, which is definitely what it sounds like Disney would be doing. Especially after follow up reports were made trying to clear up exactly what is going on.

Deadline has stated that there was no test screening outside of a cut being shown to Disney execs, but that there will be reshoots in order to have the story jell. In addition, The Hollywood Reporter expands on this by claiming that compared to a “classic” Star Wars movie, Rogue One was tonally off: it felt too much like a war film, and that reshoots would “lighten the mood, bring some levity into the story and restore a sense of fun to the adventure.” This is a problem.

It’s a problem for several reasons. The first being that the tone of a film is defined by its script, and in order for these reshoots to achieve this tonal change, you can bet that this means rewrites. Which historically have not proved great for films that have already been shot. Disney wants the story to jell, but they would be taking a great risk in altering the tone already set by making it feel even more incohesive than it supposedly already is.

Secondly, having a different tone plays a big role in the appeal of this film. This is meant to be the war film of the Star Wars franchise. The film without lightsabers that shows the conflict from the perspective of rebel soldiers that don’t play into the whole Skywalker saga. To see imagery like Stormtroopers, X-Wings and AT-AT’s be more of the focus, and for lack of a better term, “nitty and gritty” is what Rogue One was meant to be from the start. It’s why people are excited to see this movie. It would allow Disney to show that there was more depth and variety to the Star Wars universe, to go back and make it feel like a “classic” Star Wars movie is contradictory to the film’s purpose to begin with.

The tone plays into the final problem, which is all about the marketing of this film. Rogue One is not a sequel to the original trilogy like The Force Awakens, it takes place before Episode IV; before Luke learns about Jedi Knights and leaves Tatooine. If you’re in the loop, this is something you already know. Many, many Star Wars fans are indeed aware of this fact, but a lot of people saw The Force Awakens, and a lot of people are most likely going to see Rogue One. A good chunk of that audience is not going to be as well educated on the timeline.

Take the cover image of this story for example. As beautiful as it is, it does itself no favors by combining characters and imagery from The Force Awakens and Rogue One; movies that revolve around completely different stories and times. This will only lead to confusion on the part of a large portion of viewers. Disney should be trying to do everything they can to differentiate these spin offs and the sequel trilogy. It didn’t help that “Episode VII” was not actually included anywhere in the title of the seventh Star Wars film, meaning that even though Rogue One is tagged with the subtitle of “A Star Wars Story”, there isn’t that much that defines exactly how it fits in to the franchise. You know what would help? Having the film feel tonally different from the a “classic” Star Wars movie.

I’m hopeful that Rogue One will be every bit as great as I want it to be, but I’m excited about it because it looks unlike any Star Wars movie thats come before it, especially since The Force Awakens borrowed so heavily from A New Hope. To hear that Disney is retooling this film into something more in line with what we’ve already seen is worrying to me. We’ll just have to see exactly what the product is come December 16th.