Trouble’s A’Brewing Behind The Scenes Of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

There has been a great disturbance in the force.

Page Six – who previously leaked the news of Alden Ehrenreich scoring the coveted Han Solo gig – is reporting that Disney is unhappy with Gareth Edwards’ upcoming Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, enforcing four weeks of extensive reshoots ahead of its December release.

The decision apparently came after test-screenings yielded less than positive results, with a source telling the outlet, “Disney won’t take a back seat, and is demanding changes”.

Though reshoots are pretty common for blockbusters (usually to pick up extra shots that were only deemed necessary once in the editing bay), these are supposedly intended to alter the very makeup of the movie.

The Hollywood Reporter has more details on the planned reshoots, which will apparently “lighten the mood, bring some levity into the story and restore a sense of fun to the adventure.”

(We can only assume that the need to “lighten the mood” is the result of primary villain Ben Mendelsohn being such a badass that everyone is leaving the test-screenings in a mess of terrified tears.)

Certainly the teaser trailer that dropped earlier this year suggested Rogue One – set between the events of Episodes III and IV – would be darker in tone than J.J. Abrams’ Force Awakens. (Edwards’ previous, downbeat movies, Godzilla and Monsters, would confirm that.)

However, according to THR, execs ultimately felt that Rogue One “was tonally off with what a ‘classic’ Star Wars movie should feel like."

Also, here’s another scoop from THR’s source: Rogue One ends just “10 minutes” before A New Hope begins.

Wonder if that’ll remain the case after reshoots.

The cast (including Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker and Mendo) and the crew return to action this July. The film itself arrives in December.

Photo: Disney.