Rogue One director Gareth Edwards is just relieved people don't seem to hate his movie. The British filmmaker joined the Star Wars standalone project after making 2014's Godzilla, which kicked off the ongoing MonsterVerse that included this year's Godzilla vs Kong. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story released in 2016, one year after The Force Awakens kicked off the sequel trilogy, to both critical acclaim and box-office success.
Unlike Disney's main trilogy of movies, which take place after the Empire's defeat at the hands of the Rebels, Rogue One returns to the era depicted in the original films of the 1970s and '80s, set just prior to the events of A New Hope. Edwards' film follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), an Imperial prisoner freed by the Rebels who reluctantly joins a team tasked with the impossible task of stealing the plans for the Death Star super-weapon. Also starring are Diego Luna as Rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor and Ben Mendelsohn as Imperial weapons director Orson Krennic, with supporting appearances from Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Riz Ahmed, and Forest Whitaker.
According to a retrospective interview with StarWars.com, Edwards has struggled to absorb the fan appreciation for Rogue One, which has only grown since the conclusion of the sequel trilogy divided and disappointed the fanbase. The director says that everyday politeness means no one would ever tell him the movie was bad to his face, so he has a hard time seeing compliments as genuine. But, Edwards continues, people don't seem to hate his film, which is a great relief. Check out his full quote below:
I’m just glad people don’t seem to hate it. The biggest fear was that we were gonna ruin their childhood by reinventing or baking into canon what they imagined was something else. So I’m more relieved if anything, that people don’t hate the movie, if they’re not shouting at me across the street. In terms of people liking it, I feel like any compliments I ever hear about it, I just feel like are people being nice to me. I can’t accept it as a reality, really.
Given the intensity of the Star Wars fanbase, Edwards was right to be nervous, especially since Rogue One revisits a lot of familiar territory. Besides the direct plot connection to A New Hope, the film includes appearances from legendary villain Darth Vader and digital recreations of both Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin, the latter of which necessitated resurrecting the likeness of the deceased Peter Cushing. Thankfully for Edwards, fans responded strongly to the movie, and it remains one of the most well-remembered projects of Disney's Lucasfilm tenure.
Indeed, the legacy of Rogue One is going to continue on Disney+ with the spinoff prequel series Andor premieres. Created by Tony Gilroy, one of the film's co-writers, and starring Luna as his Rebel character, the show will begin five years prior to the suicide mission and explore the early development of the Rebellion. While an exact release date has yet to be announced, as with the rest of the streamer's extensive Star Wars lineup, it has been confirmed for sometime next year.
Source: StarWars.com