Some films are best, when left to stand alone without a line of sequels and prequels. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is just such a film, at least as far as Felicity Jones is concerned. The actress, who plays the lead heroine, Jyn Erso, in Rogue One expresses her feeling that the Star Wars offshoot film is unique and should be left to stand on its own merits. As Jones opens up about her opinion, a rarity among Star Wars fans, she indicates that, even if Disney changes its mind and tries to insert a number of sequels to Rogue One , she might not return to reprise the Jyn Erso role.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Is Special As Is, Says Star Felicity Jones
With Rogue One just one week from its theatrical premiere, it seems everyone has Star Wars on the brain and a new Felicity Jones interview with Toronto Sun delivers greater insight into what fans can expect in theaters next Friday. While Rogue One is already expected to be a huge hit and the Rogue One stars are certainly happy about that, Ms. Jones says fans shouldn’t expect to see her reprise Jyn Erso in future films. It’s not that she dislikes Star Wars, or wants to distance herself from Rogue One . If anything, quite the opposite is true.
“It’s quite special because they’re one-off films,” explains Jones.
Felicity adds that Rogue One and other planned stand-alone Star Wars films are more exciting in a way, because directors can largely tell their own vision without having to adhere to strict guidelines.
“These films are auteur-driven movies. There’s not a whole list of rules that they’ve got to conform to. It gives everyone a lot of freedom,” Felicity says. “It’s quite wonderful that there’s a real hands-off approach in terms of the esthetic and really letting the director dictate the tone.”
While director Gareth Edwards was free to tell his own story for Rogue One, Jones adds that she’s not implying this deviates far from the Star Wars “feel” as it has been experienced in every other film. She says fans can expect the same Star Wars humor and the same blend of lightheartedness and suspenseful storytelling. Felicity maintains that it is still a good Star Wars movie, while also having a heavy Gareth Edwards influence.
Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards Isn’t Ready To Say Goodbye
While Felicity Jones feels her role in the Star Wars universe has successfully come to an end, director Gareth Edwards tells Vulture that he’s still not ready to end his part in the Star Wars story. He describes living Star Wars for the past two-and-a-half years, almost getting to live in that universe in a very real sense, but not being able to tell anyone about it and suddenly faced with Rogue One merchandise at every turn.
“I was in L.A. today and I walked into a store that had two life-size cutouts of Death Troopers greeting me,” says Edwards. “And I realized, ‘This is the real world, this isn’t the office.’ Star Wars is something that you never get to own — you just borrow it from the world, and then you give it back.”
Looking back on the filming of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , Gareth comments on the same aspects to which Felicity Jones had referred, explaining what it was like to get an almost free rein in creating his own vision of Star Wars for Rogue One . Many of the rules no longer applied, due to the nature of the story being told in the stand alone film. Edwards says he found it to be a risky balancing act between trying not to redo what George Lucas had already done in the franchise, while also trying to adhere to the essential factors which make it a Star Wars film.
Still, some audiences might see something familiar in Rogue One , particularly those Star Wars fans with an appreciation for real world history.
“One of the experiments we did early in San Francisco was we took images of Vietnam and Middle East conflicts and World War II and we literally just Photoshopped rebel clothes over the soldiers,” reveals Gareth Edwards. “There was a lot of emotion in those images, and anytime someone would come and ask about Rogue One , those tended to be the images that we would give out. And people said, ‘Oh, my God, I would go see that.’ So we kind of had license to make a more realistic, slightly World War II take on Star Wars.”
Finally, Edwards commented on the Rogue One reshoots that drew so much attention, revealing that Disney brought in Tony Gilroy to do some of the reshoots, though not because the studio lost confidence in Edwards. He says Rogue One expanded so much from the original plan that the extra help was needed. For instance, just the use of visual effects exploded from 600 to 1,600 distinct visual effects. Mr. Edwards says the scope of Rogue One was just too big to accomplish without the reshoots and the additional help.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16.
[Featured Image by Disney/Lucasfilm]