STACK #150 Apr 2017

DVD&BD FEATURE

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foundations for the first Star Wars standalone feature were laid. Lucasfilm was determined that the anthology films not only utilise different genres in their storytelling approach but also provide the opportunity for new filmmakers to bring their own unique vision to the Star Wars universe. “That’s the wonderful thing about the standalone films,” says Kennedy. “It gives us a very wide range and huge palette of opportunity.” Just as Lucas drew inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress (1958) for A New Hope , Rogue One takes its cues from World War II ‘mission’ films like The Dam Busters (1955) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). To bring this gritty Star Wars story to the screen, the producers met with British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, whose acclaimed debut feature Monsters had landed him the job of helming the 2014 remake of Godzilla . “He had been on our radar for a long time,” says Kennedy. “When he made Godzilla we knew that he’d taken the next step in big, tent- pole moviemaking. “Gareth has that wonderful combination that is uniquely suited to Star Wars films,” she adds, “which is an emotional understanding of the characters inside the Star Wars universe and a sense of what is a strong family-type film that appeals to all ages. Gareth has a unique ability to combine a sense of humour with thematic storytelling.” As the inaugural standalone film, Rogue One is indeed the rogue one in the Star Wars canon, a fact Edwards embraced when it came to investing this new addition with his own distinctive style and personality. “What I wanted to do was to make Rogue One more natural, more realistic and a little more organic; to make it feel like a real world,” the director explains. “This is a time with no Jedi, no god to come and help the people who are under this massive threat. “We’re the first one out, so knowing these films could be different was exciting, but how different was the big question and what does that mean. I love Star Wars. I grew up with the

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No Luke Skywalker. No Jedi. No episode number or opening title crawl. As the first standalone adventure set in a galaxy far, far away, Rogue One is an important and exciting addition to Star Wars history. Words Adam Colby

t doesn’t seem that long ago that Disney announced its purchase of Lucasfilm and the promise to release a new Star Wars film every two to three years, beginning with Episode VII in 2015. That was October 2012. The following year, Lucasfilm revealed it was developing a series of standalone Star Wars films that would be released over a six-year period concurrent with the new sequel trilogy. Fast forward four years and we now have the first episode of the new trilogy, The Force Awakens, and the first standalone adventure, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which is now headed for home theatres on DVD and Blu-ray on April 5. Since the original film’s release in 1977, the Star Wars universe has expanded through novels and animated television series. However, the possibility of spin-off feature films was always something that George Lucas had considered, according to producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “The Star Wars episodes (I-VII) follow the Skywalker family and tell a continuing story. The standalone movies, which can occur anyplace on the timeline, will introduce new characters and explore a wide variety of genres,” Kennedy explains. “There’s a huge opportunity to do smaller, slightly grittier films as well as films that get close to the size and scale of the Saga films. We’re trying to have a wide diversity .” The story idea for Rogue One came from ILM chief creative officer and senior visual effects supervisor John Knoll, who was inspired by a reference in Episode IV: A New Hope ’s opening crawl – “ Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR… ” Knoll recognised the feature potential in

Director Gareth Edwards

extrapolating this pivotal moment in the Star Wars chronology. “This is a time after Episode III and the purge of the Jedi, where all the remaining Jedi have gone into hiding,” he explains. “It’s before Obi-Wan comes back and Yoda reappears. Ordinary citizens are the ones who have to step up and show their heroism.” He pitched the idea to Kennedy, who became enthusiastic about putting it into production; the

original trilogy and to me they’re the ultimate movies. I feel that a massive upside to not being a part of the Saga is we have a license to be different.”

• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is out on April 5

The Rogue One Blu-ray is chock full of bonus features but fans will notice the absence of any deleted scenes, despite footage that didn’t make the final cut featuring in early trailers (like the TIE fighter that rises in front of Jyn Erso). Gareth Edwards set the record straight in a recent interview with Fandango: “There’s not an individual scene that you can drag and drop and put on a Blu-ray,”

he explained. “There are little things that would come and go during post-production, but they’re not scenes. They’re more moments within the scenes or a single shot. So it’s impossible to be able to do that, and that’s why the decision was made.”

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