How Gareth Edwards Used Unused 'A New Hope' Footage in 'Rogue One'
Rogue One hit a goldmine over the weekend, ,as to be expected, and there's sure to be the usual celebrations going on at Disney and Lucasfilm. Speaking with Radio Times, Gareth Edwards discussed how he actually squeezed in unused footage of pilots during the final battle around Scarif into his film.
"We went to Skywalker Ranch, and there’s the archives there. And as we’re walking around, and doing all the cool things and looking at the Millennium Falcon and trying on Han Solo’s jacket and things like that, in the back at the bottom was all these cans of film. And we said ‘what are they?’ and they said ‘Oh, it’s Star Wars.’ And you go… ‘has someone gone through all this?’ And it’s like ‘not really, they’re not fully like digitised at all.’"
Edwards and his team reworked the script to slot some of this in there and incorporate unused dialogue (from the Battle of Yavin) into the film, and actors were digitally inserted into updated cockpits. It adds a rare layer of history to the saga, noting that these pilots may have perished later, but they fought in the victory during the Battle of Scarif. That's a unique feat in cinema.
"At the world premiere in LA, there was this massive cheer at a particular point in the film. It was the only time during the premiere where I actually punched the air," Edwards said, well aware that fans approve of the additions to the film.
Source: Slashfilm
