A great deal of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story news came out of the panel held at Celebration Europe 2016 in London, including some new background information about the characters of Diego Luna, Forest Whitaker, and Riz Ahmed, as well as the announcement that Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso is getting her own action figure. But perhaps most exciting revelation was a reel of new footage from behind the scenes of Rogue One, which offers a glimpse at how the production was filmed.
The footage shows off plenty of live-action stunts and emphasizes the use of practical effects (including a massive, impressive-looking explosion). The Force Awakens also took this tact, avoiding the heavy computer-generated imagery and green screens that the prequel trilogy was so harshly criticized for and instead relying on real sets and props. “When your heart’s beating and you’re actually in this situation, you get something that you couldn’t have planned,” said Jones.
For his part, director Gareth Edwards plugged Rogue One’s originality: “If you’re too respectful of [the original Star Wars movies] and you daren’t do anything new or different or take a risk, then what’re you bringing to the table?” This seemed to be an acknowledgement of complaints that The Force Awakens was too derivative of A New Hope. Rogue One, the first live-action standalone Star Wars movie, has promised more novelty—and in fact, the reel shows off some very unique visuals for a Star Wars movie, including Stormtroopers wading through the waters of beach planet Scarif.*
Rogue One hits theaters Dec. 16.
*Correction, July 15, 2016: This post originally misspelled Stormtroopers.
