Edwards Teases Reporters With 28 Minutes Of Rogue One Footage

Director Gareth Edwards recently released 28 minutes of the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to a select group of reporters.  Not only that, but it was viewed at none other than Skywalker Ranch.  The 28 minutes only covered the origins of each of the Rogue One crew and the spread of the Empire across the galaxy, but did not cover the operation to steal the Death Star plans itself.  The screening tool place this past Saturday, and to explain why they only viewed 28 minutes, Edwards joked that they thought about showing them 30 minutes, but decided that they needed to save something.


While the reporters were allowed to see the 28 minute of footage, so far only a few people have seen the entire finished film.  This includes the crew, who were given a private screening, and George Lucas himself.  It seemed that after Star Wars: The Force Awakens George Lucas was a little bitter, and may have even regretted selling off his Star Wars franchise and Lucasfilm studio and properties.  He was quoted as saying that the movie was "unoriginal," and didn't seem very pleased with it.  While he said that he gave some ideas for the movie, none of his suggestions were used.  Now, however, he seems to have had a change of heart after viewing the movie Rogue One.  At the screening for the reporters, Edwards said the following:


“Two days ago we got to show George the movie, and we all had a phone call and I got to speak with him yesterday, and I don’t want to put words into his mouth, but I can honestly say that I can die happy now. He really liked the movie. It meant a lot. To be honest, and no offense to anyone here, it was the most important review to me. You know, you guys are important too, but he’s kind of god… I will take that conversation to my grave. His opinion means the world to me.”


It sounds like Lucas liked it.  It should be noted that the idea of stand-alone Star Wars movies was something that Lucas himself wanted to do, and discussed it with Kathleen Kennedy after the first movie, A New Hope, had been released.  It's unclear, however, if the idea behind Rogue One was one of the projects he'd considered.


Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will have a special screening on December 10 in Los Angeles, before opening worldwide on December 16.