Gareth Edwards Explains Why That Incredible Shot of Jyn Never Made it Into Rogue One

This article is over 7 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Director Gareth Edwards spoke at a Directors Guild of America screening of Rogue One the other day, and in his discussion, he explained why the now-iconic shot of Jyn in her Imperial trooper armor standing in the lit tunnel never made it onto the big screen.

According to Edwards, the shot was created during their “Indie Hour” tradition where they’d essentially play with different shots and get experimental with footage and things. They’d sit around and shoot whatever for an hour to see what came out, basically. Of the shot in question, he explained:

Someone called her, and she just turned around a little bit and I was like, ‘Oh my god that looked great.’ And I was like ‘Stop stop stop!’ and everyone stopped. ‘This will take 10 seconds, just roll camera.’ Then, obviously, ten seconds turned into a half hour, and we probably did 17 takes. So that ended and there’s that feeling of, ‘Well what was that for?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. That just felt good.’

Edwards even cops to forgetting about the shot completely until the marketing team found the footage and put it into the trailer.

Much has been said about Rogue One‘s missing scenes, though the exclusion of this one in particular left a few fans a bit disappointed (myself included). While this is more of a shot than a full-on scene, it managed to resonate with so many people when it ended up being the shot that rounded out the very first trailer. Combined with Saw Gerrera’s incredible monologue and voice over, it was a highly-memorable moment for a movie that would ultimately not need it at all.

(via Polygon)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+.


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Jessica Lachenal
Jessica Lachenal
Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.
twitter