Hi Reddit! My name is Gareth, I am from Nuneaton, a small town in the midlands of England, where from a young age I dreamed of becoming a film director.
My breakthrough film was “Monsters,”a sci-fi thriller about an alien attack on Earth and its effect on a cynical American journalist, played by Scoot McNairy. “Monsters” was a huge critical success, drawing the attention of Hollywood and leading to the opportunity to direct Legendary’s epic rebirth of arguably the most recognized monster of the 20th century—“Godzilla.” My dream job came knocking in May 2014 as I was offered to direct a Star Wars motion picture, the incredible Lucasfilm franchise that inspired him to make movies.
Hey Gareth! Big fan of Rogue One, Godzilla, and Monsters, so glad you decided to do this! My question is: was there anything cut out of Rogue One that you’d like to put back in?
There are millions of things that I would like to have put in the film… unfortunately films are only 2 hours long, so many ideas fall away before the final release… I guess if we had another 10 years to finish the film, the final version would evolve even more. The goal is to make sure the version that goes out into the world is the best possible version. So in that sense, no real regrets :)
What lessons did you learn from doing Godzilla that translated over to when you did Rogue One? Btw, I’m a huge fan of Godzilla. You did a fantastic job!!!
Thank you. I guess there are many lessons. Visually, I wanted to have a team of concept artists working on Rogue One ALL the way through the film. Typically on a big movie, the artists only work during the script writing phase, but you end up always tweaking and improving everything, so having designers and concept artists work and redesign and keep pushing things all the way until the last month of the process was something we did on Rogue that wasn’t on Godzilla so much.
Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
No, sorry, I hope he gets well soon.
Did you feel like you were under a lot of pressure with this story considering how different it was to all the rest of the saga?
The biggest thing was trying to figure out what the film would be. The initial idea was it’s like a heist movie. But I feel that Star Wars is not just one genre, it’s a whole load of different genre’s mixed together, like fairy tale, war, western, samurai, biblical epic etc… Even though our story was not going to involve the Skywalker story, it was important to me that it had all the emotional and mythical ingredients of the sagas… god, that was a long answer.
Hi Gareth, If you had to add an opening crawl to Rogue One, what would you have it say?
Gary Whitta actually wrote one in the first draft. You’ll have to pester him for it ;) …I do believe that those opening crawl words are actually floating out there in space somewhere. We just have to fund NASA well enough so their deep-space telescopes can find them, lets crowd fund it and make it happen.
Will we ever find out what the changes and reshoots were behind the scenes of Rogue One? From the first promotional material to the final cut of the film, it’s pretty clear a lot changed during production.
Lots of great shots were grabbed during filming, some of them were specifically designed for a sequence, others were just opportunistic. Marketing end up falling in love with things that might fall away during the post production of a film, and also might help strengthen others. I’m just glad they found a way to get into the world.
Would you rather fight a Godzilla sized Darth Vader, or a Darth Vader sized Godzilla?
It’s got to be a Godzilla sized Darth Vader… in fact, that visual is probably the coolest thing anyone could ever put in a movie… Will keep my fingers crossed for this after the Han Solo spin-off!
Loved Rogue One and how bold it was. Couple questions
How did it feel knowing that George Lucas approved and really enjoyed your adaptation of the star wars universe.
Do you plan on doing any more sci-fi in the future, or are you soon going to be branching out on more genres?
- The biggest relief in the world. George Lucas is GOD. Without him, no of this would exist. I would have traded his positive review for everyone else in the world if I’m honest.
- I definitely want to do other genres, but if I had to be trapped in one, sci-fi would be it!
What inspired you to become a director?
I saw Star Wars, found out it was a lie called filmmaking… figured the second best option in life would to become a liar, and make films… Then you learn about the job called directing, mainly from Steven Spielberg’s success, so all those late 70’s early 80’s films are to blame for me getting into this crazy industry.
How did you feel the first day you were directing Darth Vader on set?
You kind of get nervous. Even though you know it’s an actor inside, once that helmet goes in, it’s DARTH! and as strange as it seems, it’s really hard to tell him what to do, no-one tells DARTH what to do. So you find you have to talk with the actor and figure it all out before the helmet goes on, as once he’s in character, Darth is in charge, and if you screw up the shot, he is not that forgiving.
What’s your favourite Star Wars movie, besides Rogue One?
My favourite is not Rogue One, but thanks for assuming it might be, my order would be:
- A New Hope
- Empire Strikes Back
- Return of the Jedi
If you had another opportunity to work with on a classic franchise, what would you pick and what would you like to bring to the table?
Yeah, but I fear if I say it out loud it won’t happen… so will avoid this answer for a while if that’s ok!?
What was your favourite Easter egg that made it into Rogue One, and did you have any input on the inclusion of them?
I’m very bias… But my cameo would be my favourite… I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say he was probably the saviour of the entire rebellion ;)
Who’s the funniest cast member behind the scenes on Rogue One? Any stories?
Alan for sure… with Riz a close second… and perhaps Toby the Assistant Director third. He kept me smiling the whole film, which is quite a task.
How many of the decisions that will probably influence the rest of the anthology films did you yourself take part in? Like, the lack of the opening crawl, or not having John Williams score…things that separate them from the core “episodes.” Were those decisions you made?
We knew from the start that John Williams would not be available for our film… The opening crawl decision was made before we started filming.
Hello Gareth. How do you feel about Michael Giachinno’s score for Rogue One? What was he like to work with? Have a good one mate
Michael is a massive Star Wars fan, and a great human being. He had very little time to write the music for the film, and I think there are moments within it, especially Jyn’s theme, where he smashed it out the park, it’s perfect for what we needed at that point in the film. Everyone had massive smiles on their faces during the recording sessions.
Hello Gareth, Loved Rogue One! If you could pick one character from your spinoff movie to do a spinoff about them which would it be?
Mads and Ben… Galen and Krennic
or Baze and Chirrut
or maybe it would be cool to see what happens to the Death Star plans, and if the rebels manage to actually blow-up the Death Star, that would be a cool movie!!!
Any advice for young aspiring filmmakers?
DON’T DO IT!!!
if you’re still reading this, well done, you’re gonna make it!!!
What was the most surprising part of doing this movie?
It’s so weird seeing things you and a friend designed in a room 2 years ago, appearing on T-shirts and boxer shorts and socks… I want to make a joke about the closest me getting to girls underpants, but I won’t, as Disney are standing over my shoulder. Literally.
What was the hardest thing you’ve ever pulled off in a film that doesn’t look that hard to an audience?
finishing without having a nervous breakdown.
Could you tell us a bit about what George Lucas said to you after seeing Rogue One? And did you meet with him at all before filming?
He came to visit Pinewood before we started filming… to take the pressure off us, I had posters in my room of the previous ‘Star Wars spinoffs’ - ‘Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure’ and the ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’… my main goal when he came in was to try and stop him seeing these… my second goal was him liking the film.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations in life that didn’t work in the entertainment industry?
Bill Hicks… the comedian, if you haven’t seen him, check out Revelations.
Thank you Internet. It was nice meeting you. We must do this again sometime!.. but don’t call me, we’ll call you.