You spoke about different genres that blend together to make “Star Wars.” Was there films that you watched or films that you screened to the cast?
We didn’t screen much for the cast, nor were there many story influences, but visual influences were like “Apocalypse Now,” Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line” — our cinematography Greig Fraser worked on “Zero Dark Thirty,” so that seeps in. “Alien,” that planet was good reference for this environment in the film. “Blade Runner” was…useful…as well because of the interiors. We’re all very familiar with the original “Star Wars” movies…, but when you’re going to branch out and try and do something different without copying “Star Wars,” there are very few films that got it right in terms of visually [looking] really good and [not seeming] dated…. And “Blade Runner” really stood the test of time and I love the design in it. So it was really good for ways of doing interior rooms and ships.
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A film called “Baraka”? It’s one of my favorite movies, that was a big reference. Obviously, stylistically, we went hand-held, but [on the planet] Jedha you feel it a little bit more. Obviously, it goes without saying that “Saving Private Ryan” was an influence. [Steven] Spielberg, from a directing point of view, is my hero…and “Saving Private Ryan” is a phenomenal piece of work, and so yes, there’s a fair bit of [its influence] in the film. It’s a mixture of stuff, and these movies are all my kind of heroes. I don’t think in any way we achieved the level of those movies, but we tried to set a really high bar for ourselves.
Greig, the DP, would say that he stopped watching films and he only ever wanted to watch films that he considered to be visual masterpieces and so that his palette — the bar was really high. Like, if you only look at things that are really great, you go to work the next day and you go, “Oh my god, how are we going to get close to that?” So he tried to only watch films with great cinematography because we’re all “Star Wars” fans and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We grew up with the originals and I think they’re masterpieces, and the idea of making a film that connects to it, you’re like, “Oh my god, it can’t be just good. It has to be fantastic.” So it was really hard just showing press just 30 minutes of the film, because it’s a whole. It’s just not these little bits.
Did you guys collectively look at some of the original scripts and different drafts that George Lucas wrote? Because it seems like there is a reference to the Ancient Order of the Whills [ed. pre-Jedi shamans that are referenced in early “A New Hope” drafts and even mentioned by Qui Gon Jinn in the illustrated screenplay of ‘Revenge Of The Sith’].
“Journal of The Whills,” right, that’s in the original screenplay. That was all [screenwriter] Chris Weitz; I think he really did his homework because that appeared in his version of the screenplay, and [the character] Chirrut (Donnie Yen) and his phrase, the little prayer that he chants. The kyber crystal [Force-attuned crystals that were used in the making of lightsabers], all of that stuff. It’s not just fan service; it’s just that you…end up having to name all these things, and instead of just, like, making up shit, let’s look at what George [Lucas] originally did. What are the things that he hinted at? In doing that, it just made us feel better, because it felt like real “Star Wars” mythology and not just stuff we were making up.
You obviously got to make your dream “Star Wars” film here, but are there other “Star Wars” movies as a fan that you would like to see?
I would love to see anything with Obi-Wan Kenobi in it. Someone did a really cool illustration online of a half-Ewan McGregor, half-Alec Guinness; you couldn’t tell the difference. It was like the wilderness years. I just saw that image and I thought, I would love to… that would be interesting. Sort of a samurai movie or something. Like a very simple one, not an epic battle. Something more lonely and maybe an incident nearly got to a young Luke Skywalker or who knows.
[Jokingly] So are you gearing up to pitch another “Star Wars” movie?
No [a definitive pause]. I feel like I’ve won the lottery, and as a lottery winner it would be unfair to spend all my money on lottery tickets, so I have to walk away.
Just before I go: “Godzilla 2.” Did the two of them run together, and that’s why you left the latter?
Yeah, kind of. That’s kind of what happened.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opens on December 16.
