The Story Behind Darth Vader’s Incredible Rogue One Scene: Why It Started As ‘Wrong As Wrong Can Be,’ And How They Fixed It
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00:00You shot what is without question,
00:03one of the most remarkable Star Wars sequences ever,
00:06which is the Vader scene, the hallway scene from Rogue One.
00:10Did you ever get to go out to a theater
00:12and experience a fan, like an audience of fans
00:16witnessing that for the first time?
00:19I did, you know, I did.
00:21Gareth and I, and Diego, I think,
00:25we all hung out on the first night that it came out
00:27and we all were hopping around the theaters,
00:32standing at the back and just watching the experience.
00:34I think we introduced a couple,
00:36and then ones that we went in late and just watched.
00:40And I did, and it was a really interesting experience.
00:44And I've recounted this story a number of times
00:48because when we shot that,
00:50because, you know, as you know, with that film,
00:52there was a number of pickups here and there,
00:54which there should be with any film
00:55that's trying to find its feet like that.
00:57There needs to be kind of refinements to scenes.
01:01It needs to be all those things, which there was.
01:04But that was a super late addition to the film.
01:06And I remember the sequence we'd shot before that
01:10was really good, before that even existed in the world,
01:13was really good.
01:14And I'm not gonna talk too much about it
01:16because it doesn't matter, actually, it's gone.
01:18And I remember, I think Gareth rang me and said,
01:20hey, we've got this sequence and it's gonna end the film.
01:23And I went, oh, that means what we've done is gone, right?
01:27And Gareth, that's such a shame.
01:29They went, yeah, yeah, but hear me out.
01:31This is gonna be much better.
01:32And so I heard him out and I went, yeah, baby,
01:34that is gonna be much better.
01:36And so this is the point where I remember going like,
01:40you know, I'll happily admit defeat
01:42or happily admit that I'm wrong.
01:45And I remember my first reaction was 100% wrong
01:48because when we finally got the lighting right,
01:53the introduction of Vader, because remember,
01:56like when he lights a lightsaber in front of him,
01:58that should front light him
01:59because that's what lightsabers do.
02:02But if you watch carefully, he's silhouetted
02:04and it's a total, it's false.
02:06It's total false lighting.
02:07It's like lightsaber comes on
02:09and then there's a light behind him.
02:11I don't wanna destroy it for the people at home, but-
02:14Only a cinematographer would complain about that.
02:19The lighting is wrong as wrong can be.
02:22It's false and wrong.
02:24But I remember we did it the correct way first
02:27and we just went, oh, like it was like a balloon deflating.
02:33Believe it or not, believe it or not,
02:36Vader can look a little bit weak
02:38if you don't shoot him correctly.
02:41And we'd shot him obviously for the film before that
02:44and we discovered that,
02:45but we'd never done the whole reveal before.
02:48And so, you know, when we first did the reveal
02:51on set, it was like, oh, this is not good.
02:55Oh, this is not, this is not what this film deserves.
02:58And I remember we worked on it for like 10 or 15 minutes
03:00and got the levels right.
03:02And then we'd shot.
03:04And I remember the first take that we did it and it worked.
03:06We were both like, oh, it was like being five again.
03:10Like it was like being five and seeing Vader
03:13for the first time in A New Hope.
03:15You know, when he comes in through the smoke
03:17and that's how it felt.
03:20And yes, and I'm very happy to have experienced
03:23that first time.
03:25Wow.
03:26I love that.