Costume Designers & Concept Artists Share New ‘Rogue One’ Details

Part of what makes Star Wars one of the most iconic franchises in history is all the artistry that brings the whole galaxy to life. Whether it is from the iconic imagery of artists such as Ralph McQuarrie, or the groundbreaking visual effects created by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), there is a reason why the films have inspired fans such as Rogue One director Gareth Edwards to pursue careers in the film industry.

During a special Q&A at the Gosh comic book store in London, costume designers and concept artists from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story got a chance to discuss the filmmaking process as well as some interesting new details about the film itself. Some of the exciting details in bringing the film to life include:

• Saw Gerrera was supposed to be on another planet. There was an icy planet (designs showed Snowtroopers) supposed to be shot in Iceland as well as a different (?) jungle planet (as seen in the very first teaser).
• Gareth Edwards worked very closely together with the concept artists.
• Most of them are already working on the “untitled new project” (Han Solo).
• Some of them appeared in the film as extras.
• While they were shooting the final Darth Vader scene, the concept artists were upstairs working on additional sketches.
• The costume designers have a huge archive with of army surplus and other stuff they use to create that classic Star Wars feeling mixing otherworldly and worldly designs.
• At first they wanted to use CRAB-ATs, transport vehicles resembling crabs, on Scarif, but then decided against it in favor of the more familiar looking AT-ACT. They spoke about the danger of going overboard with the designs, so they made a conscious not to pack too many new designs into the movie.
• The Ring of Kafrene design is inspired by Blade Runner.
• They worked for 2 months on the citadel tower on Scarif and then completely changed and redesigned it in 2 hours.
• They didn’t have a budget for a tank but didn’t want to do it in CGI, so they designed the hover tank around an existing tank at their disposal.

These are just some of the exciting highlights from this discussion between the costume designers and concept artists. Hearing stories about how the Star Wars films are brought to life are always exciting. The special features included within all the major home media releases of the films have always been a staple in providing viewers with more insight to the collaborative process that is filmmaking. Hopefully, we get the opportunity to hear even more behind-the-scenes stories once Rogue One is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Riz Ahmed and Forest Whitaker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in theaters now.

Source: StarWarsHyperdrive via SWNN