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.

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