What's even more worrisome is the fact that this goes exactly the way my insider source described to me the on-set friction and how Edwards was pushed aside. Gilroy basically became the main director when the reshoots started. I got a lot of heat from fanboys for posting the article, but, fact of the matter is, I believe what he said and he was credible. You can find the whole article HERE.
The Hollywood Reporter has the following:
"The 'Bourne' scribe's pay has grown from $200,000 a week to north of $5 million as work on the Star Wars standalone film expanded to include postproduction and tackling several issues including the ending. Rogue One might be about a group of rebels absconding with plans for the Death Star, but they aren't the only ones making out like bandits. Tony Gilroy, who was brought in to rewrite and help oversee reshoots for the Gareth Edwards-directed Star Wars film, out Dec. 16, will pocket north of $5 million for his efforts, say sources. Gilroy, writer of several Bourne movies and director of best picture Oscar nominee Michael Clayton, first was brought in to help write dialogue and scenes for Rogue’s reshoots and was being paid $200,000 a week, according to several sources. That figure is fairly normal for a top-tier writer on a big-budget studio film. But as the workload (and the reshoots) expanded, so did Gilroy's time and paycheck."
"Is it a small price to pay for not receiving the appropriate 'directed by' credit that Gilroy deserves? He directed all of the reshoots, brought in a new composer, supervised all the post production and locked the picture last week. All while Gareth Edwards was doing press for the film. Why does the DGA not get involved when it comes to these matters? Kathy Kennedy I'm sure is just hoping all the millions will keep Gilroy quiet."
"From what I heard, the original version of the movie was far to violent and not family friendly (AKA Disney approved) - So they brought in Gilroy to rework it to pass the Disney smell test."
Reshoots are an infringement on the voice of the director that will only result in a jumbled heap of incohesive scenes that independently look great, but, when combined, damage the original message and limit a developed story. I won't say this movie is going to be bad, but it will in no way live up to its potential. I'm sorry that some studio executive thinks Darth Vader chopping up rebels with his lightsaber is too dark for today's audience but that does not mean we should surrender an entire aspect of the saga and replace it with feel good Disney crap. Remember, ten years ago we saw him murder a bunch of kids. It damages the entirety of Star Wars to neglect the "dark side" of it, so to speak.
Here's an excerpt of what my source had to say about the friction that came with production few months back:
"That Hollywood Reporter fluff piece was just ego boosting for Felicity and damage control PR for Disney. From what else I've learned Disney ordered 40% of the film to be re-shot. They had to rebuild entire sets and they didn't know who would come on the film to help save it. So they asked Christopher McQuarrie to come back to help save the film. For whatever reasons he walked off the production. I think they couldn't see eye to eye on things and too much was going to leveled onto his feet. Anyway he balked. They were considering getting JJ Abrams to come by and helm/direct the film but he seemed not to want to get involved. That's when Tony Gilroy was brought in to save the film. According to sources he took over from Gareth Edwards in the director's chair. He also took responsibility for the writing as well. It seems that Edwards was kicked off his own film. I don't know how they are going to gloss this fact over for credits or how they are going to cover it up, but that's what happened. They'll probably just say he "helped", but that's as close to the truth they'll admit to."