While creating fictional galaxies, names can come from even the most mundane sources. Gareth Edwards discussed this, and much more about Rogue One this weekend at SXSW, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
How Scarif Got her Groove (And her name)
While giving his keynote speech this weekend at SXSW, the Rogue One director talked Star Wars, becoming a filmmaker, and Starbucks. According to Edwards, his life’s ambition became clear after his parents took him to see Star Wars as a child. “I instantly knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life…I was going to join the Rebel Alliance and help blow up the Death Star.”
Eventually, Edwards fulfilled that goal by writing himself a cameo in Rogue One. But in the mean time, he worked in visual effects, inspired by filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and of course George Lucas. While he continued to look for directing work, it was his VFX work that garnered attention, but Edwards never gave up on his original Star Wars-inspired dream.
After a visit to “Tatooine”, Edwards double down on his directorial aspirations, and finally started directing in 2010. When he was told he got the job working on Rogue One, apparently Edwards “…just started crying…it was really embarrassing.”
The journey has not all been exciting trips and impressive job offers, though. The movie release was stalled by extensive reshoots, and the desert planet where the movie’s climax takes place has a rather humble origin story. Edwards went to a Starbucks, where the planet’s name was written on his cup. “I must have said, ‘It’s Gareth,’ and they wrote ‘Scarif,'”. He liked the name enough, and kept it.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story comes out on Blu-ray and DVD April 4th.
