The filming of a Star Wars movie is always shrouded in extreme secrecy, so when we got the chance to sit down with the cast of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we grilled them to find out what *actually* goes down on set each day, finding out everything from who the biggest Star Wars nerd is to which person was brave enough to sneak their phone on set to snap selfies. Here's everything we learned.
Who is the most rebellious?
Felicity Jones: I think the most rebellious is Mads. But he’s very quietly rebellious and you wouldn’t realize it at first, but he’s definitely someone who dances to his own tune.
Diego Luna: I would say that's a tough competition. Everyone became rebellious in the moment, you know. This was seven months of shooting. But I would say Ben Mendelsohn, weirdly enough. Even though he has that very imperial look, on the inside he's a rebel.
Donnie Yen: Maybe Alan?
Mads Mikkelsen: That would probably be tiny Jyn. It was a little girl who was 4 years old. She was a handful, but she was lovely!
Riz Ahmed: Alan Tudyk, yeah, always mouthing off.
Alan Tudyk: I am. I'm the most rebellious, and I would say that not because I'm over there rebelling, but I didn't stick to the script so much. So I can't follow rules, I guess.
Who is most likely to initiate a hangout after work?
FJ: It would probably be Diego. With, you know, tequila or mezcal involved at some point.
DL: So who was basically the party one I guess is the question, right? I would say I'm kinda qualified to take that one. I tried to convince everyone to go out every weekend with me. And normally it was just me going out by myself and not being able to talk to anyone because I couldn't be honest about what I was doing in London. So, yeah, I was just sitting in bars very lonely. That was it.
MM: That would be me, I guess.
RA: I don't think anyone had the energy to hang out after work, to be honest. Everyone was broken. We were just running around doing crazy stuff, bruises, dripping wet from rain. There was no hanging out. Sad.
AT: I would say Diego Luna would initiate the hangout. It would never take place, but he'd initiate it.
Who is most like their character in real life?
FJ: I think Ben Mendelsohn is most like his character in real life.
DL: I would say Felicity. Felicity has that strength, definitely. She lent that strength to Jyn Erso, and she got it back. She's committed; she's strong; when she decides something she just goes for it and nothing can stop her.
DY: I think Riz. He's just a lot of energy, talks a lot. Very hyper.
MM: That would be Ben Mendelsohn, I think, because he has an evil eye.
RA: I think we're all kinda similar to our characters in different ways. At least whenever you play a character you try to find some overlap with yourself. But in a way, Felicity — a lot of people don't know she kind of like grew up doing horse riding, woodwork, and archery, kind of survival school stuff, so she's kind of a military badass deep down.
AT: Felicity. Mainly because she's good with sticks. And she'll smack ya down if you upset her. That, and she's a leader.
Who is most likely to plan the best pranks on set?
FJ: The person most likely to make jokes on set would be Alan Tudyk.
DL: I would say there was a compassion between Alan Tudyk and Gareth Edwards. Gareth has a very special, very sarcastic sense of humor, and he's the kind of guy that does jokes that last quite a long time. You'd be like, it's over, we already laughed, and he just keeps going. And he would do things for us, he would hide things for us to find while we were shooting. He's like a kid.
MM: Well, that would be Ben again, and it happened constantly.
RA: The best pranks on set weren't planned, they were hardwired into how we had to do the story. So for example, Alan Tudyk had to walk around on stilts wearing a giant unitard. Or I had to run around carrying a 50-kilogram backpack for like hours and hours, and that footage hardly got used, so the joke's on me.
AT: Some would probably say me, but I'm gonna say Ben Mendelsohn. Because he's wicked. You can just see it, he's got that Australian sense of humor.
Who is the biggest Star Wars nerd?
FJ: Well, I’d say out of everyone, the biggest Star Wars nerd or fan would be Gareth Edwards, who gets very cross if you get anything slightly wrong in terms of information about the Star Wars universe.
DL: I would say Gareth Edwards. He knows everything. And if not, he looks like he knows everything.
DY: Does Gareth count? Gareth.
MM: It's not from the cast, it's Gareth Edwards. He knew everything.
RA: It's the director, Gareth Edwards. He's a complete fanboy, to be honest. I don't think he can believe he's been given this playpen to run around in.
AT: Gareth Edwards is absolutely the biggest nerd. Like, nerds will be like, "Dude, you're a nerd." And then they'll high-five him, because he knows everything.
Who is most likely to be caught taking a selfie?
FJ: I mean, it has to be Donnie Yen is the most likely to be caught taking a selfie. And he would say that himself.
DL: That wasn't allowed. I did a few, I have to admit. Now that I can, and they can't cut me out of the film. I did take a lot. And I shared them with my kids, and I'm about to start selling them. On eBay. Next year.
DY: Me? Or Jiang Wen.
MM: Ben. Ben Mendelsohn.
RA: On set actually we weren't allowed phones, so you couldn't take selfies. What you'd have to do is when the costume or continuity people were taking photos of you as a reference of your costume, you'd have to just be like, "Yo, text that to me, text that to me later."
AT: I took a lot of pictures on set, so maybe me? At a certain point I gained confidence. Maybe Riz? Let's just say Riz, even though it's probably not Riz.
Who is the best at doing impressions of other cast members?
FJ: The best person would be Alan Tudyk. And he gets away with it for some reason. I don’t know, he can say anything, he can be very mean, but it’s always funny.
DL: Alan Tudyk. Insane. One day he was doing my voice and it was quite scary, he does it right.
MM: Alan.
RA: Probably Alan Tudyk, again. I should really manage Alan Tudyk, launch him as a stand-up comedian or something. He's got potential.
AT: I do a pretty good Diego Luna. Mainly on set I wore stilts, but if I had to run or do something particularly difficult I would wear a backpack with a telescoping head on it. It was really, uh, janky. And he came up to me and said [in accent], "Alan, I have to tell you the whole crew is very sad now, you have demoralized everyone. It's that backpack, they feel so sad for you. And they thought they were making a good movie and now they see this thing and they are so sad." Not bad, pretty good? But he did say that a lot. "Please take that thing off, I can't even look at you. We had respect for you moments ago."
Who is most likely to start randomly singing on set?
FJ: Random singing would come from Riz Ahmed on set, who, you know, isn’t afraid of a showtune or two.
DL: Ben Mendelsohn, holy crap. Yeah. And loud. Not just on set — in his trailer, the makeup truck, anywhere.
DY: Probably Alan. He just likes to express himself.
MM: That's Ben again. He was singing constantly.
RA: Either me or Ben Mendelsohn, I think. Ben would sing a lot of Frozen and stuff like that. I like singing R&B before takes. [It] just relaxes me.
AT: Ben Mendelsohn sang the other day. I mean, Riz is actually a singer, but he keeps that pretty close to the vest. He'll give you a beat, but he'll expect you to be spittin'.
Who is most likely to take things home from the set?
FJ: The person most likely to steal things from set would be... Uh, I think everyone’s quite well-behaved in that area.
DY: I don't think anybody dared to.
MM: That would be Ben and me.
Did you take anything?
MM: Yep. Can't tell you what.
RA: I wouldn't want to comment at all on who would or wouldn't or may or may not have stolen any props or objects from the film set. I just want to say I don't endorse that kind of behavior.
AT: Gareth stole the plans. I got a few things. We haven't really all discussed what we got; we all did it individually thinking we were all being oh so naughty. But yeah, we all got something.
Who is most likely to brighten your day?
FJ: Everyone! Everyone in Rogue One is most likely to brighten my day. I have a lot of affection for everyone in the cast.
DL: Toby. Toby is the AD of this film and a true entertainer. It was like having Chris Rock running the thing. It's a guy that doesn't stop, and every time he asks for something he does it with a joke and makes sure everyone listens. He was just so much fun. Unless you had an emotional scene or something, and then it was like, Toby, come on, shut up! But normally it was great to have him around.
MM: Ben.
RA: Man, just the whole thing. Just turning up on set, just getting to be in a Star Wars film. Seeing the stormtroopers just hanging out on set, that just cheered me up every day.
AT: It's tough — I worked primarily with Diego and Felicity, and it was equally between the two of them.
Who is most likely to be caught napping in between scenes?
FJ: Donnie Yen is most likely to be caught napping between scenes.
DL: Alan Tudyk is just getting every one [of these]. Alan Tudyk.
MM: I don't know, would that be me? Maybe?
RA: Me. I'm all about that napping life, I am. That's me, and I'm not ashamed of it. I think there's a lot of stigma attached to napping, but I want to promote it.
Who is most likely to correct your grammar?
FJ: I think I’m mostly likely to correct someone’s grammar. [laughs] Because I’m really annoying.
DL: It's impossible to do that. There was a scene where I just couldn't say the line, there was something about the line where my brain and that just couldn't work together. But no one will correct me. They would laugh at me. And not with me, at me! Many times.
MM: Felicity.
RA: Actually, Diego Luna, because I was trying to learn random Spanish sentences — I learned a little bit of Mandarin from Jiang Wen, a little Spanish. So Diego was kind of my unofficial Spanish teacher on set. He was terrible, I didn't learn anything really.
AT: Nobody, my grammar's perfect. It's the goodest.
Who is most likely to nail a scene on the first take?
FJ: Jiang Wen is most likely to nail a scene on a first take. Jiang Wen is very chilled out on set constantly. You know, he's often just slightly meditating in a corner and then the camera’s suddenly on him and he’s just [snaps fingers] in it.
DL: I have to say Darth Vader. You know, I don't want him to look at this interview and not be mentioned. I might start going... [pretends to choke] Oh god. So, Darth Vader.
DY: Nobody. Gareth is just very demanding and very specific.
MM: That would be Diego.
RA: Probably Forest Whitaker. Partly because he's Forest Whitaker and he comes in with a ridiculous level of preparation, but also because he's Forest Whitaker, so, um, good luck to the person who tells him he has to do it again. I wouldn't want to be that person.
AT: I'm gonna say probably Mads, just because he's such a good actor. I never worked with him, but I don't know, that guy's got skills.
Who is most likely to break character during scenes?
FJ: Well, any scene with Diego, Alan, and I, it was very hard to keep a straight face. And there would be a lot of trying to kind of hold on to your cheeks as you’re laughing too much.
DL: I think I was. I had the difficult task of being next to Alan Tudyk — that is so much fun. And he just can't stop. So he makes it very difficult for those around him, and I was the one, yeah. I think in the editing room they did suffer a little bit with me. Because many times, he was improvising and I couldn't keep my poker face and just laughed and laughed.
MM: Ben.
RA: All of us at some point probably cracked up and started laughing in the middle of the scene, and it was always Alan Tudyk's fault. He'd always just start throwing in random improvised lines. His character K-2SO is kind of cheeky, so he had some leeway to do that. So it's his fault.
AT: Me. Not true. It's true. Basically breaking character for K-2SO was very close to just being me, so the lines were blurred. There was an accent, but I got to play a lot with the lines, so I suppose on some level it was breaking character. Although they put so many lines in the movie. I'll say Diego just for fun.
Who is mostly likely to be on their phone on set texting all day?
FJ: I would say Donnie Yen. But he has a whole business. He has a whole enterprise that he’s running simultaneously to anything he’s doing.
DL: Not me. Probably me. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., definitely me. It's when my kids wake up, so there's this time difference between England and Mexico, and I was always on the phone, I guess for the right reason, so I can't be blamed.
MM: No one, because we were not allowed to have our phones around.
RA: I'm gonna say Donnie Yen. Donnie Yen's a busy guy, man. He's a busy guy and he's an international superstar and he's got things going on in China the whole time, so with the time zones and everything, he'd be, like, dealing with that as well. While also kicking ass with his eyes closed. Impressive guy.
AT: I don't know, Felicity has like seven movies coming out, so I'm sure she had work to do. I didn't really ever figure out my London phone, so it wasn't me.
Who is most likely to be found at craft services?
FJ: It would probably be me.
DL: Oh, Alan Tudyk is winning this by much. I don't know anyone that can eat so many, like, cookies and chocolates and stuff that clearly is not good for you. He would just, like, not stop. And it was funny to see Alan Tudyk going to catering with stilts and having to go down for the cookies. And nuts, he was crazy about nuts.
MM: That would be me. Because I was freezing and they had heating there.
RA: All of us were at craft services, all the time. The food's really good on a Star Wars film — you've got to take advantage of that.
AT: Me! I don't know, I never saw anybody at craft services, and I was there a lot. They had these little bricks of nuts that were pressed together with a honey glaze on them. I was, you know, fistfuls of those things. Plus there was really good coffee.