One of the stars of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story revealed that they were hospitalized during the film’s production, due to exhaustion and undiagnosable pain. The 2016 blockbuster is a direct prequel to the original 1977 Star Wars, following the rogue squadron that steals the Death Star plans, allowing Luke Skywalker to later destroy the superweapon.
Rogue One was well-received critically and grossed $1.06 billion worldwide, though the movie’s status in the zeitgeist has doubtlessly seen a renaissance with the release of the Disney+ series Andor, following one of Rogue One‘s main characters, Diego Luna’s Cᴀssian Andor, in the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin.
Rogue One features stars who were already established A-listers at the time, such as Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, and Mads Mikkelsen, as well as relatively new talent who have since gone on to secure Oscar nominations and other accolades, including Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed. Rogue One also famously went through extensive reshoots, but one star recently talked about a harrowing personal experience.
Riz Ahmed Was Hospitalized During The Production Of Rogue One
Riz Ahmed, who plays the defected Imperial cargo pilot Bodhi Rook in Rogue One, revealed that he was hospitalized due to “intense” pain while filming the Star Wars prequel, with it being unclear exactly why he was in pain. Ahmed is an Oscar-nominated actor for Sound of Metal, with other noteworthy тιтles including Nightcrawler and Nimona.
During an episode of Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed podcast, Ahmed said that his “body just kind of, like, gave up on” him while filming Rogue One, leading to him being hospitalized for exhaustion to “really try and regain my strength.” The actor described this as “something very silent and very intense [happening to him] and [he] wasn’t getting better quickly.“
Ahmed worried he wouldn’t get his “life back,” and “[grappled] with the grief but also the acceptance.” Read Ahmed’s further comments below:
It was like building myself up from scratch. It was super scary and intense and quite prolonged actually. […] when something is taken away from you, you become even more acutely aware of everything you have — and a bodily level, on a health level, you realize like, you don’t control anything, man. You don’t control a single thing. You don’t even control your body. […] the most strange way, I never felt more grateful, more at peace, more content than when I felt like I was going to lose my whole life.
Our Take On Riz Ahmed’s BTS Story
Alan Tudyk’s recent comments on Rogue One‘s reshoots give the impression that it was very chaotic, as scenes were shifted and cut during filming. More broadly, acting is sometimes underestimated for how taxing a profession it is, though more people are likely to understand the energy it takes to star in action movies.
Though it doesn’t necessarily sound like the unique circumstances of Rogue One were directly responsible for Ahmed’s hospitalization, even if the understandable pressure of the project contributed to it in his personal case. It appears to have been a random health scare that does, unfortunately, sometimes happen due to various circumstances of stress and physical exertion.
Luckily, Ahmed fully recovered and came out of the experience with a new outlook, contributing to his decision to star in Sound of Metal, which follows a drummer who begins to lose his hearing. His recollection from the time of Rogue One may also give producers another example to think about when it comes to supporting the well-being of their performances.
