Star Wars: Rogue One features actors sustaining actual injuries

The realism of a Star Wars movie is.... not a sentence that anyone should write, ever. Well, like it or not, the beloved franchise continues to evolve from its sci-fi fantasy beginnings into something with a more grounded feel in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Gareth Edwards made it clear from the start this prequel spin-off is a proper war movie. Forget gloss. It'll be a grimy, gritty look at galactic conflict.

Actor Diego Luna has now confirmed that he approached his role in very much the same way. “I wanted to make my character more natural and realistic," he tells Mexican Vanity Fair, "Although people expect the tone of the film to be fantasy, it actually is quite the contrary. It’s an intimate story that feels real."

“I think of all the Star Wars films released so far, Rogue One is the most real one, which is about the people. The characters are very similar to us. They are heroes with no powers. What they have is a conviction and desire to change reality.”

That's one of the highlights of this Star Wars entry in particular. This lot aren't superheroes - and they're not Jedis - they're just normal folk, trying to stop a tyrannical regime. Understandably, that's going to require a fair amount of physical exertion.

And stunt work.

Keeping with the spirit of The Force Awakens, which opted for plenty of practical effects over digital, Rogue One's actors were really put through the ringer. While there were probably plenty of stuntpeople on set, it sounds like the onscreen talent weren't immune to keepin' it real.

“I took a lot of injuries," Luna adds. "My chest still hurts a lot. There are some accidents that will actually end up in the final cut of the film. In a scene where we were running against a strong wind I badly hurt my cornea while trying to remove some debris from my eye. I used a patch during the last days of filming.”

Wonder if any will become as legendary as *that* Stormtrooper accident.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, and Alan Tudyk, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to open in UK and US cinemas on December 16, 2016.

Images: Lucasfilm

Gem Seddon is a freelance writer working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.