Relax, #DumpStarWars: 'Rogue One' Star Riz Ahmed Denies 'Petty' Anti-Trump Messages (Exclusive Video)

“Rogue One” actor Riz Ahmed said the filmmakers didn’t inject anti-Donald Trump positions or any other political messages into the new “Star Wars” movie, because doing so would be “petty and small-minded.”

Ahmed was responding to the hashtag #DumpStarWars, a campaign by some conservatives to boycott “Rogue One” because they believe the upcoming film criticizes Trump. Ahmed was unaware of the campaign until TheWrap asked him about it Friday. (Watch the interview above.)

“What? That’s weird. I have no idea what they’re talking about,” said Ahmed, who plays pilot Bodhi Rook in the standalone film, which opens next Friday.

Also Read: #DumpStarWars: No, 'Rogue One' Writers Did Not Change Ending to Be About Trump

Ahmed noted that “political turmoil” exists all over the world, and that the “Rogue One” team set out to make a film with a universal message, not to respond to recent events in a single country.

“It is absolutely to be expected that people will project their anxieties and concerns … onto art. It’s also the role of art to reflect the times we live in. But this film wasn’t made to speak to this particular moment. This is a film that was written years ago, that was filmed over a year-and-a-half ago,” the British actor and “The Night Of” star said.

“Our hope is that this film isn’t just resonant now, but in 10 years from now,” Ahmed added. “I don’t think the creators of this film are to be as petty and small-minded as to use something as big and all-embracing as ‘Star Wars’ to score kind of mean political points. I actually think that in this time that is so divided, a film like ‘Star Wars’ brings everyone together.”

He predicted that “people that voted for all kinds of parties, of all kinds of sexual orientations, views and religions will go and see this film … We should celebrate and embrace that.”

Trump supporter Jack Posobiac claimed on Twitter that the filmmakers rewrote and reshot the film to add anti-Trump scenes, which Disney has flatly denied.

Posobiac’s #DumpStarWars was a reaction to “Rogue One” writers Chris Weitz and Gary Whitta’s actions after Trump’s elections. They switched their Twitter avatars to images of the logo of the Rebel Alliance with a safety pin — an anti-racist symbol — and Weitz tweeted that “the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization.”

7 New Things We Learned from Final 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Trailer (Photos)

The third and final domestic trailer for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is absolutely covered in new footage -- very little of it, in fact, is recycled from previous trailers. That makes this last "Rogue One" trailer pretty unusual in that there's plenty of stuff we didn't know before to glean from it. So let's do that now.
LucasFilm
1. No mystery box for "Rogue One"
The trailers for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" were notoriously irritating for their complete lack of plot details -- you could watch all its trailers and have no real idea of what it was about. That mystery box isn't present for "Rogue One," though, and we're thankful for it. I'm sure there will be surprises along the way, but kudos to Disney for not pretending all basic plot information constitues a spoiler the way the "The Force Awakens" marketing did.
LucasFilm
2. It's gonna have at least one flashback
This is a relatively new phenomenon in "Star Wars" movies, but "The Force Awakens" had one and now "Rogue One" does as well -- that's two of two in the Disney era. This one will take us back to the hero Jyn Erso's (Felicity Jones) childhood on Space Iceland or whatever that planet is called, where we'll see the Imperial Director Krennic call on Jyn's father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) to help build the grandest of all Imperial weapons: the Death Star. There will be more on this in the "Rogue One" prequel novel, "Catalyst," which will be out in November.
LucasFilm
3. We finally got a good look at Mads Mikkelson
Speaking of Galen, we actually see him in this trailer -- he was conspicuously absent from all the previous marketing materials. He looks... perfectly normal, which is a bit of a surprise because Mikkelsen was also held back from Entertainment Weekly's big character reveal earlier this year for reasons unknown. I guess I was expecting there to be some spoilery reason for the lack of a previous reveal. But now we see him, and it is good.
LucasFilm
4. The Rebels are gonna break Jyn Erso out of jail
The new trailer appears loaded with first act stuff (as it should be). We see Jyn being held in what appears to be Imperial custody when the Rebels (specifically that guy in the picture) break in and get her out in order to recruit her for their big mission to steal the Death Star plans. And other dialogue tells us that her family connection to that mechanical monstrosity is the reason she's being chosen to lead said mission.
LucasFilm
5. The "Rogue One" callsign is improvised
"They are requesting a callsign," says the droid member of the squad, K-2S0 (Alan Tudyk). In reply, Riz Ahmed's Bodhi Rook seems to make one up off the top of his head: Rogue One. And that's the title of the movie! It speaks to the sort of slapdash nature of the Rebellion, so I have no complaints.
LucasFilm
6. There's gonna be a big space battle
Something a lot of folks thought was pretty weird about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was its lack of really anything eventful happening in space -- all the big starship battles actually happened in planetary atmospheres. We hadn't seen any space battles in the "Rogue One" trailers either, until this one showed us some X-Wings in a battle around a space station. Good, good.
LucasFilm
7. Did we just see what it looks like from ground level when the Death Star shoots a planet?
This is speculation, based on this single shot from the trailer. That massive explosion on a desert planet (probably the Jedi holy world of Jedha) could be caused by anything, but my money is on the Empire testing out the Death Star's superlaser. It looks sick, whatever it is.
LucasFilm

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The latest trailer is full of new footage, and there’s a lot to sift through

The third and final domestic trailer for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is absolutely covered in new footage -- very little of it, in fact, is recycled from previous trailers. That makes this last "Rogue One" trailer pretty unusual in that there's plenty of stuff we didn't know before to glean from it. So let's do that now.

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7 New Things We Learned from Final 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Trailer (Photos)

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