Dave Filoni Talks About George Lucas and The Influence He Had on Him as a Filmmaker

Dave Filoni has come such a long way since his time developing and producing The Clone Wars series. During his early days at Lucasfilm, he was mentored by George Lucas, so it’s not surprising that his directing and filmmaking style rubbed off on Filoni. With Lucas no longer a part of the Star Wars franchise, Filoni is the closest thing that Lucasfilm has to George Lucas.

Lucas paved the way for everything that we’re seeing from the Star Wars franchise right now, including the incredible-looking Ahsoka series, and during a recent interview with CB, Filoni opened up about the influence that Lucas had on him as a filmmaker, saying:

"Now, all the lessons that George [Lucas] taught me are true. That's what I've learned. You know, I still apply the same things that he taught me in Clone Wars. You know? It's interesting, I always use the word 'concrete.' Things you shoot in live-action are very concrete. Where in animation, I can go back and kind of tweak a performance. Not so much in live action. To a greater degree than you would have in the past. I will say, when you watch the documentary, like Magic and George talks about the things that he needed to make the films that he wanted to make and the way that the integrated digital technology in the editing process.

“Not just about visual effects, but in the way you make and put a film together. We have all benefitted from the way that he and his creative team pioneered that. We are able to do very flexible things now with film in a way that was impossible. So, when you look at older films, when you go watch The Seven Samurai, you really understand the genius of what's going on there because how did he capture what he captured? It makes you appreciate older films and the details that they would pay attention to. That they had to just get right on the day in the moment. Those are things I've learned going forward that I still like to try to operate that way."

Filoni is one of Lucasfilm’s greatest strengths right now. He and Favreau are doing some incredible and exciting things with the franchise, and now he’s finally getting the opportunity to direct his own Star Wars movie! That project will focus on the New Republic, and it will “close out” the interconnected stories that are being told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ shows.

While a lot of films at Lucasfilm tend to not work out, I’m pretty confident that at least this one will actually happen!