Jon Favreau Reveals the Story Behind Martin Scorsese’s Cameo in THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU
The hype around The Mandalorian & Grogu keeps growing as the movie inches closer to its theatrical release, and between theories, wish lists, and debates over whether Star Wars should even be making a Mandalorian movie in the first place, fans are curious about filmmaker Martin Scorsese poping up in the galaxy far, far away.
During a recent conversation with ComicBook, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni opened up about how Scorsese ended up in the film and how much effort actually went into bringing his alien character to life.
Scorsese appears as an alien shopkeeper, and the character’s eyebrows are every bit as glorious as you’d hope. When asked about the resemblance between the actor and the creature design, Filoni played coy, saying, “That’s an interesting question.”
Favreau, however, gave a much more detailed breakdown of the process, explaining: “We took all of his performance, cut it together, and then we give it to the animators, and then they start.
“They loved it too, like they put more work into that Martin Scorsese stuff with the character design, and my point is that they get inspired by it as well, and everybody adds a little something, but it’s really some of the best animation.”
It sounds like the animation team had a great time building a weird Star Wars alien around one of cinema’s most recognizable faces.
What makes the whole thing even better is how ridiculously easy it apparently was to get Scorsese onboard. Favreau shared that it all happened thanks to a single phone call from Kathleen Kennedy.
Talking about the filmmakers who shaped his love of movies, Favreau said: “My taste in movies formed primarily through George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and I had no idea they were actually friends and showing each other their movies, which you’d think that they were in different worlds, but no, throughout that whole period they were part of the same cool little group.”
“So, when we reached out to him, it was a dream to have him. I wrote the part… ‘Who’s on the list?” said [casting director] Sarah Finn, ‘Oh yeah, sure, Martin Scorsese?!’ and Kathy’s like, ‘I’ll give him a call.’ She gave him a call, ‘Yeah, he’ll do it.’ And it was like, what?! So that’s what happened. So fast.”
That’s one of those stories that reminds you just how surreal Hollywood can be sometimes. One minute Favreau is writing a role for one of his filmmaking heroes as a joke-sized dream scenario, and the next Scorsese is apparently all-in on becoming a bizarre eyebrowed alien merchant in Star Wars.
The interview also drifted into another fan-favorite topic: Trapper Wolf. Filoni’s X-Wing pilot has also become one of the franchise’s most entertaining recurring side characters, and naturally the conversation turned toward whether he could ever get his own spinoff.
Favreau joked: “Yes, he chose the name. But in all fairness, he was like, ‘You don’t need to have as many shots of me in the movie.’”
Filoni quickly fired back: “Because I want the movie to be good! So I was like, ‘Please take me out.’” Then Favreau admitted he went all-in on Trapper Wolf merchandise: “Here’s the problem: when they made the figure of him, I bought a case and made him sign them.”
The Mandalorian & Grogu a strange, fun, pulpy and crowd-pleasing adventure film. Between Din Djarin, Grogu, Trapper Wolf, and now Martin Scorsese showing up as a wonderfully odd alien, the movie is leaning hard into the playful side of the franchise while still carrying the cinematic weight fans expect.