Robert Rodriguez Was a Last Minute Replacement To Direct THE MANDALORIAN Chapter 14 and He Discusses His Experience
The Mandalorian Chapter 14 “The Tragedy”, was one hell of an amazingly cool episode! It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, but he wasn’t the director who was originally supposed to helm it. During a recent interview with SFX/GamesRader, the filmmaker shared that Jon Favreau brought him in at the last minute to replace another director. He also talked about his experience working on the live-action Star Wars series, saying:
“I’m friends with Jon Favreau and he needed a last-minute replacement for a director. And so I said, ‘Sure, I'll come play in the Star Wars universe!’ What a dream. And it's fulfilled all my... it’s beyond my expectations, I mean, it was SO fun, you can’t imagine what it's like to walk on a set that has the classic look of The Empire Strikes Back feel and look. It’s right after that era, right after the Return of the Jedi. It's that era. So you really feel like you just walked into your childhood.
"All of a sudden you go up and touch things and go, ‘That's the thing that Han Solo talked into when he shot the machine and told the stormtroopers not to come up’. I was like, ‘Wow, I thought I recognised that!’ It's just a really strange, exhilarating experience to be in your childhood sets for real. And getting to make action! It's really cool... The visual language is so embedded in our heads. So I have one of those [selfies] ‘Look, it’s me next to a control panel, isn’t that cool?’. It was so fun."
Rodriguez also went on to discuss working with Pedro Pascal, who he previously worked with on the film Let’s Be Heroes.
"I actually filmed this movie before I worked with him on Mandalorian. So I was surprised to go to the set, ‘Hey, you’re here too!’ So it’s fun working with him. He was terrific in the movie, fun to work with."
Well, after watching the episode, it was like Rodriquez directing the episode was meant to be. He did such an incredible job directing with episode and there’s no doubt that fans around the world were thrilled to see what he delivered.