Some of The Fun and Cool Things We Learned From DISNEY GALLERY: THE MANDALORIAN

Disney+ premiered the first episode of their new series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, which gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the first live-action Star Wars series. In this episode titled “Directing”, the directors of the series talk about their love for the franchise and what it’s like for them to be directing The Mandalorian.

The episodes show some cool behind-the-scenes footage and it also features Jon Favreau hosting a roundtable discussion with the directors, which includes Dave Filoni (The Clone Wars), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope, Talk To Me), Deborah Chow (Mr. Robot), Bryce Dallas Howard (Dads), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok).

It’s explained that all the directors brought different things to the show and different perspectives of the same vision. These directors were like the dirty dozen and magnificent seven type of crew that he wanted to put together to tell these stories and Favreau wanted the different voices and personalities of these filmmakers to shine through as they told these certain stories.

There are some pretty fun and cool things that we learned from this first episode that I wanted to point out to discuss.

Dave Filoni Almost Blew His Opportunity to be a Part of The Clone Wars Because he thought it was a Joke

One of my favorite stories shared in the episode came from Dave Filoni. He had a long history with the Star Wars franchise before jumping into The Mandalorian. He was the guy who led the charge on the animated shows like The Clone Wars and Rebels.

Well, it turns out that he almost blew his opportunity to be a part of those animated shows because when he was first contacted by Lucasfilm to come in and interview, he thought the whole thing was a joke! He was working on Avatar:The Last Airbender at the time and his co-workers were all giving him a hard time and teasing him because of how excited he was about the release of Revenge of the Sith.

So, when the call from Lucasfilm came, he thought it was his co-workers playing a prank on him and he treated the conversation with a throw-away cocky attitude and responded to her questions sarcastically. It wasn’t until the end of the conversation after the interview was set that he realized this was not a joke. Luckily, when he realized that this was not a gag he was able to make sure he got to keep the interview!

George Lucas was Everything that Dave Filoni Hoped He Would Be

After a couple of interview with Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni actually got an interview with George Lucas, and according to Filoni, he was everything that he hoped the Star Wars creator would be! He explained that during the interview Lucas explained how the negotiations for a job like this would be like if a Jedi were doing the negotiating. Filoni explained that Lucas gave off the vibe of a Toshiro Mifune character, which is the actor who frequently worked with Akira Kurosawa, who directed films like The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and The Hidden Fortress.

All The Filmmakers Praise Dave Filoni and Explain That He’s The Reason The Mandalorian is So Great

Dave Filoni plays a big part in the development of The Mandalorian and the creative team all agree that he is one of the main reasons the show is so successful and is as great as it it.

Jon Favreau says that Finoni is “a great collaborator, great animator, great director, storyteller, writer.” He also explains that he “has a strong intuition about what George [Lucas] would say.”

Taika Waititi says Filoni is “an encyclopedia of all the Star Wars lore.” Gina Carano adds, “You can ask him anything. You can be like, ‘Hey, what about this shoulder pad?’ And Dave Filoni would be like, ‘That’s not actually what it looks like, but let me tell you why, and let me tell you the history of why.”

Bryce Dallas Howard says, “There’s a purity to his relationship to Star Wars in general that is just like, it’s really obvious. There’s no Dave Filoni ego, it’s just all about Star Wars and George and the stuff that’s important.”

Pedro Pascal say, “We wouldn’t be able to do this show without Dave Filoni. He is the truest lover of the material. He’s so well-informed, and he knows exactly what would fit, what would make sense.”

Deborah Chow adds her two cents saying, “I think it’s like he, more than anyone, just innately knows what’s right and what’s wrong for Star Wars.”

Bryce Dallas Howard Was Thrown Into The Deep End and Given The Most Difficult Episode To Direct

Prior to The Mandalorian, Howard didn’t have any experience directing anything like this before. Regardless of that fact, Favreau threw her into the deep end and gave her, what he thought, was the most challenging episode of the first season. The main set pieces for the episode included a forest, water elements, and a big AT-ST battle sequence. With Howard’s lack of experience in directing these kinds of things, she didn’t know any better going into it, so she didn’t know to be worried. The other filmmakers, however, knew how difficult it was going to be.

She ended up doing a great job! There are some nice behind-the-scenes shots of her shooting her episode and getting emotional while shooting them. She also tells a story of how when she was much younger, she went to dinner in Japan with her dad Ron Howard, George Lucas, and Akira Kurosawa! What an incredible experience that would have been! She fell asleep during it! She’s was only six at the time, so we won’t give her a hard time about it.

The Darksaber was a Prop that Actually Lit Up on Camera

There’s some rad behind-the-scenes footage from the season finale were we see Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon emerging from his TIE Fighter. He’s holding the Darksaber in the scene, and we see that the prop actually lights up on set! I’m sure there is some visual effects work done on it in post, but the actual prop is a black blade with glowing lights surrounding it. I want one!

George Lucas Didn’t Want To Use Storyboards for The Clone Wars

Filoni explained that when he was brought on to work on The Clone Wars, George Lucas didn’t want to use any storyboard. He said there would be no drawing on the series, which confused Filoni because that’s what he did! Lucas had to teach him a whole new way of developing these animated shows.

Taika Waititi Says Lord of the Rings Props Were Used in What We Do in the Shadows

Then in non-Mandalorian reveals, Taika Waititi revealed that he used Lord of the Rings props in his What We Do in the Shadows film. He reached out to Weta Workshop in and asked if they had any old Lord of the Rings props and they gave him some pointy ears, fake teeth and some other things.