Secrets of the Force

by Edward Gross

  This isn’t just about let’s put some content on an LED wall. It’s about making sure that the content on the LED wall blends and bleeds into the physical and vice versa. That’s the biggest challenge for anyone doing this. I could put anyone in front of our projection screens, shoot them from the waist up, and make them look like they are in an environment. That’s easy. We’ve been doing that for a decade. That’s not a problem. It’s this concept of, I am going to see someone walking down a street and I want to really believe that they are walking down a street and that they can walk into this expansive, immersive environment that actually isn’t there. That is the thing that is so challenging and that is the challenge that everyone will have with this. The reality is that when you are building out a set that is fifty feet wide and you need to have a battle scene in there, it’s a far more complex problem than just trying to deploy a small studio or shooting from the waist up.

  * * *

  In addition to the top-tier talent behind-the-camera, there is a first-rate cast in front of it as well, including Game of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal and ultimate fighter turned actress Gina Carano.

  PEDRO PASCAL

  (actor, “Din Djarin,” The Mandalorian)

  Putting the helmet on—they had handed it to me in our first meeting to see if it would fit perfectly. Putting the costume on for the first time, and looking in the mirror … you can’t see very well through the helmet, but I got a pretty clear impression. If you grow up playing with Star Wars toys, and obviously seeing the movies, and then you’re staring at yourself and you are the image of that kind of childhood imagination, it’s a super pinch-worthy moment.

  JON FAVREAU

  We roped Carl [Weathers] for more than he signed up for. It started off as, “Hey, maybe you’ll do one or two…” and then it turned into, “Well, now we really like your character…” We worked him in a lot. More than he agreed to. And with season two, he was part of our directors’ brigade. I know him through the Directors Guild. We met and I was a fan of his acting, but he’s been directing more lately. So, this whole high-tech, innovative set that we’ve developed for these specific stories, by Carl being there and being a part of it, and seeing how we were putting this together and experimenting with it, and seeing it all come together, he was perfectly qualified. He understood the story, the characters, the cast, and the technology, so it’s really fun to be working with Carl now.

  CARL WEATHERS

  (actor, “Greef Karga”)

  Jon knew that I want to direct more and more. He promised, when I agreed to do this, that if it got a second season, he’d give me a shot. And I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been around enough to know that people don’t always keep their word. Being a part of this is one of the greatest things that’s happened in all of the years that I’ve been in entertainment.

  PEDRO PASCAL

  I was a little more generous. Stunt doubles are essential to every large production, just so you know, even for the strongest and most agile people. None of it can get down without the incredible stunt work. You have no idea, the amount of star power, from every department that goes into making something like this. There’s a person working on the shine of my shoulder, and a person who built the entire ship that we’re shooting on, or the whole set. I’ve seen some pretty big shit, and I haven’t seen anything like this.

  JON FAVREAU

  You’re gonna see a lot of people that are working in this incubator of story and technology come together because they love Star Wars with an enthusiasm that seems to be very contagious. There’s a real enthusiasm that’s very organic, as we’re telling the stories. It’s a very collaborative environment. We talk a lot about story, and I write most of it, but that’s just the jumping-off point for the directors to be very involved and very collaborative.

  When you bring in a director like Taika Waititi, he’s clearly doing it because he wants to. The guy is just such a powerhouse right now, creatively. Everybody’s really discovering what a talent he is. People who follow comedy or independent film knew about him long ago, and now, he’s really enjoying a wonderful run. So, when he shows up, it gets everybody excited, because it’s a fresh energy on the set. He finds opportunities for humor. He brings his style of humor to it, but he’s also a fan. To me, that was the bottom line and the prerequisite. You didn’t have to be the most experienced. You didn’t have to have worked on Star Wars before. You didn’t even have to have ever directed live-action before. We had a few people that hadn’t done that. The thing was that you had to be willing to collaborate, you had to love Star Wars, and you had to want to do something great and help invent this new thing.

  DAVE FILONI

  The Mandalorian has become a really special thing for me. I became interested in doing live-action from working with George, and the way he talked about how we should shoot The Clone Wars. He always spoke in live-action terms. George was so steeped in technology and pushing technology forward, with pre-viz and stuff like that, on Clone Wars, that it just became the language of filmmaking for me as well. Working with Jon is really natural, because he’s really forward-thinking with technology as well, and using technology to enable greater storytelling. So for me, it was a great opportunity to work with someone who works in a similar vein [to George], but I could be challenged. And Jon has challenged me—I will say that—creatively and storytelling-wise. And you need that; you need that sharpening to improve and continue. It’s very Star Wars. I’ve had a couple of mentors now, and I’m very privileged to have the ones that I’ve had. I’m definitely the better for Jon taking me in and showing me the ropes of live-action. It’s improved my writing. I learned a tremendous amount every day. I was on set every day the whole season, so I learned from all our directors, all of the cast, and everyone behind the scenes. I treated it as boot camp for me to learn this type of filmmaking. But I also tried to offer the knowledge passed on to me by George about Star Wars and the way he liked to shoot things. But it definitely has affected the way I look at a day—what can I accomplish in a day?—that’s a big difference for me filmmaking-wise. We arrived on the backlot and the [director of photography] is like, “Well, the sun’s up. We got to get going.” And I’m like, “Oh right, because it’s going to go down.” In animation, we don’t really have that problem. So, you know, you’re getting on six o’clock, and everyone’s getting squirrely, like “The sun’s going down; the sun’s going down!” And I’m like, “Right. Then we’re screwed, because the whole set is going down.”

  There are advantages and disadvantages to both live-action and animation. At this point, I don’t prefer one or the other. I like both experiences, and they’re both unique. There’s something about the concrete nature of live-action. It’s incredibly spontaneous. It’s gonna happen right there, in the moment, and then, that’s it. Whereas in animation, I can tweak a tiny eyebrow or a tiny smirk, or give a little bit of a push in a direction that will dramatically change the character. You have to get all of these variables to come together and be aware of it. It’s not like you’re controlling any of it, as much as you’re guiding it. You’re looking at everything, all at once. Whereas, in animation, it’s like a recipe that I can keep adding ingredients to. You have a lot of flexibility in digital, thank God, and in post, you can do a lot. But capturing that moment, right in front of you, is the real magic of it all, and is something that I’d been craving to try. Luckily, we have an incredible crew and cast that can capture those moments.

  JON FAVREAU

  I met Dave because I was up at the ranch mixing Iron Man, and he was secretly working with George on Clone Wars before anyone had ever heard of it. I showed him Iron Man, he showed me Clone Wars, and I was like, “If you ever need a voice on this, I’d love to do it.” And sure enough, I played a Mandalorian, named Pre Vizsla, on his show. But what’s so nice is, George had worked with him for ten years on his show, and so they had worked together. So a lot of what’s wonderful about working with Dave is the continuity of vision. I know Ge
orge came with Kathy [Kennedy], because they have a long-standing relationship, but the thing that really stood out was, you could tell he was very proud that Dave was taking this next step. When George discovered Dave, he was just an animator he brought in. I’m sure you’ve heard the story, Dave thought it was a joke—that someone was playing a prank on him. But after meeting with George, he asked Dave, “Do you want to run this show?” It’s been a long relationship, understanding filmmaking, understanding Star Wars—and now, as we get into live-action, to take the next step. So a big reason that he was there was because he wanted to make sure that I was continuing Dave’s journey with him. I thought it felt very special. It was a very special day.

  EMILY SWALLOW

  (actress, “The Armorer,” The Mandalorian)

  The original trilogy has always been the favorite, so he [Favreau] was smart to replicate the feel of those worlds. That immediately appeals to fans of those movies, and there are lots of nods to things we’ve already seen in those films. But the show is also incredibly appealing to folks who know nothing about Star Wars, because it has the feel of a Western and has, at its core, a hero on his formative journey. I also attribute the success to the caliber and styles of the different directors, and the way Jon encouraged them to work together to create a cohesive story arc and pushed them to draw from their unique styles of storytelling.

  DALE POLLOCK

  (author, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas)

  The Mandalorian clearly shows that there’s a whole generation of creative people who were raised on these films, and they’re now going to represent the new wave of Star Wars. And I don’t think in ways that Lucas and Kathy Kennedy and other people who’ve been with the series since the beginning could have anticipated. I mean, Baby Yoda? Who would have thought of Baby Yoda? It just shows you the unanticipated ways all of this could go on forever.

  KYLE NEWMAN

  (director, Fanboys)

  You know what got me so excited this morning? I woke up and the first email I saw was from a longtime friend back in New York who’s now living in Singapore. They sent me a picture of their daughter all excited, dressed like Princess Leia. She hasn’t even seen the movies, and now they’re throwing her a Star Wars birthday party … in Singapore. She doesn’t even know the movies, but something about the character pulled her in. She was hooked before she’d even seen the movies. It was just like, “There’s the next generation already.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The authors would like to profusely thank the following people for their help in making this book possible. First and foremost, the authors owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Steven A. Simak for his extensive contributions to this volume. Steven, whose immense knowledge of visual effects along with the numerous interviews he conducted, proved invaluable. Also a very special thanks to our superb research consultant, Peter Holmstrom, who also provided incalculable help in scheduling interviews, contributing, transcribing, advising, and conducting research for this project, and whose love for the material is boundless. He is one with the Force and the Force is with him.

  We are also deeply grateful to our partners at the Electric Surge Network, including Dean Devlin, who allowed us to excerpt interviews and material from their popular podcasts Inglorious Treksperts, Best Movies Never Made, and The Rebel & the Rogue, including their respective hosts Daren Dochterman, Stephen Scarlata, Josh Miller, Jason Tobias, and Victoria Cheri. You can enjoy these podcasts on the Electric Now video streaming app, available free on your favorite app store.

  In addition, we once again would like to share our deep appreciation to Dan Madsen, founder of the Official Lucasfilm Fan Club; Stephen Pizzello and David E. Williams of American Cinematographer for their support, research materials, and interview excerpts; as well as current Cinefantastique publisher and owner Steve Harris for allowing us to dip into their archives for material to supplement this volume in order to assure a complete and accurate overview of this dense subject matter. Also, our gratitude to Ian Spelling, Randy Lofficier, Lee Goldberg, Jonathan Wilkins, Nick Jamilla, Corey Van Dyke, and Dennis Pellegrom (author of the multivolume Star Wars Interviews books, available from Amazon, among others) for sharing additional interview material with us; and Eric Townsend of the Making of Star Wars Timeline.

  Genuine thanks are also offered to Ray Morton, Glen Oliver, and Ric Meyers for going above and beyond in offering up their views of the entire franchise.

  In addition to the majority of interviews that were conducted by the authors, some additional quotes come from press conferences, promotional appearances, as well as film festival tributes and conventions. As George Lucas did not make himself available to the authors for this volume, all quotes from him are taken from public and promotional appearances by the filmmaker.

  Finally, a very special thanks to our previous editor Stephen Power for proposing this book to us in the first place, as well as our terrific, diligent and enthusiastic new editor, Michael Homler, as well as our original, wildly supportive editor at St. Martin’s, who got the boulder rolling (oops, wrong Lucasfilm franchise) in the first place, Brendan Deneen; and our erstwhile agent Laurie Fox at the Linda Chester Agency for making it all possible.

  PREVIOUS BOOKS FROM THE AUTHORS

  The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years

  (St. Martin’s Press)

  The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars

  (St. Martin’s Press)

  Slayers & Vampires: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel

  (Tor Books)

  So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica

  (Tor Books)

  Nobody Does it Better: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond

  (Forge Books)

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  EDWARD GROSS is a veteran entertainment journalist who has built his career serving on the staff of a variety of publications, most notably Cinescape, Starlog, New York Nightlife, Cinefantastique, Fangoria, Femme Fatales, SFX, Sci-Fi Now, Life Story, and Movie Magic. Online he has served as executive editor, U.S., for Empireonline, film/TV editor at CloserWeekly.com, and nostalgia editor at DoYouRemember.com. He is currently senior editor of Geek magazine.

  Additionally, he has authored or coauthored numerous nonfiction books, among them the two-volume The Fifty-Year Mission, which covers the history of the Star Trek franchise; Rocky: The Ultimate Guide; the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel oral history, Slayers & Vampires; Planet of the Apes Revisited; So Say We All, the oral history going behind the scenes of Battlestar Galactica; Spider-Man: Confidential; and Nobody Does It Better, an oral history celebrating all things James Bond. You can sign up for email updates here.

  MARK A. ALTMAN is a television and motion picture writer/producer who is the showrunner, creator, and executive producer of Pandora, the hit sci-fi action-adventure series for Sony Pictures Television that Programming Insider lauded as “Stranger Things meets Riverdale.” He most recently served as co-executive producer of TNT’s hit series The Librarians, as well as such shows as Agent X (TNT), Castle (ABC), Necessary Roughness (USA), and numerous television pilots.

  In addition to directing the comedy special Aries Spears: Comedy Blueprint for NBC/Universal, Altman produced the $30 million film adaptation of the bestselling video game DOA: Dead or Alive, which was released by Dimension Films. His first film was the award-winning Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack, which he wrote and produced and for which he won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Writer at the AFI Los Angeles Film Festival prior to its theatrical release. He was also a producer of the House of the Dead series, based on the video game from Sega, released by Lionsgate. In addition, he produced the Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and James Gunn (Guardia
ns of the Galaxy) superhero satire The Specials.

  His bestselling two-volume book written with Edward Gross, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek, was released by St. Martin’s Press in 2016 in hardcover to unanimous critical acclaim, including raves in The Wall Street Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly. His follow-up with Edward Gross on Battlestar Galactica, So Say We All, was released in August 2018, and his latest oral history, Nobody Does It Better, chronicling the history of the James Bond franchise, was released in hardcover in February 2020.

  Altman is a former journalist and has contributed to such newspapers and magazines as The Boston Globe, Written By, L’Cinefage, Geek, The Guardian, and many others, including Cinefantastique, for which he launched their independent film division, CFQ Films. He has also written numerous comic books for DC and Malibu Comics.

  In 2018, Altman launched the Electric Surge Video Podcast Network with producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate), and in addition to producing numerous weekly podcasts for the network, they recently debuted video versions of their popular series on the Electric Now streaming channel. In addition to producing, Altman also cohosts The 4:30 Movie, in which a band of experts curate dream movie theme weeks, as well as the immensely popular Inglorious Treksperts, the only podcast for Star Trek fans with a life, featuring high-profile guests from across the Star Trek universe.