The week of \u201cMay the 4th Be With You\u201d has been a banner one for Dave Filoni, the longtime animation veteran who is now one of the leading creatives of \u201cStar Wars\u201d content over at Lucasfilm.<\/p>\n
Monday, May 4, marked the triumphant finale of \u201cStar Wars: The Clone Wars,\u201d the CG-animated series executive produced by Filoni that was given a chance by Disney+ to finish storylines that were abandoned after Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and canceled the series.<\/p>\n
Filoni later went on to earn praise from \u201cStar Wars\u201d fans for producing the likes of \u201cStar Wars Rebels\u201d and \u201cThe Mandalorian,\u201d the latter alongside noted fanboy filmmaker Jon Favreau.<\/p>\n
Having worked with George Lucas since before \u201cClone Wars\u201d debuted in 2008, Filoni is something of a creative bridge between the Lucas and Disney eras of \u201cStar Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Follow us on Instagram!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In the first episode of the new Disney+ behind-the-scenes series \u201cDisney Gallery: Star Wars \u2014\u00a0The Mandalorian,\u201d which premiered May 4, Filoni talked about learning about live-action filmmaking from Lucas and applying those ideas to animation. All he expected from his initial meeting about doing a \u201cClone Wars\u201d show was a story he could tell in line at Revenge of the Sith<\/em> about being in a room as George Lucas ruminated to him about the zen philosophies of the Jedi. Filoni ended up getting the job, implying it had something to do with Lucas enjoying his work on \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet when it came time to craft the sequels to Lucas\u2019 films, the new regime turned to J.J. Abrams, not Favreau or Filoni. The new films have mostly divided fan loyalties over the creative direction of a franchise that seems to be in serious need of a producer along the lines of Marvel Studios\u2019 Kevin Feige who can oversee the coherence of the shared universe, an element that was noticeably absent from the recent sequel trilogy.<\/p>\n In the second episode of \u201cDisney Gallery\u201d that premiered today (May 8), Filoni delivers a soliloquy that should cement his status as the person who should fill that role. In it, he analyzes a key plot point from 1999\u2019s Star Wars: Episode I \u2014 The Phantom Menace<\/em> from an angle many fans may not have approached it from before.<\/p>\n The \u201cDisney Gallery\u201d series features Favreu, Filoni and other filmmakers involved with the show and \u201cStar Wars\u201d engaged in a series of roundtable discussions about their approach to the material. At one point, the discussion turned to the nature of storytelling in the \u201cStar Wars\u201d universe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prequels I thought were almost an impossible task,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cHow do you tell the story that we\u2019ve all grown up with, imagining who Anakin Skywalker was? You saw so many things in The Phantom Menace<\/em> that you had just imagined, like the Jedi Council, and none of it really was what I had expected, but I know now that\u2019s just like how creative George is, he just sees it differently.\u201d<\/p>\n Filoni focuses on the climactic battle between Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Darth Maul, an agent of chaos working for the Sith Lord who would eventually become Emperor Palpatine.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the lightsaber fight with Darth Maul, not because it\u2019s a lightsaber fight, but because George is so good at crafting why that fight\u2019s important,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cIn Phantom Menace<\/em>, you\u2019re watching these two Jedi in their prime fight this evil villain. Maul couldn\u2019t be more obviously the villain, he\u2019s designed to look evil.\u201d<\/p>\n Filoni compares the emotional stakes of the battle with that of the fight between the older Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in the 1977 original movie before continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s at stake is really how Anakin\u2019s going to turn out,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cBecause Qui-Gon is different from the rest of the Jedi. You get that in the movie, and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows he\u2019s the father that Anakin needs, because Qui-Gon hasn\u2019t given up on the fact that the Jedi are supposed to actually care and love, and that\u2019s not a bad thing. The rest of the Jedi are so detached, and have become so political that they\u2019ve really lost their way, and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But Qui-Gon is ahead of them all. That\u2019s why he\u2019s not part of the Council.\u201d<\/p>\n Filoni then references \u201cDuel of the Fates,\u201d composer John Williams\u2019 signature track written for Episode I<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he\u2019s fighting for Anakin, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s the \u2018Duel of the Fates,\u2019 it\u2019s the fate of this child. And depending on how this fight goes, Anakin is going to, his life is going to be dramatically different. So, Qui-Gon loses, of course. \u2026 He knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother, when he had an attachment, and he\u2019s left with Obi-Wan.<\/p>\n \u201cObi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Filoni points out that when Obi-Wan first hears about Anakin, he considers him a distraction in the same vein as Jar-Jar Binks, and thinks trying to save the boy from slavery is a waste of time. In that sense, Obi-Wan shares the detachment from empathy that Qui-Gon worries has engulfed the Jedi Order.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he\u2019s a brother to Anakin, eventually, but he\u2019s not a father figure,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cThat\u2019s a failing for Anakin. He doesn\u2019t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made, \u2018mother I will come back and save you.\u2019 So he\u2019s left completely vulnerable. And \u2018Star Wars\u2019 ultimately is about family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s everything the entire three films of the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight.\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, Maul\u2019s role in the story has been fulfilled as disposable tool of the Emperor, who then turns his attentions to Anakin, eventually manipulating Anakin\u2019s sense of loss to turn him into the evil Darth Vader by filling the fatherly void in Anakin\u2019s life.<\/p>\n Filoni then turns to 1983\u2019s Episode VI: Return of the Jedi<\/em>, and the scene where Luke is tempted to join the dark side by killing the Emperor out of anger.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s going to save Luke is not his connection to the Force, it\u2019s not the powers he\u2019s learned. It\u2019s not all these things that are an advantage to him,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cThat\u2019s gotten him to the table. But what saves Luke is his ability to look at all that, and look at his father and say no, I\u2019m going to throw away this weapon, I\u2019m not going to do that, I\u2019m going to let that go and be selfless. And he says \u2018I\u2019m a Jedi like my father before me,\u2019 but what he\u2019s really saying and why we connect, why I connect so powerfully to it is he\u2019s saying \u2018I love my father, and there\u2019s nothing you can do that\u2019s going to change that.\u2019 And the Emperor can\u2019t understand that connection. Why wouldn\u2019t you take from the power of the galaxy? Why won\u2019t you take this?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Anakin, in that moment, has to decide to be the father that he\u2019s never had. He has to give up all the power in the galaxy and save his son. And that\u2019s the selfless act that he does in return for his son. And that\u2019s what saves him in turn. So the son saves the father, the father saves the son and it works out perfectly, and I draw that line all the way from The Phantom Menace<\/em> to Jedi<\/em>. That\u2019s the story of \u2018Star Wars.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The example, Filoni says, is emblematic of the core values that all \u201cStar Wars\u201d stories should strive for.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the fated arc. It\u2019s all part of why it works and why we care,\u201d Filoni says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about X-Wings. It\u2019s not about all these things we decorate \u2018Star Wars\u2019 in. It\u2019s important, it\u2019s part of the genius of it, but we soulfully react to it. We don\u2019t just want an action movie, we want to feel uplifted. And \u2018Star Wars\u2019 is an adventure that makes you feel good, you know?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I always go back to with \u2018Star Wars\u2019 is this selfless act, this family dynamic, which is so important to George, so important to the foundation of \u2018Star Wars.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n