It turns out that The Mandalorian crew struggled to get to grips with Baby Yoda.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.
“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”
When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.
Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”
Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.
“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”
But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.
Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.
The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading...
During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.
“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”
When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.
Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”
Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.
“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”
But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.
Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.
The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading...