Jon Favreau has been dreaming about making a Star Wars movie for most of his life.
He was 10 and half when the first film was released in theaters in 1977, which he went to see with his dad. From the opening shot of that Imperial Star Destroyer filling the screen, he was forever changed. It made him fall in love with the movies: The wonder, the world, the spectacle and the shared experience.
By the time “Return of the Jedi” came out he’d even found a job that was a little closer to the action: Movie theater usher.
For a screenwriter, director, actor and producer who has a billion-dollar film to his name, in addition to all that comes with being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s always been ready to raise his hand when it comes to Star Wars. He voiced a Mandalorian in “The Clone Wars,” played an alien in “Solo” and helped create “The Mandalorian” series and his immensely popular counterpart, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda). But believe it or not, he only ever got to direct one episode of the show (the first of the second season). So, yes, Favreau has paid his dues and now, at 59, he finally has a Star Wars movie of his own coming to theaters on May 22.
Inviting a new generation to Star Wars
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” is not simply Season 4 of the show on the big screen. Favreau should know, since he wrote both. And, perhaps more importantly, he knew there couldn’t be any presumption of Mandalorian knowledge. Writing a show, he said, you can assume that the audience will have seen the prior season. A movie is different; it has to be if it’s going to be a blockbuster.
“Even though in our hearts we are Star Wars fans, we make it for Star Wars fans, and we know that there’s a certain set of expectations around what Star Wars should be that we collectively hold, there is the responsibility to invite a whole new generation of people into Star Wars,” Favreau said. “That means that if a Star Wars fan brings somebody who’s not, they’ve got to have as good of a time as the fans do.”
It’s been nearly seven years since there was a new Star Wars movie released in theaters. That means there’s a whole group of a six-and-a-half-year-olds who’ve yet to have a first time experience of their own.
“I want to make the next generation feel the way about Star Wars that I did when I saw it for the first time,” Favreau said.
It can be intimidating going into a movie knowing that there were three seasons of television leading up to it. But the nice thing about Star Wars is, even people who don’t know it at least kind of know it. Remember, Favreau said, George Lucas plopped audiences in the middle of an adventure in 1977 without a lot of explanation.
“George has always understood that you have to fit into the mythic structure,” Favreau said. “There are certain story types that we connect with and understand and even if we might not know the particulars of the story he’s telling, we could drop right in and understand and know who to cheer for.”
For this film, Favreau is pretty sure that most people have heard of Baby Yoda and can pick up on the dynamic between the little green guy and his enigmatic bounty hunter counterpart, played once again by Pedro Pascal. If you are a newcomer, that’s pretty much all that you need to know. Also, the Mandalorian has a name: Din Djarin.
Din Djarin is a bit different
Season three left Din Djarin and Grogu at peace, at least for a moment. He’s adopted Grogu as his son and apprentice, and they plan to live in a small cabin and take some jobs here and there to help protect the Outer Rim.
“He made it clear that he was only going to work for the good guys now,” Favreau said. “We switched the Western archetype from the bounty hunter to the guy who’s hunting down the bad guys in the wanted posters on the post office wall for the sheriff.”
When we meet him again in the film, “he’s a bit different from when we first met him, but he’s still, at his heart, a gunfighter and a warrior,” Favreau said. They’re hunting down ex-Imperial warlords who seem to be organizing. (Remember, these events happen after “Return of the Jedi” and before “The Force Awakens.” )
And he’s not exactly thrilled about his new assignment which will put him back in the orbit of the Hutt family. Yes, Jabba the Hutt had a son, his name is Rotta, he is played by internet boyfriend Jeremy Allen White — and he’s a gladiator.
“That’s one of those fun things for people who may have been following along since the first ‘Clone Wars’ film,” Favreau said. “If you don’t know who he is, you’re going to figure it out pretty quick. And he’s a lot different than people remember, and I think we have a bit of fun with that.”
Also, for superfans, Favreau is pretty sure they don’t ever refer to him by his nickname, “Stinky.”
White isn’t the only Star Wars newcomer. Sigourney Weaver plays a New Republic leader; Martin Scorsese is an alien shopkeeper.
Upping the spectacle for IMAX
“The Mandalorian” always felt more cinematic than your average television show thanks to its innovative virtual sets known as the Volume, but the big screen demands something spectacular. And it turns out, more time, space and money help out quite a bit in making something worthy of the theater.
“With the bigger screen and the larger production value, we were able to dip into another one of George Lucas’ influences, which is the Flash Gordon-style space opera where you get big monsters and creatures and worlds,” he said. “We get to do a lot more than we had the ability to do when we had to turn the show around in a year and fit it onto a television screen. Now we’re in IMAX, we had several years to do it. We got to build sets, we got to build miniatures, we got to have stop motion set pieces … it opened up a lot of opportunities to do things that we never got to do before.”
Favreau said they had a whole backlot to work with and a set of stages to build on. They could play with water and snow and environments that just weren’t possible with the show.
The future of Star Wars
The Star Wars galaxy is in a time of transition as everyone figures out what the next era of films might look like under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years.
“She’s definitely a Mount Rushmore producer,” Favreau said. “I also think she did a wonderful job preparing the next generation.”
He’s still working closely with Kennedy, and Filoni, to bring the Mandalorian movie to theaters. He’s not too worried about the box office side of things.
“All of it comes down to seeing it with an audience,” Favreau said. “That’s the part I’m looking forward to.”
