‘Star Wars – A New Hope’ Assistant Director Praises Dave Filoni’s Work On The Franchise: “He Has Done Such An Incredible Job Of Being George Lucas”
Spencer Baculi
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According to Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope assistant director and set dresser Roger Christian, not only has current Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni done an excellent job helping to guide the current state of the franchise, but he has also proven himself to be a worthy successor to Star Wars creator George Lucas himself.
Christian, who in addition to helping direct the first ever Star Wars film also served as its set dresser, in doing so designing some of the franchise’s most iconic visual elements including Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster pistol, the Millenium Falcon’s cockpit, and the hilt of Anakin Skywalker’s original lightsaber (as given to Luke in A New Hope), offered his opinion of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels creator’s thus far body of work while making an April 22nd appearance on a livestream hosted by popular YouTuber Star Wars Theory.
Following a discussion regarding his disagreement with the antagonism that was thrown Lucas’ way for his work on the prequel trilogy, Christian eventually opined to his host, “I think he’s coming back, you know? I’ m pretty sure now that he’s doing a series. I think that they’re bringing him into the fold from what I hear because there’s a Star Wars live-action series coming and I’ve got a strong suspicion that George will have something to do with that.”
“That’s what I’m thinking it is, and I might prophesying,” he then admitted. “That’s what I had heard and read and I don’t know anything apart from I’m prophesizing that might happen because you’ve seen he’s been very physically present there. He’s been down at the sets and everything”.
Next, prompted by the twin discussions of Star Wars’ current production status and Lucas’ possible return, Christian then proceeded to turn his attentions to Filoni, asserting “Dave Filoni has done such an incredible job of being George, bringing back everything George [trails off].”
Met with the agreeing declaration from Star Wars theory that “I always say, you know, that Dave gets a lot of flak, just as George did, but he is the closest thing we have to George,” Christian further confirmed, “He is.”
Elaborating on his praise for Filoni, Christian detailed, “George has another talent that has gone unsung, is that across the board, he’s hired people…me and John Barry, we weren’t jaded in the fact that [they’d never say] ‘No, gov, you know that doesn’t work like that, this is how we always do it, it works.'”
“George wrote stuff that couldn’t be done, and he always said ‘I put it out there and I figured out someone would make it work,” he continued. “When Dave Filoni, his story – that I’ve read, I’ve never met Dave – but he was an animator at Disney and they invited several people to go be in charge of The Clone Wars, the animation series, and Dave says himself “I flew there, and I’m sitting with George at a table, and he says, ‘I can dine out for the rest of my life on this’,’ and he got chosen.”
“I think George recognized in him, somebody as well, who had some kind of passionate understanding and wouldn’t ever go ‘No, you can’t do that’,” concluded Christian. “He would find the ways to do it, so I think that’s a huge talent George has.”
Notably, Lucas himself has gone on record as being a personal fan of Filoni’s handling of the franchise.
Asked by Vanity Fair in 2019 if he had any thoughts to offer on his heir apparent, the Star Wars creator recalled, ““I immediately found him to be very open-minded and a great listener, which are qualities I admire because it opens a person up to new experiences.”
“I was just giving him advice along the way,” he added.
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