Jon Favreau: Scripting The Mandalorian
Jon Favreau dishes about bringing live-action Star Wars to the small screen….
One of the details that I love so much about The Mandalorian remains the presence of one of my top Hollywood types – Jon Favreau.
Favreau wrote and starred in one of my most favorite films, Swingers.
Of course, Swingers introduced the world to the LA lounge scene, neo-swing via Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and phrases like, “so money.”
Photo: John Bishop. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
And, for The Walt Disney Company, that’s exactly what Favreau has been – money.
Writing In Hollywood
Jon Favreau and Bob Iger. Image: Disney.
However, the Disney Legend recently re-explained just how tough it can be to write successfully in Hollywood.
“After being an actor, my first step was writing all the way back to Swingers. It feels like a return back to the thing that got me into this field,” he told WGA.org’s, Dylan Callaghan. “I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to work at a time when television has expanded our ability to create so much.”
Favreau talked about his current writing foray, this time into the Star Wars universe. He and co-creator Dave Filoni continue to expand the “galaxy far, far away” with The Mandalorian.
D23 EXPO 2019 (The Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA).
But, beyond the Star Wars canon’s expansion, it was the turn back to the familiar Original Trilogy that brought the biggest surprises to Season 2 of The Mandalorian; those surprises coming in the guises of Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker.
Speaking specifically about Luke, Favreau explained how fortunate he is to be working within the existing Star Wars galaxy.
“We have a tremendous amount of freedom afforded to us because of the gap in time between the films,” said Favreau when asked if Skywalker’s return was always in the script. “Dave Filoni and I are in constant discussion regarding how each story choice is impacted by and would impact existing Star Wars material.”
Co-Creating With Filoni
Dave and Jon (The Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA).
Filoni, as you may know, studied at the side of The Maker, George Lucas, while producing Star Wars: The Clone Wars. And Favreau implied the success of his scripts can also draw a straight line to Dave.
“I’ve found if you have a very good collaborator…even though I was actually writing the episodes, there were many, many hours of conversations, and I would show him things I was writing, and he was giving me a tremendous amount of feedback and helping guide me through the world of Star Wars.
“He had studied under George for I think a decade working on the animated shows,” explained Favreau to Writers Guild of America West. “So, I felt like I had a direct connection to the source code of this whole world with him.”
By the way, Favreau talked about more than writing. Check out the whole article, penned by WGA.org’s, Dylan Callaghan
