Dave Filoni, Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer, was honored with the George Pal Memorial Award at the 51st Annual Saturn Awards. He took the time to talk to Temple of Geek and reflected on the recent reunion of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) in his Disney+ show Ahsoka.
The George Pal Memorial Award is given to someone who is a visionary storyteller in their field. Dave Filoni has been a favorite storyteller for Star Wars fans every since he was showrunner for the animated show The Clone Wars. Working with George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, gives him a unique insight into Star Wars storytelling. He went on to create Star Wars: Rebels, Ahsoka, The Mandalorian and so much more.
The Clone Wars animated show introduced the character Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein). Ahsoka becomes the Jedi Padawan to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (voiced by Matt Lanter). Their stories continued through shows like Star Wars: Rebels, but the characters never met in live-action. With Ahsoka, Dave had the unique opportunity to reunite Master and Apprentice. Hayden Christensen returned to reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker to play opposite Rosario Dawson as well as young Ahsoka (Ariana Greenblatt).
Nick Williams: Getting Snips (Ahsoka) and Sky Guy (Anakin) back together and to be able to do that in live action…how was that for you?
Dave Filoni: Super special. I mean, that’s like, you know, Luke says “something out of a dream,” Like you just kind of stare at it. And I would look at Ariana (Greenblatt) and Hayden (Christensen) and just kind of be like, “wow, I guess it does work.” You know? It it feels, I mean, the animation felt real to me, but to see them there in person was very special. Not just I think for me, but for the whole crew. And some of the animation team that worked on the old shows flew down to see it and to meet them because it told them what was going on and it just really, you know, great moments like how you imagined it to be . . .
(Cont.) . . . [A]nd I wanted to work with Hayden for a long time and had known him over the years and so create a great opportunity for us to connect and and kind of like share our learning experience, you know, working with George and show our respect for George and wanting to, you know, uphold what what George believed about Star Wars and Anakin and shine a light on that character.
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