Star Wars : The Mandalorian [Lucasfilm - 2019]

J'ai adoré cet épisode ! Ça fait 3 épisodes qu'on nous tease Ashoka et quelle merveille
Déjà son introduction est très réussie, l'actrice fait très bien le job.
Cet épisode apporte aussi de nombreuses voies possibles pour la suite de la série : Baby Yoda (mais oui on connait désormais son nom ) et les autres Jedi. Peut être qu'on verra Ezra ?? L'arrivée de Thrawn. Gideon et ses dark troopers et les expériences réalisées (prémisses du premier Ordre ?).
Bref il y a encore pleins de chemins pour la série et j'ai hâte de voir la suite.

Super épisode !
Ahsoka est parfaite. La mention de Thrawn est une très bonne surprise et laisse énormément de possibilités pour la suite.
J'imagine que d'autres séries seront crées en parallèle pour développer ces personnages et la suite de Rebels.

Si seulement ils pouvaient laisser les rênes de Lucasfilm à Jon Favreau et Dave Filoni.
Ces gars-là savent vraiment ce qu'ils font et où ils vont. Ca fait plaisir !

Vu également, on attaque les choses sérieuses, je me suis vraiment régalé avec cet épisode.

Ashley Eckstein s'est enfin exprimée sur l'arrivée de Ahsoka dans The Mandalorian .


Rosario Dawson n'a pas attendu pour lui répondre.

Même avec ça sur la tête je kiffe cette nana.

J'adore !

3 photos officielles publiées par Vanity Fair.


Interview de Dave Filoni et de Rosario Dawson :

Citation :

A Long Time Ago
Where did it begin with Rosario playing Ahsoka? When did this concept first come to you both?

Rosario Dawson: Actually it first came from fans online. Someone tweeted me and fancast me. I retweeted back and I was like, “Absolutely, yes please" and “#AhsokaLives." And apparently that got the attention of someone who has been doing the Star Wars press for years. She forwarded it to Dave Filoni. That kind of started a whole thing. I was like, “Oh my goodness, did I just get fancast in something?” And then nothing happened.

Dave Filoni: That was the first time and I looked at Rosario and I thought, "Huh. Yeah, I think maybe she would make a good Ahsoka." I just kept loosely aware of what she was up to, and she was doing some Marvel things. But I'd seen interviews with her where she would talk about wanting to play the character and her excitement, so it was interesting.

People might assume that when she was asked that, it was already in the works.

Dave Filoni: Oh, no. Not at all. I was still trying to figure out how to get off Tatooine myself at that point. But when I started working with Jon [Favreau], I’d bring up the character and he's like,
“Well, who are you thinking of playing her?" I said, “Well, Rosario Dawson's top of my list," and he's like, “I know her!" So immediately that starts to fit really well.

Rosario Dawson: People have been fancasting me on all kinds of things, like She-Hulk and stuff. And I always just think it's really fun, because I get to see myself in different kinds of art. But then I got a Facetime call from Jon Favreau and Dave. They were building out The Mandalorian, and I got to have a behind-the-scenes look at visuals and concept [from] what they were planning on doing with this second season.

When was this?

Rosario Dawson: They were just about to drop the first one, and they had all of this art that had me as Ahsoka. They had already been preparing, knowing that they wanted to have her be a part of a story in the second season. They'd just been visualizing me in this role that whole time, and it was mind-boggling.

What was it like seeing yourself in concept art as this alien warrior?

Rosario Dawson: I actually was glad because I had really bad reception, and so I ended up just going to the audio. So I was pacing and jumping up and down, trying to keep really cool in my voice, but I was freaking out. I mean, this is real Star Wars—the font, the look, the art, the everything, and my face in there. I just, I couldn't. I was beside myself, and they were asking, “Do you want to do this? I mean, we appreciate if it's not something you want to do." And I was like, “Oh no, no, that would be cool, actually. I think we could maybe work this out." Trying to play it cool, but I was sweating.

The Anakin Connection
So you were a fan already?

Rosario Dawson: I'd seen some of Clone Wars, and once I got the role, I actually went and started watching everything in its order. I started seeing a lot more of the connective tissue. There was always that conversation around Ahsoka leaving the Order, and that being a major trigger for Anakin going towards the Dark Side. It was just really incredible that the character started off as a teenager, you know?

Ahsoka stands out as the first lead female Jedi in Star Wars storytelling. What did you connect with personally?

Rosario Dawson: I found it so fascinating that there was this whole other world that existed in the animated series, and this young girl was the heart of that space. I had a particular kind of interest in her and in that character because when I first started acting at 15, I did this movie, Kids, and I got paid like $1,000 to work on it. When the movie came out, I decided at 16 that I wanted to continue pursuing acting. My dad's mom said, “Well, if you're going to do that, and you're 16 years old, then you need to study acting," and put me in Strasberg. And it happened to be that summer when Hayden Christensen was in—we had the same class.

And you later worked together, right?

Rosario Dawson: We ended up doing this movie together years later called Shattered Glass, and I always just thought it was really cool that I knew someone who was not just in Star Wars but played Anakin Skywalker. Ahsoka was his Padawan, so when the fancasting came out, I just thought it was pretty wild that I visually connected to this character from being this teenager who met this actor who ended up being this great character. I don't know, it just felt like the Force was at play.

Dave Filoni: When I was first exploring the possibility of directing live-action, I asked [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy about casting and when you knew someone was right for a part. She thought about it and said “you just know." And she was right. When I met Rosario, I just knew she was right for Ahsoka. Yes there was the tweet, and her interest in the part, yes she has been in action movies and is a huge fan of sci-fi and fantasy stories, yes, she knew Hayden Christensen and pictures of them together look like Anakin and Ahsoka. But in the end, when I met her and we talked, I just knew.

Speaking of casting, can you share any insights into the choosing stunt legend Diana Lee Inosanto as the robber baron Magistrate and Micheal Biehn as her enforcer?

I needed the performance from the Magistrate to challenge Ahsoka and be someone that could go toe to toe with her instantly. Diana brings such experience and knowledge about martial arts to her performance. The instant she takes up the Beskar spear you can tell that she is a lethal opponent. For me, as a director, it was a great advantage to have someone of Diana's skill and experience with fight choreography as one of the main players, especially for the final battle in the courtyard.

And Biehn? He's had his share of battling in both space and the Old West.

That moment came when I penned this script and created an experienced gunslinger to go up against Mando. Michael's experience and understanding of the language of Westerns were really valuable on set. He had a whole philosophy about how his gunslinger would attempt to go up against someone like Mando, which we wove into his scenes. He thinks of every detail, even the number of times he would fire his weapon.In both Michael and Diana I had two people who knew their characters, they brought so much to the roles through their personal skills and experiences. As the villains of the story I felt we had a good match up of Mando and Ahsoka versus the Magistrate and her Gunslinger.

Creating Ahsoka’s Look
Can you describe the process of adapting Ahsoka from drawings and animation to real life? What has to change?

Dave Filoni: It was a pretty amazing thing as we designed the costume and worked out all the details of that. Everything got considered to an unbelievable degree—the head tails, the horns, I can't even tell you. It’s hard. It's so rare a person in my position from animation gets to craft and guide the character's jump to live-action.

Rosario Dawson: What I love about the Togruta is that they have these facial markings, but they're all different on all of the different women that we've seen. In the cartoon it almost looks like a face paint, but what [Filoni] really wanted it to come off as very natural.

Dave Filoni: Many tests were done, screen tests, because within the Volume [The Mandalorian set that creates backgrounds on a giant digital screen] it will tend to lean magenta. You have to worry about how a character like Ahsoka would look because the temperature that we have her orange could be dramatically different in the Volume than in stage shots. So there were tiny little considerations that had to made and adjusted.

Rosario Dawson: They definitely wanted [the make up] to be very warm and natural. In the animation it's very different and bold, and the lighting is so different. But in the real world they wanted it to have a different kind of energy. It was fun to be able to see how that shifted when she had the lightsabers closer to her face, how you see it and feel it differently in the different lighting and the smoke.

How do you make sure that the makeup and headpiece don't get in the way of the performance?

Dave Filoni: Yes, it's tricky. That was one of the big considerations. Performance-wise I don't want her to be lost in all of this headgear and makeup, but she definitely is not. I kept things subtle in some ways with the markings. I mean, the funny thing is that the white markings over the brow are always done in animation to give an eyebrow performance.… I didn't want a brightly saturated character. Again, in animation it works, but in live action I think it works another way, and so you just have to play with the values and see.

There’s a lot of lightsaber fighting in this episode, too. Was that a consideration with the headtail prosthetics?

Rosario Dawson: Everything was pretty firmly on. Everything was built specifically to my skull and body, and the headband that she has on with the tails actually clips in the back and holds it in place. We were doing stunts in it and everything, and it wasn't going anywhere.

What else had to happen as part of the transformation into Ahsoka?

Dave Filoni: I said, "Well, Ahsoka's eyes are blue and yours are not, but I don't want you to worry about it. If you don't want to go for that, we can just say that in this version they're not." And Rosario insisted. She's like, “No, no, no. Let me try it."

Rosario Dawson: I remember when I put the contacts on, that was when it really solidified—the head piece, the tails, the shape, the coloring, everything. Doing the face marking, doing my skin, wearing the costume, all of that was absolutely incredible. But I still kind of felt like I was in cosplay. The second the contacts went in, it was Ahsoka. I felt like I disappeared.

George Lucas Encounter
We heard a lot of stories about Werner Herzog being obsessed with Baby Yoda when he was on the show last season. I wondered, Rosario, what's it like to be around … I guess after this episode we can call him Grogu now? Maybe I should call him The Artist Formerly Known As Baby Yoda?

Rosario Dawson: [Laughs.] It built it up for me. Like, what is it going to be like when I get on-set? And actually some of the guys who worked with Grogu were folks I had met before, because they worked on Men in Black II with the worm guys. So it's like, these people have been doing this for a really, really long time, and there's several different guys, and one controls the ears, and the other one the eyes, and the arms are moving. You're holding this adorable, unbelievably cute, tiny little creature, and it's blinking, it's looking at you, and its mouth is moving, and its ears are moving, and it's so soft, the little hairs on its head. [Sighs.] I mean, it's unbelievable. I completely was with Werner. I understood what he was going on about.

You also got to meet up with George Lucas on set.

I actually got to be there on the day that there's that photo. Someone took a picture of George Lucas holding Baby Yoda. I'm still calling him Baby Yoda—Grogu! I was there that day. I was all dressed up, I was just off to the side of that photo, all done up as Ahsoka. And I remember it broke the internet when that picture came out. It was just an amazing, amazing moment, and we were all beside ourselves. It was definitely very geek-out.

What was your experience with George?

Rosario Dawson: I was definitely nerve-wracked, and it was great to be there with him and Dave. I mean, it's a lot of pressure. But it was also really fun. Both of them were looking at me but they weren't, you know what I mean? They were looking at their imaginations come to life.

Ahsoka’s Spirit
Fans have watched Ahsoka grow up on The Clone Wars, they’ve seen her go off on her own, seen her fighting as a lone wolf in Rebels. What did you want to reveal about her at this point, much later in her life?

Dave Filoni: She is, for lack of a term, a master, because she's largely an independent at this point. I play her much more as a knowledgeable knight. A wandering samurai character is what she really is at this point. I've always made comparisons to her heading towards the Gandalf stage, where she is the one that has the knowledge of the world and can help others through it. I think she's reached that point.

How would you describe her overall journey?

Dave Filoni: We saw her basically hit the scene as a Padawan, young, and naïve, and brash and aggressive. Then, in Rebels, she's more of a traditional knight, trying to figure out how to fight a war. There's a lot of hesitation around what she wants to be and who she can be and how her life's been guided. I think that now I've taken that a step further. When you see this version of the character, she's world-weary from everything that she's experienced and lived through. She's seen so much happen in her time.

The episode is called ‘The Jedi,' but Ahsoka’s whole identity is based around leaving the order.

Dave Filoni: Yeah, I think something fans like about the character is that she's rather complex. They all focus very hard on the line, ‘I am no Jedi,’ from Star Wars: Rebels, but it's undeniable that she's trained by the Jedi. I think to most observers she is very Jedi to them. I would argue in some ways—by being so selfless and rejecting a lot of paths that would have given her power—she's more Jedi-like than even some characters who claim to be Jedi.

Rosario Dawson: I love that she is this wanderer character who is going to just do good in the universe. The Jedi Order has disappeared in many ways, it's so fractured, and so many people are targeted. She's lost so much. She had left that Order under duress, and she's just been finding her way. And since the very beginning, the way that has been pulling her is to be vigilant, and to be brave, and to be wise, and to always have her eye set on rooting out evil. And I think that's one of the reasons why so many love her. It's why I love her. She represents truly the best of the Jedi, you know?

Ashley Eckstein gave voice to the character for so many years. What impact did she have on the live-action version?

Rosario Dawson: Ashley did a remarkable job. You've seeing this character first come into our hearts and minds as a teenager and then evolve, and Ashley has been there the entire way. Seeing how her voice changed, how her energy changed, and to hear the maturity develop in her was just so powerful and so beautiful. I studied it like crazy and tried my best to honor that. And it was just incredible to be able to have such an in-depth performance to source.

Dave Filoni: Ashley's fantastic and I think the character that she played, Ahsoka as the young Padawan apprentice and then going into Rebels, obviously made its mark—plus the animation team who made this Padawan such a household name amongst Star Wars fans. It's a pretty magic thing and it speaks to how well-crafted the character is by that group. I wrote pretty much all of her character from when she's 14 all the way up through this, and normally someone in my position wouldn't get to do that. It would have changed hands several times.

A Real-Life Controversy
Ahsoka does mean a great deal to people, and they're deeply invested in who she is. So, Rosario, I want to ask you about something that's outside of this story of The Mandalorian, and that's the concern in the fandom about a lawsuit that was filed against you last year by a longtime family friend. The claim accused you and other family members of anti-trans bias, and you've called the lawsuit false and baseless. But what do you say to those Star Wars fans who hear this and believe the worst—that you are transphobic?

Rosario Dawson: Well, firstly, I just want to say I understand that, and why people were concerned, and are concerned. I would be, too, if I heard some of those claims. But I mean, as we're seeing right now in these past months, and just recently actually, the truth is coming out. Every single claim of discrimination has been dismissed by the person who made them, and as you've said, the fact that this is coming from someone I've known since I was a teenager, the better part of my life, and who my family was trying to help as we have many times in the past, it really just makes me sad. But I still have a great empathy for him.

Court records show 18 of the 20 claims were withdrawn voluntarily without a settlement, and his lawyer left the case. Two counts remain alleging a physical altercation, and a judge will rule on whether that can move forward next month. There are people that would say, “Well, this is just another example of a wealthy, famous person overpowering the system." So what would you say to those people who are unconvinced, both about this case and about what you actually believe about trans people?

Rosario Dawson: The reason that all of the discrimination claims were dropped is because they didn't happen. I was raised in a very inclusive and loving way, and that's how I've lived my entire life. I've always used my voice to fight for, lift up and empower the LGBTQA community, and use my platform to channel trans voices, in fiction and nonfiction work that I've produced and directed. So I feel the record is really clear.

The Personal Elements
For the roles that mean the most to actors, they often talk about carrying a part with them beyond the performance. You put yourself into a character, and then you take a little with you. What would you say you take home from playing Ahsoka?

Rosario Dawson: That the journey isn't always easy, that it isn't always clear, that this isn't about magic, you know? To make things how you want them to be, it takes work and diligence and love to really make the difference. And I believe everybody has those powers, and everybody has to continue trying. It's not like you become a Jedi and then that's it, you're good. They have to keep making that choice.

Dave, in writing the episode, you set it on a forest world that has been turned into a scorched wasteland. I expected to find Ahsoka somewhere lush, like the first moon of Endor or Yoda’s swamp world of Dagobah, but instead you brought us to a cinder.

Dave Filoni: In all honesty, just comes out of my own personal experience living in an area [in Northern California] where there are fires. My wife and I have been evacuated three of the last four years, every fall. So I guess I'm just telling a story and can some way control it for myself. But, yeah, I've known a lot of people that are terribly affected by it, and it's a powerful, powerful thing.

It’s beautiful in its way, but also terrifying.

Dave Filoni: I just thought it would be really haunting. There is a foreboding feeling, I think, through the episode and what transpires in it, so it's got its magic moments. Where you see life in the sets and where you don't is part of the story. Most of the sets are dead and burnt, but then when you encounter Ahsoka there's a little bit of green and life around her. That's all just emblematic, little visual cues that you can tell to reinforce story points.

Is it a blessing or a curse for Ahsoka to have these powers?

Rosario Dawson: It's a gift, but it's one that requires discipline. And we all have gifts, but we're not all very disciplined. And I think that she is such a strong reminder of what that looks like to be that steadfast, to be that clear, and not to do it because she's got all the support and love and company, but because she knows deep inside of her this is who she is, and what she is meant to do, and this is her purpose, and she is going to honor that every single day and choose it every single day, even when it's hard.

Or not. She advises stepping away from the Force completely in this episode, when it comes to the baby.

Rosario Dawson: You saw that with Anakin's story, and you see that with Ahsoka as well. She recognizes that. That’s why she brings it up with The Child as well. He has these incredible abilities, and you've seen him be able to wield the Force. He's been trained in the Jedi Temple. But as she says, because of his attachment, it makes him vulnerable to fear, which makes him vulnerable to anger, which means that he could be dangerous. That means maybe we should just let his Force sensitivity just wane, you know?

Baby Yoda Revelations

What's the story behind Grogu—the name of our little green friend?

Dave Filoni: The name has been around for a while. Jon told me early on in Season One what it would be, which made me start to think about how people could learn the name. This gave me the idea that Ahsoka, who is very compassionate, would be able to connect with the child, and that without words they could probably communicate through memories and experiences. Through that connection, she learns the name and then tells Mando and the audience.

Like Rey in The Force Awakens, The Mandalorian doesn’t really know the full Star Wars story. He has no idea who Yoda is. Is that why you turned to Ahsoka for this, so she can say: ‘Oh, yeah. I know what this thing is.... It's a baby Yaddle!’

Dave Filoni: No, that would have been the best moment ever. That's the way I should have gone with it. [Laughs.] Again, I thought one of the most compelling things about introducing Ahsoka is that she is one of the few, few people that we could encounter in a story and she would say, “All right. I met someone like him. I've only ever seen one other being like this." I had to stop myself from doing something ridiculous like have her say, “Is that a Yoda baby?" It almost demands to be said.

She invokes his name, but there’s another allusion...

Dave Filoni: She sees this child and names the name Yoda for the first time in our show. [Composer] Ludwig Göransson does a really masterful thing where the music, just for a moment, becomes John Williams’ “Yoda's Theme." Those are those little overlapping moments that I just love, and it's why I've always insisted on using Star Wars music so fleetingly because you don't want that unless you're talking about that character. It's their music. We had an opportunity to just give it a little grace moment.

It's their spirit, right, when that music plays?

Dave Filoni: Yeah, the feeling of it. It’s just an acknowledgement to that great performance by Frank Oz and the great character design. There's no way that the name Yoda Baby wasn't going to happen just given the stature of Yoda himself, so I think it's a nice nod to the history. We can honor people who really put this thing on the map.

Why was now the right time to reveal the baby’s backstory and origin?

I felt that if anyone would know or understand The Child's history it would be Ahsoka. She has such a long history as well. By having her relate the story it also helps the viewer to understand some of her own backstory. This is similar to when Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father's history. Through the story about Anakin, you are getting a look at Obi-Wan and his backstory as well. A lot of the campfire scene, as I call it, is shaped around that scene between Obi-Wan and Luke in A New Hope.

Ahsoka fears the worst, which is how we get her line to the Mandalorian that hints at Anakin’s turn into Darth Vader.

Rosario Dawson: She knows what could happen if you go even remotely to the Dark Side. I love that she throws a line in this about Anakin. She knows what could happen even to "the best of us" when fear and anger take root, and she's so vigilant about that. She is a lonely character, I think. But the Force is compelling her to just continue to do good.

Dave Filoni: She wants to do good and help people, but rather than do it like the Jedi did, which was all wound up in the politics of the Republic, she's doing it on an individual basis in the galaxy. Plus, she has a larger quest, which is always more fun when they have a larger quest.

Episode de grande qualité, vivement la suite !!

Je n'ai pas encore vu de produits dérivés concernant Ahsoka sur le shop Disney, mais j'imagine que ça va venir...

frodon69 a écrit:

Je n'ai pas encore vu de produits dérivés concernant Ahsoka sur le shop Disney, mais j'imagine que ça va venir...

Les premiers articles Bo-Katan kryze et Ahsoka Tano sont arrivés sur ShopDisney, à Downtown Disney District, à Disney Springs (et aussi à la boutique Toydarian Toymaker de Star Wars : Galaxy's Edge pour la peluche Ahsoka tano)

Je veux la peluche de Ahsoka et le premier t-shirt de de Bo-Katan.
En tout ca,s bonne nouvelle, merci pour l'information.

Je me demande si l'épisode avec Ahsoka ne teaserait pas une future série la concernant, vu qu'une série autour d'un personnage féminin doit arriver, ce serait cool en tout cas.

Who, Ahsoka a grave morflé version peluche...

J'ai trouvé ce qui me dérange concernant l'actrice interprétant Ahsoka, c'est sa carrure. Ahsoka est grande et très fine, Rosario Dawson a le haut du corps un peu musclé et cette tenue qui lui recouvre le cou et qui laisse apparaitre ses épaules accroit cette impression. De plus ses lekkus devraient être bien plus longues, il suffit de regarder Shaak Ti, cette représentation n'est pas logique.

Pour les lekkus, c'est pour le côté pratique lors des scènes d'action, Shaak-Ti dans les films, n'a jamais eu de scènes où elle devait se mouvoir violemment, en dehors de sa parade dans l'arène de Geonosis.

Ellie_ a écrit:

De plus ses lekkus devraient être bien plus longues, il suffit de regarder Shaak Ti, cette représentation n'est pas logique.

Brian Matyas (Character Concept Designer chez Lucasfilm) a répondu aux remarques des fans et donné l'explication :

Citation :

Yea pretty much that was the chief concern. From animation to live action I did a ton of design exploration for her and their appropriate size for the actor with consideration for stunts and movement. I'm sure I'll get to discuss at greater length in the near future!

La peluche n'est pas extra (elle doit sortir d'un rude combat) mais à voir en vrai en boutique...

Cette peluche sera vendue chez Toydarian Toymakers à Galaxy's Edge, elle doit donc suivre l'esthetique "fait-main" de toutes les peluches vendues à cet endroit, pour pouvoir s'integrer à l'univers immerssif du land où tout le merchandising doit donner l'impression de "vrais" objets qu quotidien du monde de Star Wars.

Vu le style des peluches déjà présentes, elle est plutôt bien finalement.

Citation :

THE BEST OF THE JEDI: ROSARIO DAWSON ON BRINGING AHSOKA TANO TO LIVE-ACTION AND THE MANDALORIAN

THE ACTOR SPEAKS WITH STARWARS.COM ABOUT TAKING ON THE ROLE OF THE FAN-FAVORITE CHARACTER.

For Rosario Dawson, there’s only one way to explain her casting as Ahsoka Tano.

“I think it definitely was the Force at work,” she tells StarWars.com

And she might be right. In February 2017, a Star Wars fan tweeted at Dawson, asking if she would ever want to play the fan-favorite Jedi, who, at that point, had only been seen in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. To the surprise of pretty much everyone, Dawson responded emphatically. “Ummmm… yes please?! #AhsokaLives #AhsokaTano #StarWars.” The Internet noticed, causing a stir in the fan community about the possibility of Ahsoka making the jump to live-action; Dawson’s enthusiasm only added to the excitement.

Well, Lucasfilm noticed, too.

“I think someone who always does the press for Star Wars saw it and forwarded it to [Ahsoka creator and The Mandalorian executive producer] Dave Filoni, who said, ‘Interesting. Yeah. She looks like she could be her. That’s cool,’ and then followed me,” Dawson says. “They ended up having the Star Wars account follow me. And that became a whole thing. Like, ‘Wait, did something just happen?’ And I got really excited. ‘Wait, did something just happen?’ And then nothing happened. [Laughs] Nothing happened for a very long time.”

For a while, it seemed as if this bit of fan casting would go unfulfilled. But Lucasfilm and Filoni didn’t forget.

“When I spoke with Dave about it and they started talking about doing this show and he did the math of what year it was, he kind of revisited that idea of me for the character, and with my age versus where she would be, and said, ‘This is actually a feasible thing.’”

The Mandalorian creator and executive producer Jon Favreau knew Dawson a little, and regarded her work highly. But, according to Dawson, Favreau and Filoni did not want to bring Ahsoka in during Season 1. “But as it started going along, and it was always sort of sitting in the back of [Filoni’s] mind, Dave had always wanted to continue her story and give her a chance at live-action.”



And there was one more bit of Force-related serendipity. Ahsoka Tano began her Jedi career as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan learner; as it turns out, Dawson attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and later appeared in Shattered Glass with one Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in the Star Wars prequels. “I have to say, for Dave, going online and looking up things — when he came across a photo of the two of us hugging each other, he lost it. He said, ‘How is this…? This was meant to be.’”



Ahsoka lives

Well before the character’s appearance in The Mandalorian “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” streaming now on Disney+, Ahsoka Tano first debuted in The Clone Wars animated movie in 2008, the kickoff to what would become a beloved series. Assigned as Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, Ahsoka was young and made mistakes, even losing her lightsaber in one memorable episode. But she learned and grew up over the course of the show; by the end, Ahsoka was teaching younglings to assemble their lightsabers, rescuing her master, and going saber-to-saber with Maul. It was an evolution that older fans enjoyed, and The Clone Wars’ younger audience grew up with her. When the character eventually appeared in Star Wars Rebels in 2015, set closer to the time of the original trilogy, she meant as much to fans as any Star Wars hero from the movies. Through it all, Tano was voiced by actor Ashley Eckstein, herself a proud custodian of the character. Dawson, known for acclaimed performances in everything from Kids to Death Proof to a recurring part as Claire Temple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was well aware of the multi-layered legacy surrounding Ahsoka going into the role.

“Ashley did such an incredible job and I know how the fans feel about her, and I know how she feels about this character and how much she’s given to it,” Dawson says. “And I know that it’s such a different feeling and space to bring this character that people have loved for so many years into live-action. I really, really, really wanted it to be something that people could enjoy and get into as another Ahsoka story.”



As revealed by her tweet confirming her interest in the role, Dawson had been a fan of The Clone Wars, watching it with her daughter. And once she was on board to play Ahsoka, the actor dove back in to The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the saga at large to prepare.

“There was so much material to work from. I think that was definitely a huge benefit for me. I was marathoning the show from beginning to the end, putting in the movies,” she says. “It was really fun to see how Ahsoka’s physicality changed, and her facial expressions changed, and her voice and her tenor changed as she just evolved.”

All of this would play into Dawson’s take on Ahsoka, in addition to some surprising guidance from Filoni, who pointed to The Lord of the Rings’ Gandalf as a touchpoint for the character.

“It was just interesting playing with an amalgamation of all that,” Dawson says. “I wanted to kind of have some her playfulness and her fun — the cocky eyebrow thing that she does. You know that she’s got that feistiness. You know that she’s willing to push the rules a little bit in order to get what needs to get done. But I also really like that she does have that wisdom. She’s gone through a lot. She’s really gone through a lot of things. And she’s grounded, more than when you first meet her as a young teen. It was really fun to find moments to throw homages to the different aspects to Ahsoka that I’ve always loved.”



Filoni wrote and directed “The Jedi,” clearly a personal effort for him, as he has shepherded Ahsoka from the beginning. As Filoni told Dawson, “She’s sort of been wandering. If you know Dave, then you know he’s got a lot of classic samurai references. He was talking about films like Yojimbo. She’s wandering the galaxy helping those in need.” To the actor, that fits with her interpretation of the character. “She always, for me, was a true Jedi, even if she technically wasn’t a Jedi anymore. She represented the best of what the Jedi Order could be.”

For Dawson, one of the most memorable moments was when the part truly became real: costume fitting. “I’ve got pictures and video. I was jumping up and down as if I was using a jump rope,” she says. “I was so excited.”



Dawson was determined to be as authentic to Ahsoka’s animated look as possible, and to her mind, it came together with one distinct feature. “There was one point, actually, where Dave was curious whether I should wear the contacts or not. I had tried them on so I knew what a difference it made. Also, in talking about the fans, I was like, ‘You can’t do this to me. I can’t not have blue eyes. That will just not be okay.’ [Laughs] And it really made all the difference. Because, you know, you have the whole headpiece, and the costume, and the whole world because we’re there on this set — it’s incredible, with these huge screens, you feel all of it there. You’ve got lightsabers. But the contacts would go in and it just dropped you into this character. I wasn’t Rosario playing dress-up cosplay. I was Ahsoka.”



The wandering Jedi

In “The Jedi,” the Mandalorian tracks down Ahsoka on the misty forest planet Corvus, where he hopes she’ll take custody of the Child and train him in the ways of the Force. Ahsoka, however, is there to confront the brutal Magistrate, seeking information that seems to tie back into the ending of Rebels. The two join forces, but Ahsoka ultimately sends the bounty hunter in another direction – not before revealing that Mando’s adorable young charge is actually named “Grogu” — and it appears as though her wandering will continue. Throughout, Dawson’s Ahsoka bounces between calm sage and ferocious warrior in a memorable, arresting performance; for her part, the actor is down for picking up the dual white lightsabers once more.



“I mean, I would love that opportunity,” she says. “I think it’s so cool that this show exists. I think it’s so cool that I got to show up and give information about this character, the Child, that everyone’s loved so much. You know, that she was not so much showing up as a cameo, but really being a storytelling device for new fans that have fallen in love with yet another new character that we’re getting to see grow. Little Grogu is just amazing.

“It’s interesting watching The Mandalorian, realizing you’re not seeing lightsabers, you’re not seeing a lot of what we love about Star Wars. It was really amazing to be able to have that gift of being able to bring that into this series and into this space, and I’m really grateful for that opportunity.”

When Dawson speaks with StarWars.com, it’s two days before the premiere of “The Jedi.” She admits to being “anxious” about her performance and its reception, and maybe that’s because Dawson, in the end, is still an Ahsoka fan — the same person who answered a random tweet about somehow taking on the role.



“I’m just really glad that she lived, that we’ve been able to continue growing with her. I think that she’s so special,” she says. “So many of the wonderful, awesome Jedi that we love and have gotten their stories told, are male, and you saw them older. When you got to see Anakin grow up it made such a huge difference. I think as people grew with her and aged with her and the story, they grew themselves, and evolved. I think it gives complexity to good and bad and right and wrong in a way that we don’t always get to have story-wise. It’s just fantasy. And I think she represents something stronger than that, about will and determination and audacity and tenacity. She really has pushed herself and evolved in a way that I think her heroine story is one that is not easy to find in other spaces. It’s really cool to see her still out there on quests and having things teased about that world still being very much alive.”

Those aren’t the only reasons that Dawson loves Ahsoka, however.

“On top of that, she’s got two lightsabers. There’s that.”

Star Wars.com - 2 décembre 2020.

https://www.starwars.com/news/rosario-dawson-ahsoka-tano-interview?cmp=smc%7C4271067333

Merci beaucoup pour les précisions concernant les lekkus et concernant la peluche, c'est déjà plus logique

Pour ma part j'ai vraiment du mal à comprendre l'engouement autour de cette version live-action de Ashoka. J’ai l’impression de faire partie d’une très faible minorité qui n’arrive pas à retrouver le personnage de Clone Wars/Rebels dans le chara design et l'interprétation de Rosario Dawson. Les montrals sont vraiment l'élément le plus dérangeant qui ruinent totalement la continuité de l’évolution du personnage. Et puis cette histoire de prendre en compte les mouvements et les cascades je veux bien, mais les scènes d’action qu’on voit dans l’épisode n’ont rien de sensationnelles, ce qui justifie moyennement ce choix pour moi. Enfin bon quand on voit ce que certains cosplayers peuvent faire c’est quand même décevant de trouver plus adéquat un costume amateur qu’un costume fait par Lucasfilm et supervisé par l’un des créateurs du personnage (Filoni). Et puis ce sarouel n’en parlons pas… Je vous laisse apprécier le travail de rei.kennex sur Instagram qui capture beaucoup plus visuellement l’essence d’Ahsoka.  





Pour ce qui est de l'interprétation, Ashoka n’est pas quelqu’un de froid mais quelqu’un de doux et à même de conseiller les gens sans être condescendante. Je pense que la voix de Dawson diffère trop de celle d'Ashley Eckstein également, ce qui est un facteur important pour se connecter au personnage, surtout quand on est habitué à la voix de Eckstein. Enfin pour ce qui est des compétences de combats au sabre laser (ces derniers beaucoup trop petits et épais d’ailleurs) laissent à désirer et encore une fois détruisent la continuité de ce qu’on a pu retrouver dans les séries animés. De plus, pour l’une des premières fois sur The Mandalorian j’ai trouvé qu’un effet spécial paraissait cheap, celui des sauts d’Ashoka. Enfin bref tout ça pour dire que je comprend pas ce soutien des fans Star Wars puisque je trouve cette adaptation totalement ratée. J’ai vraiment quelque chose qui me gêne lorsque je la vois à l’écran.

PS : plus j'écris plus je me rend compte qu'il y a des choses qui me dérange, mais je devais partager mon opinion.

Non mais tu as totalement raison d'en parler Captain Mickey. Quand j'ai écrit mon commentaire j'étais ravie de revoir Ahsoka qui est mon personnage préféré mais quelque chose me décevait grandement, et mon mari également. Je regarde le mandalorien en VO, j'ai regardé les séries en VF donc forcément la voix change et je n'aime pas. Pour vous dire, après l'épisode en VO j'ai repassé les passages d'Ashoka en VF pour voir s'il n'y avait que cela qui me dérangeait mais comme je l'ai déjà dit il y a les lekkus, la carrure et, bien que les couleurs d'Ashoka soient respectées je trouve qu'il y a un soucis dans la tenue, donc pour moi on est plus sur du cosplay que sur une réelle représentation d'Ashoka. J'ai également trouvé qu'on n'était pas sur du spectaculaire sur les combats et les mouvements, j'en suis d'autant plus déçue quand on connait l'agilité d'Ashoka et son élégance au combat (et ne me dites pas qu'elle a vieilli, ça ne fait pas tout).

Enfin, maintenant que tu le dis Captain Mickey, ça ne va pas non plus en terme de comportement mais pour l'instant je ne m'avance pas trop là dessus, nous ne savons pas ce qu'elle a vécu entre la fin de Rebels et le mandalorien. Son surnom c'est quand même Chipie, elle est vive, douce, compréhensive et sarcastique aussi. Je l'ai trouvée froide et réfléchie dans cet épisode, j'attends de voir ce que ça va donner par la suite pour affiner mon jugement. Rassure toi en tout cas tu n'es pas le seul à être déçu de ce choix.

Edit : je viens de regarder le travail de Rei.kennex que je ne connaissais pas et c'est fantastique, j'ai l'impression de voir la vraie Ahsoka. On milite pour qu'elle reprenne le rôle ?

Ben elle a quand même vécue des trucs hardos dans Clone Wars et Rebels, c'est peut-être pour ça qu'elle n'est pas si Chipie qu'avant. Et puis elle a vieillit, devenue plus adulte.

Mandy38 a écrit:

Ben elle a quand même vécue des trucs hardos dans Clone Wars et Rebels, c'est peut-être pour ça qu'elle n'est pas si Chipie qu'avant. Et puis elle a vieillit, devenue plus adulte.

On voyait déjà la différence entre Clone Wars et Rebels d'ailleurs. C'est pour ça que j'attends de voir la suite pour avoir un avis définitif. J'ai senti sa pointe d'humour dans sa remarque sur les premières fois.