Dave Filoni reveals the secret Easter eggs he has snuck into every episode of The Mandalorian that he directed. The Mandalorian was the first live-action Star Wars series to launch on the streaming service Disney+ before they expanded the universe with The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The show stars Pedro Pascal as the bounty hunter Din Djarin, who forms a bond with a young alien named Grogu. The show was created by Jon Favreau, who is a co-executive producer with Filoni. Filoni has also directed three episodes of the series, including the premiere, which introduces Mando to Grogu, commonly referred to as Baby Yoda.
Filoni has been involved in the Star Wars universe for quite some time, having been a writer and supervising director on the 2008 animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. That series, which was also adapted into a feature film, is the place where the character Ahsoka Tano (who is also getting her own live-action series starring Rosario Dawson) was originally introduced. Since then, he has created the series Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, as well as executive producing the web series Star Wars Forces of Destiny. He now holds a position as Lucasfilm's Executive Creative Director.
Per Comicbook.com, Filoni revealed some of his directorial trademarks during the Mandalorian panel at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California this weekend. First and foremost, he revealed that he has hidden a figure of George Lucas' mentor, the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, in the background of every episode he directed. He also frequently snuck in references to his hometown of Pittsburgh, specifically the fact that the downtown area is known as the Golden Triangle. Read his quote below:
There's one thing I do in particular that I don't think anyone will ever see, but a lot of my influences come obviously from George [Lucas] and then George, his mentor is Akira Kurosawa and so I've done a lot of study of that and talking to George about it. So, I have a really small Akira Kurosawa figure and he is in every episode I've directed somewhere in the set. And so, I hide him in there, and when we shoot an episode I'm directing he's always right by the monitors to remind me of a lot of his principles of filmmaking that he gave to George, so he's kind of another influence on what I'm doing. He's in there, but it'll be very hard to see him.
And there are other little Pittsburg homages, I just love my hometown, so you'll see little golden triangles here and there.
Lucas has frequently spoken about his love of Kurosawa and how the Japanese director's films have influenced the world of Star Wars. Indeed, the original film, 1977's A New Hope, draws many plot, character, and design elements from 1958's The Hidden Fortress and 1954's Seven Samurai. It is certainly fitting that Filoni pays such constant homage to the cinematic mentor of his mentor.
Considering how willing many Star Wars fans are to watch and rewatch their favorite series, it's surprising that these Easter eggs haven't already become more common knowledge. However, Filoni's comments are sure to spur a massive Easter egg hunt for the little Kurosawa figure in The Mandalorian. While Filoni's description of the size of the figure means that it will likely be too subtle for most casual viewers, it will certainly be a fun thing for Star Wars trivia hounds to keep track of in future episodes.
Source: Comicbook.com