Disney+'s “Andor”.
CinemaBlend Managing Editor Sean O’Connell sat down with stars Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Adria Arjona, and Kyle Soller to discuss those massive practical sets, returning to the characters created in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” and much, much more.
CinemaBlend Managing Editor Sean O’Connell sat down with stars Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Adria Arjona, and Kyle Soller to discuss those massive practical sets, returning to the characters created in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” and much, much more.
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00:00Diego, this is honestly, I think, the strongest thing that Star Wars has done since Disney
00:04has acquired it.
00:05It is blowing me away.
00:08And I'm so happy for you.
00:10I hope you're proud of the work you guys have done.
00:12Oh, man, you almost make me cry.
00:16It's incredible.
00:17Thank you for those words.
00:27When you wrapped Rogue One, did you have any indication that Andor was a possibility or
00:31did you say goodbye to the character at that time?
00:34I said goodbye to the character, to the universe, to the experience, to everything, man.
00:39You know, one thing that made sense to me is that I was coming to do a film in the universe
00:47of Star Wars, but a film that had a beginning and an end.
00:51It was pitched as a standalone to me.
00:55This is it.
00:56You come, you do this, you're in and out.
00:59You're allowed to be different.
01:01You're supposed to be different.
01:03But this is it.
01:04This is it.
01:05You know, and in fact, it was easy to digest.
01:09You know, I was like, everyone was asking me, like, oh, so you're going to be there
01:14forever.
01:15Is that?
01:16And I was like, no, no, no, I'm doing this.
01:19That's it.
01:20Right.
01:21My character has a pretty dramatic and definitive end, you know, that's it.
01:29It's the end in its most pure form, basically, you know.
01:36And then a year later, I got this phone call saying, would you be willing to explore the
01:41possibility of doing a show in this new long format that we're doing now of the background
01:49of Cassian and to see where he comes from and what happened, what needed to happen for
01:54him to become that person that was willing to sacrifice everything for the cause, you
01:58know.
01:59And I was like, wow, that's a bold idea.
02:02I mean, it's interesting, you know, as it was when I got the offer for Rogue One, you
02:08know, because it's again, it's another standalone in the world of series.
02:13This one has to end.
02:15We know the ending.
02:16Right.
02:17I mean, they could change the name if they wanted to keep going because Ander is, I mean,
02:22that's it.
02:23It's these five years and there's nowhere to go.
02:26What really bleeds through for me as part of this production is the enormous practicality
02:30of the universe.
02:31It feels so much more lived in and just like it's been extremely established.
02:37And I'm wondering if that felt that way to you on set as well, too, as you're working
02:42on this.
02:43Absolutely.
02:44I'm an actor.
02:46We love a space to play in and I love a tactile space to play in.
02:52We had it in Rogue One and now in Luke Hull's design in Andor.
02:57We have these dexterous, intricate, beautiful sets to inhabit.
03:05You know, the first time you meet Mon Mothma in episode four, you meet her in Luthen's
03:10gallery.
03:12That set was jaw-droppingly beautiful.
03:16Stalin and I were like kids in a playground.
03:19We were like, look at this.
03:21Look at this.
03:22We're like, don't touch that one.
03:23That looks breakable.
03:24Oh, what about this one?
03:25Can I sit in this?
03:26Like it was a joy to play in Luke's sets.
03:31I sort of assumed because it's science fiction, I sort of assumed there's a lot of green screen.
03:35It will all be, you know.
03:37And then I got to like, one of my first days was on this, in this like town that they built.
03:44And I was walking around thinking, oh my God, this is amazing.
03:47The attention to detail.
03:48And there was like a little, it looked like Yo Sushi, but in space, you know?
03:53And I thought, okay, well, let me have a look in the cupboards.
03:55I mean, I'm sure in the cupboards there'll be like lighting and all of that.
03:59And actually you open the cupboards and there's, you know, bowls and bowls full of blue noodles.
04:06You go into the bar area and it's all built.
04:09It's like when you're a kid and you have to use your imagination to build these things.
04:14And then you get to be, you know, 40 and walking around dressed up in an imperial officer's uniform
04:21on a set that has been built for you to play on.
04:23I mean, it was absolutely, it's mind-blowing what they did.
04:28The attention to detail and the intricacy of the sets, the props, the costumes were like
04:34nothing I or you had ever experienced.
04:37It was incredible.
04:38I need to sing the praises of Toby Haynes.
04:40I just want to give him all of the Star Wars going forward.
04:44Can you tell me what he's like as a collaborator?
04:45He's blowing me away with what he's doing.
04:47Oh, he's incredible.
04:50Yeah, he was amazing to work with.
04:52He was so much fun.
04:55He had this really intriguing energy about him, which was really infectious and contagious.
05:03He is himself a fan.
05:05So he would get really excited about the props.
05:08And I mean, we all did because the second you walk into a Star Wars set,
05:11your stomach sort of drops and you're like, oh my God, I'm in Star Wars.
05:18And you know that you're being a part of something so much bigger than you.
05:20And Toby had that every single day.
05:23Like there wasn't a day that he wasn't, oh my God, this is amazing.
05:26This is so cool.
05:26And I think you could see in his approach to every scene.
05:30I think he approaches every scene with fresh eyes.
05:33And I think he really just wants to do a great job for the fans because he is a fan.
05:41And I think he pushes every time a little bit.
05:45I mean, as a collaborator, he's beautiful to work with.
05:47He's really inspiring.
05:49He said this wonderful thing when there was another character who was trying to
05:54do things in a different way.
05:56And Toby was just kind of feeding him different ways of doing it,
05:58just keeping the camera rolling.
06:00The guy was kind of like, OK, OK, OK.
06:02And they cut it.
06:03He's like, don't worry about it.
06:04We're just trying to capture smoke here.
06:05That's all we're trying to do.
06:07And I was like, that's so beautiful.
06:08And he has this playfulness and...
06:11He's like a kid.
06:12Real, yeah, yeah.
06:13Artistry, real artistry.
06:14Directing something like this.
06:15Mostly it's the same with Ben Caron, who I did my early stuff with.
06:19And I remember thinking, oh my God, he's having such a good time.
06:23He's like, are you kidding me?
06:24Look what I get to play with.
06:27Really, we were very lucky.
06:28We are meant to be different.
06:30We are meant to be our own.
06:33And that I love, you know, because then the writing of someone like Tony Gilroy
06:39becomes so pertinent, you know.
06:44You need someone like him.
06:46You need someone like...
06:47He's not a writer that likes to write in terms of right and wrong and black and white.
06:53He lives in the gray areas, you know.
06:56He spends his time there.
06:59Building layers and layers of contradictions.
07:03And I think that's, yeah, interesting and comes in the right time
07:09into this universe of Star Wars, I think, too.
07:12I love that I got the opportunity to come and investigate this woman, to explore this woman.
07:20I love that Tony Gilroy and Disney have invested time and narrative space in this woman.
07:29I think where we meet her in Andor is very different to where we've ever seen her before.
07:35You know, we usually see her in a bunker, you know, with senators in a war zone.
07:43Where we meet her in Andor, she is navigating a political society, the imperial senate.
07:53She's steeped in empire.
07:55I think what's exciting for audiences, hopefully, is that we start somewhere
07:59so very different to where we know we have to end up.
08:03What were some of the questions that you might have had about Bix's backstory?
08:07And were they answered?
08:09I sat down with Diego and we had so many ideas and what sort of our backgrounds were
08:15and specifically how we met and stuff.
08:17And those were all ideas that we had with Tony.
08:20Again, not in the show, but it was incredibly important for us to know,
08:23especially for someone like Diego, who's lived in this character for years now
08:29and is so aware of where he comes from and sort of his background,
08:34hence why they're doing a show about it.
08:38So it was really interesting to have him on set.
08:40And I just felt like I could ask him sort of everything and anything.
08:44And he was incredibly helpful and collaborative in that.
08:49Kyle, I sort of view your character and Diego's as two sides of a very similar coin.
08:55And I'm really enjoying seeing the parallels between their journeys.
08:59And I'm kind of wondering if you think that maybe Karn could have easily committed to
09:03the rebellion had fate almost sent him down a different path.
09:07Definitely.
09:08That's one of the things that I was thinking about while developing the character with
09:12Tony is that there was clearly a point, and I think it exists for everybody, right?
09:17But clearly a point for Cyril where there was a choice to be made.
09:20And he leant over onto the left side.
09:24And we think it's because both Deja and Cyril have an aversion to dirt.
09:29And like, they need everything to be perfect and clean.
09:32And the rebels just simply it's too dirty.
09:34Yeah, yeah.
09:35Not tidy.
09:36Not tidy enough.
09:37I can understand that.
09:38So within, you know, Cyril's journey, he becomes so fixated and obsessed with Cassian
09:45because he recognizes that that is, that potential could exist within himself.
09:51And that this guy who's so free to just do what he wants.
09:55And Cyril lives within the confines of his own structure and the structure of the bureaucratic
10:01corporate system that he lives in and is striving to ascend up to the highest echelons of.
10:07He sees this person just like making up the rules as he goes along.
10:10And he just can't stand it.
10:13Yeah.
10:14But it's because, as you say, it's the other side of his coin.
10:17And that's, yeah, can't deal with it.
10:20I just want to know your pro tip for acting opposite a droid.
10:23Because you do it very well.
10:26This droid made it so easily.
10:28And I have to tell you that the work behind the droid, it's incredible.
10:33It's not one or two people.
10:35It's a whole team, you know, from the moment they design it to the how expressive it is,
10:40you know, like I saw the process.
10:42I saw the drawings.
10:43Then I saw the first models.
10:45Then I saw the thing moving.
10:47And then I saw the whole team giving life to that thing, you know, because it's not
10:51just a voice.
10:53It's two people operating, you know, and how many people were needed to build that.
10:59I don't know.
11:00But it's a whole team.
11:02And V2 just follows you everywhere.
11:06And it's there.
11:07It's real, you know.
11:09It's in fact very easy to interact with these droids because they exist, you know.
11:16They're there with you.
11:18And they're not as demanding as other actors, you know.
11:20They can do one take after another.
11:24Do you know what?
11:24I love Star Wars fans because they are so passionate.
11:28They are so lived in in regard to this experience.
11:33So I let them do all the thinking and the speculating.
11:37And I leave that up to them because they do it much better than I do.
11:41And I will just step in as the actor because in the end, I feel like Star Wars fans know
11:47much more than I do.
11:49I just hope that my excavation of Mon Mothma can live up to their high standards.
11:58That's what a reckoning sounds like.
12:07you