Dave Filoni made his big leap from animated Star Wars shows to live-action Star Wars shows with The Mandalorian, and all the episodes that he’s helmed across all of the live-action shows are some of the best! He’s doing such an awesome job and I have no doubt that one day he’ll get to direct a Star Wars movie.
He seems to be having a ton of fun directing these shows and during Star Wars Celebration last week, Filoni revealed that he’s hidden an Akira Kurosawa easter egg in all the episodes that he’s directed. It’s not easy to find, but it’s in there! The filmmaker explained:
“One thing I did in particular that I don’t think anyone will see, but a lot of my influence comes from obviously George, and then George’s 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.”
I love that! I’m sure you all know who Akira Kurosawa is, but if for some reason you don’t, here’s a list of films that he directed that you need to watch! Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Throne of Blood (1957), Dersu Uzala (1975), and Ran (1985). The guy was a legendary filmmaker, and you need to familiarize yourself because his influence is seen not only in Star Wars, but a ton of other films.
As for where to find the figure, it’s not easy. Filoni says:
“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 … it’d be really hard to see him.”
Even if we can’t find him, it’s still cool that Filoni is deeply influenced by the master filmmaker. I love learning about little things like this!