Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian

The most important aspect to a project like this

is the love of the world of Star Wars,

and to put that love into the storytelling.

We all love special effects and fireworks

and visual experiences that are incredible,

but what we care the most about is relationships and characters.

It's also taking a chance and certain risks

that have incredible rewards,

so that we can actually achieve something new.

It's truly an adventure.

A Star Wars adventure.

When we talked in the very beginning,

I was interested in working with you.

I mean, that was first.

But I always want to see the script, man.

I want to know, "What am I asked to do"?

'Cause people have their agendas

or they have their ways of seeing the world or...

As an actor, what you're really doing is, you're...

You're somehow endorsing

what someone wants to say about the world or in the world.

So I read the script, and I'm thinking, "Damn, man, this is really good".

"I really like what I'm reading".

So all that is the context, and when I walk there

and I look at the Mandalorian,

I know where this thing is going.

So now, it's for me to sell where this is going

through my character,

regardless of whether I can see his or her eyes.

There's something about the design of that whole thing with the Mandalorian

that has its own kind of mystery... It does.

We inherited that from George.

It's cool. George really borrowed Boba Fett

from Man With No Name, because if you think about it,

it still has that sort of breakdown of Eastwood's straight brim like that.

Just kind of over the eyes.

And the poncho over the shoulder and over the back,

and they put in a spur sound.

That was the gunfighter. Deconstructed gunfighter iconography.

Mandalorian isn't a race.

It's a Creed.

I love the opportunity to make him as human and as accessible as possible,

which is strange to say because it's impossible to get to him

'cause he's covered in armor from head to toe.

And yet, the idea is that, you know, he's relatable.

We're all kind of covered in our own armor and terrified of taking that armor off.

And that's the thing that crosses him over into a character

that we're all gonna really want to follow.

Have you ever removed your helmet?

No.

Has it ever been removed by others?

Never.

This is the Way.

This is the Way.

Mandalorians, and as far as our Mandalorian is aware,

cannot reveal their faces.

Our Mandalorian subscribes to this.

If he ever reveals his face, he can never put his helmet back on again.

You know, he cannot be a Mandalorian anymore.

And he's wondering,

"Can I take off my helmet? Can I be at peace"?

I wonder what you look like under there.

Let's all see your eyes.

It is definitely a challenge

to try to really get the emotional complexity

or to get very nuanced performance

when, obviously, the main character

is in full armor and you can't see his face.

How do you convey that sense of connection to someone that we can't see his eyes?

I, as a storyteller and an audience member want to see that,

want to see what's behind the mask.

Working with, you know, the actor to use the physicality, so it's just...

Even just the littlest head turn, a lot of it was about stillness,

which was about, like, staying very, very still

when something significant happens,

so you can feel that everything stopped for a moment,

so when there's a gesture, it's a very meaningful gesture.

So we were trying to really sort of use the stillness of the character

so that any little gesture really meant something

and to try to have that to sort of show emotionally

how he's feeling and what he's thinking without being able to see his eyes.

When you have a character like that, you really sort of lean into his face more

because you want to get a peek inside of what's behind there.

So every bit of who he is becomes significant in a way.

And in some ways, as an audience, I think we're going to be looking

to sort of project our own emotions onto his experience.

I think it's in the eighth episode... Yeah, final episode.

When we slip the helmet off you. Like halfway through.

Just for a moment, goes back on.

I loved how you looked under it, because...

A mess. 'Cause when they...no, it is...

Well, there's that story.

What? Which one?

The trip to the hospital? Yeah.

It's very embarrassing.

I'm telling you, I have been in the most dangerous circumstances.

To sell all my previous employers out, I will tell you that none...

There were so many things that shouldn't have been happening for months at a time.

I was on tin roofs in ruins in South America.

I was like, "One little slip

"and I'm definitely done for the rest of my life".

I was like, "We kept... China for five months.

This way, he got hurt in his trailer. The Matthew Vaughn movies.

I stepped out of the makeup trailer looking at my sides

and walk into a piece of plywood. Yes.

Never gone to the hospital

from work before. The bad part was this.

He was made up because it was the scene after the explosion,

and he's bleeding out of his ears, he's covered with blood.

Yeah. Yes.

So what's the real blood and what's... So he goes

to the emergency room, they're like, "Let him in!"

"Look at his condition". They're like,

"This guy's at death's door".

I was sitting next to him in the makeup trailer

and they're adding blood, adding blood. And then...

I come right back in and blood's coming...

They call me for rehearsal, I come out and I'm like,

"Damn, they did a really good job. Like, this is so real".

And he was holding his nose.

You had to get stitches. I had seven stitches.

Seven stitches. It was so cool,

and this is, I think, pride points,

is you went to the hospital and came back.

Oh, please. You guys had moved. That was like a hockey player.

Come on. You guys moved. You went off the ice,

and came right back. You moved...

It was awesome. You moved mountains.

A puck to the head, came back... You moved mountains,

I couldn't get from the makeup trailer to a rehearsal.

What was good, though, is that the scene was about somebody who...

So it was perfect. Injured. It was perfect.

You were really in it. Method.

You were really in it.

I would be bragging about that story. That's amazing.

Yeah. Great story.

Can I just comment on the helmet thing, though?

Oh, yeah.

I found it really a challenge.

When you're across from somebody, they're throwing

body language at you. Yes.

And these two things here... Sure.

You can be saying one thing,

but these two things tell me something different.

And I'm responding to what you're throwing.

You're hitting the ball this way... Right.

Whatever it's doing, I have to adjust for it.

And that helmet... It's a mask.

Yeah. It is flat.

There is nothing.

So you have to...

I have to listen so acutely to the voice

and hope that that voice is gonna cue me to what this person is.

Not just the words,

but what they're really saying under it. Yes, yes.

And it's a challenge.

It makes you focus even more and concentrate even more

and become even more still, if that's possible.

You become a hummingbird. It's like, "Okay, you better go to work".

I am third fiddle to two incredible guys, Brendan Wayne and Lateef.

I'm modeling my performance around their physicality in a lot of ways.

And I wouldn't be able to do it without them.

Brendan knows how to handle a gun,

so the gunslinger aspect of the Mandalorian

is taken care of on that side.

I got to pull guns.

I got to shoot guns. I got to shoot grappling hooks.

It's fun. It's fun.

And then we have Lateef Crowder,

who is our Capoeira, Jujitsu warrior who can basically do anything.

You know, the secret is to always be ready.

I'm always training. Whether it's martial arts,

whether it's stunt training,

whether it's weight training, just physical fitness.

Always got to stay ready and just be ready to adapt.

I'm a Mandalorian.

Thanks, guys. That's a wrap for us as well.

You worked with three different people. Yeah.

They're all the same mask.

But I know on film I can tell slightly the difference.

Not just from the...could you tell the difference with each one?

I could... All felt like the Mandalorian?

'Cause it comes off on film...

All as one? Yeah, it feels...

Yeah, yeah. So for me,

you all brought the physicality, the incredible acting,

and the brotherhood that I had in the other one.

So it was kind of you all make up

the Mandalorian for me. Right.

And, um, I have such a good connection with all of you guys.

You're very smart with your choices, and you know what's going on in the scene.

And a lot of emotion has to come through, just the voice.

I can bring you in warm...

Or I can bring you in cold.

I think that's perfect.

It's interesting doing voice-over.

We get to really improvise our way through it.

Lower your blaster.

Have them lower theirs.

I'm in the Guild!