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The Supervising Director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars speaks.

Clone troopers - locked, loaded and ready for actionThe Clone Wars has a unique look, yet it retains that distinctive Star Wars feel. Was it difficult to ensure it felt like part of Star Wars? 

DF: I think that’s something you worry about, since Star Wars is so well known. You want to make it something that the fans are going to relate to, but also something that the average viewer who’s not into Star Wars relates to. I think it grabs both those groups. The first thing we had to do was get a really talented group of people that were familiar with the look—production staff, artists who loved the material—and we looked at the films and used them as a source, because it’s already so well designed. Of course, George Lucas being a big part of it was the capper that really said, “OK, this is going to be Star Wars” because George is the crucial ingredient.

Were there any particular styles of animation that provided inspiration for the project?

DF: We looked at the first Clone Wars TV series that Genndy Tartakovsky had done for Cartoon Network and looked at the design that Paul Rudish had done for it, and used those for inspiration. They had a lot of the same challenges that we did: How do you translate these well-known characters into animated form? We wanted to respect the work that they had done.

I had just come off Avatar at Nickelodeon so I was very much in that frame of mind and brought a lot of what I was doing there to Star Wars, so that was definitely an influence. I brought Justin Ridge, one of the assistant directors, with me and several people from Avatar followed; we all love anime, so I think there’s a broad range of influence from that area as well.

How exactly do you direct animation?

DF: Well, it’s collaboration. Animation is a group project, and you need to have a clear vision of what you want to do. Then you need to work with your artists and your writers to make sure that you’re all on the same page and to see what they can bring to the project and to the story. Once you’re sitting in editorial, looking at the shots and pacing out the story, that’s where you really start to get more creative and bring the story to life. Really, it’s the collaboration that’s the important thing. There are just so many people involved, from the initial story idea to what you finally see up on the screen; it’s really an amazing effort.

Is it helpful that everybody knows Star Wars?

DF: I’ll say it time and again at work, “Well, did you look at the reference?” If we’re talking about clone troopers or certain guns, or certain other weapons or vehicles, I’ll say “Well, did you watch Attack of the Clones? Because those are in Attack of the Clones.” It’s definitely great to have the six films as our style guide for everything we’re doing.
The Star Wars movies are a style guide for The Clone Wars creative team
How important is continuity versus storytelling?

We’re very aware of continuity, we want to maintain it, and so it’s very important. Yet when you look at what George did with the prequels, there are obviously some things that I think the fans assumed would have been one way but that George decided would be different. There’s Threepio being built by Anakin Skywalker—I never saw that coming!

It all depends on what the purpose is and what you’re trying to tell in the story. Then you have to balance that version for the continuity argument. We have tried to stay very looped-in with people who focus specifically on continuity to make sure. Each decision, each judgment, is made carefully, so it’s really a balance between the two.

You’ve mentioned George has been very hands-on with the production: what’s the most important or surprising thing that you’ve learned from him?

DF: I think it’s really editing. Nathan Tucker, my editor, would really attest to that fact. We work very hard on the footage and George comes in and looks at it with us. He’s really amazing, how he can get sequences and move them around to really push the tension and dynamics of what’s going on in the story. I’ve had to be a real student of that in the last few years, and that’s probably one of the most important things I’ve really tried to grasp.

Was there a sense of pressure that you had to live up to huge expectations?

DF: Yes, there’s always that because it’s Star Wars. If I wasn’t on this side, I’m sure I’d be the fan out there saying “Well, this better be good!” You know, we’re all trying to live up to that. That’s our focus.

Given the fact that audiences and fans in particular know the characters really well, what sort of challenges were there in getting them exactly right?

DF: It was very difficult early on when we were designing the characters. It was a real trick to get them, especially Anakin and Obi-Wan, to look right. They went through a lot of interpretations. We had a lot of opinions from the crew because people love and know these characters. In particular, Anakin was very difficult to nail down. Instead of going for a dead-on actor likeness we’d just go for, “Well, what makes someone a Skywalker?” and look at that. That’s what really got us over the hump for Anakin.

Anakin is obviously an established character, but you get to introduce an all-new character. What can you tell us about his new Padawan Ahsoka?

DF: Ahsoka really stands between Anakin and Obi-Wan. If you look at Obi-Wan, he’s the Jedi who believes in the Old Republic, and Anakin’s leaning towards a new order. Then you have this young girl who’s in between. She’s really trying to figure out what is going on and deal with decisions she has to make. She was trained as a peacekeeper, [but] now she’s forced into being a soldier, like all the Jedi. How do these young Padawans react to that? It’s one of the interesting stories that we get to tell. 
Anakin Skywalker and padawan Ahsoka Tano
Anakin is so adept at what he’s doing, as is Obi-Wan, so she’s a great character to have. We took a lot of notes from Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess Leia and how she reacted to very strong characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. We try to get a bit of that into this young girl. That’s a big inspiration.

The movie also features Asajj Ventress. Whose decision was it to use Expanded Universe characters and is this something that we might see more of? 

DF: I think it’s always interesting to see which Expanded Universe characters turn up in a Star Wars movie or the Star Wars TV show, like when Aayla Secura turned up in Attack of the Clones—that was a big deal. Asajj Ventress was a natural because of her role in the previous Clone Wars [animated micro-series]. She was somebody that we all thought we could use and develop. How does she fit into the saga, with Dooku and the Sith?

As far as other characters, we’re always looking at it. In truth, there’s so many characters in the films that we didn’t really get to see a lot, like Kit Fisto and Plo Koon. You could go around the [Jedi] Council’s chairs, and have 12 episodes right there. 

We know how most of these characters end up—does that create any restrictions on the story?

DF: "Asajj Ventress was somebody we thought we could use and develop"Sometimes there are certain situations that we just have to observe and be aware of. Obviously, in Revenge of the Sith General Grievous and Anakin have, quite plainly, never met each other face to face. You’re constantly amazed that what seems like a restriction becomes a really creative outlet, something that’s not done the easy way but done the hard way. It’s thrilling and exciting.

Are there any cool Easter eggs that dedicated fans should look out for in the movie?

I’m a fan, and because so many people working on this are fans, there are Easter eggs throughout this movie and the series that fans will appreciate; things that my mother would not have a clue about, but will be nice little winks to the fans. Someone out there will get a big thrill! That’s fun and exciting.

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