Rosario Dawson Talks Becoming Ahsoka: Star Wars Insider Excerpt
Ahsoka Tano was part of it war of stars galaxy already for 15 yearsbut she is on the verge of even greater notoriety Ahsoka. The live-action continuation of the character’s journey through animation and now the live-action world of The Mandalorian hit Disney+ In a few weeks. But how does the star behind this part of her story feel about it?
“Ahsoka isn’t a character that I can just play and then dismiss when I take off the main montral,” says Rosario Dawson in a new interview for the latest issue of war of stars Insider, in stores next week. “It was a lifestyle change to connect with her and portray her. She is in me.”
Dawson teases this new era for the former Jedi that it was outlawed by the order for crimes she did not commit clone warsthen became a rebel agent and instructions for it the resulting resistance cell of Star Wars: Rebels– and how she prepared to say goodbye Mandalorian Guest-starring the leading lady of her own show – in io9’s exclusive preview below.
war of stars Insider: Ahsoka has had quite a different character journey from being a Jedi to joining the Rebellion. How does the Ahsoka we see in the new series fit into this story and how does your performance reflect her journey so far?
Rosario Dawson: It was really impressive to see Ahsoka at different moments of her journey when she was part of a community and when she wasn’t. She has an obligation to take care of her friends and family. When you saw her The MandalorianAhsoka was clearly on a mission. She was aware of this potential threat from Thrawn and while it feels like that moment has passed, she has now gathered enough information to know better. What’s exciting about this moment in Ahsoka is that we watch her make the transition and need to re-enter the relationships and stories she has with people. Things have definitely changed. The rebellion may have been successful, but there is a rupture that keeps everyone on their toes.
war of stars Insider: Embodying Ahsoka’s warrior aspects required training on a whole different level. How did you find the process of getting into the role, both from a training and makeup standpoint?
Dawson: As for my costume and make-up, during the shooting we constantly adapted it to the new possibilities that technology offers.
I trained two hours a day, seven days a week. And when we were filming, we would shoot between seven and twelve hours of fight and then I would learn the next fight. I’ve never worked on anything so physical before. It really was all encompassing. But I liked that because that’s what Ahsoka is. It’s her! Every fiber of her being is at stake at any given moment, so it felt really good to have that strength. It was this amazing mental, emotional and physical experience.
Our stunt coordinator, Ming Qiu, looked at Ahsoka’s fighting style and said, “It’s not physically possible for a human, so let’s look at what we can do to figure out how to pull off this move.” We did tries to do practically as many stunts as possible. We had ropes and pulleys and all sorts of things to make them work. There was a lot of experimentation, using technologies developed during filming.
That’s what’s special about this type of role: you have to be able to do difficult things.
I did my best every day to be physically prepared, tried to sleep well and eat well. I mentioned it before, but Ahsoka isn’t a character I can just play and then dismiss when I take off the headgear. It was a lifestyle change to connect with her and portray her. she is in me
Words from Amy Ratcliffe.
war of stars Insider #220which also contains new original literature from Alphabet Squadron Author Alexander Freed revolves around the events of Return of the Jedian interview with High Republic Author Lydia Kang, a look behind the scenes the bad batch and more, coming next Tuesday, August 15th. Ahsoka starts streaming Disney+ August 23.
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