Obi-Wan Kenobi Director Deborah Chow Says Disney+ Series Will Appeal To More Than Just Star Wars Fans: It Will Work On A "Human Level"
Deborah Chow believes Obi-Wan Kenobi works on a "human level".
Chow, who's the director and executive producer of the six-episode Star Wars spin-off series for Disney+, doesn't think it is essential to have seen previous projects in the legendary sci-fi franchise to enjoy the new show, which marks the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen as Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi and protege-turned-Sith Lord Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, respectively.
Chow, who had worked on The Mandalorian, is the first woman — as well as the first Asian — to helm a live-action Star Wars project from start to finish.
Speaking to Collider, Chow said: "I would definitely say that would if you've seen the prequels. So I think if you do have time to watch one thing, the prequels would certainly be a help in understanding the show.
"It's tricky because obviously, we are so in the middle of two trilogies with these big legacy characters. Joby [Harold], who's the writer, and I, when we were doing the development, were really trying to make sure that we'd always do a reality check to go, 'If we take the Star Wars out of this, does this still work, just on a human level?'"
Chow continued: "I guess if you didn't know anything at all about Star Wars, which feels like it'd be hard to find a person who maybe doesn't know anything, I think you could still watch it. You may not get every single reference or understand everything, but I think hopefully it still works just on a human level."
Chow also revealed that most of the material that had been filmed made it into the final cut.
She said: "It's interesting, almost everything was on the screen. There was very little actually that got cut. Obviously, we were shooting this through COVID and it is quite an ambitious project.
"So it was kind of great actually at the end of the day that the vast majority of what we shot actually is on screen."
In a separate video interview with 8days.sg, the Canadian filmmaker— whose other credits include episodes of Better Call Saul, The Man in High Castle and American Gods — talks about the art of directing actors in masks, unneccessary lightsabre noises on set, and why she shot a Red Hot Chili Peppers music video after she was done with Obi-Wan Kenobi. (Actually, one reason is in the first two epsiodes.)
Obi-Wan Kenobi is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday. — BANG SHOWBIZ, additional reporting by DOUGLAS TSENG
Photo: StillMoving.net/Disney+
