The Book Of Boba Fett Stunt Coordinator J.J. Dashnaw Discusses The Challenge Of Learning The Rules Of Star Wars - Exclusive
Since it debuted in 1977 with "Star Wars — Episode IV: A New Hope," the "Star Wars" universe has expanded into a detailed and intricate mythology. Its multiple movies, TV shows, books, video games, and other media have established that the galaxy far, far away where "Star Wars" takes place is teeming with unique characters, settings, and rules that bear only a passing resemblance to those of our reality.
The vast world of the franchise can be hard to wrap your mind around, even for people who've seen every movie, and that's especially true for those who've been hired to help bring a new part of the "Star Wars" story to life. With the desire to meet fans' sky-high expectations and move the "Star Wars" saga forward while never contradicting anything that came before, the creative teams on "Star Wars" projects have their work cut out for them.
For J.J. Dashnaw, the stunt coordinator of the recent Disney+ series "The Book of Boba Fett," that was certainly the case. J.J. Dashnaw spoke to Looper about the challenges of creating action scenes for the series that adhered to the rules of "Star Wars."
The ins and outs of creating action for Star Wars
Dashnaw confessed that as a fan of "Star Wars" and especially "The Mandalorian," the series that "The Book of Boba Fett" was spun off from, he took his responsibility for creating stunts for the show that fit into the larger franchise very seriously. "As much excitement as there is [in joining the series], there's also a little pressure to continue to make the show better," Dashnaw reflected. "That's always what our main focus is, to try to make the show the best that we can and to make sure that it [represents] the vision of our writers and [keeps] everything true to what the 'Star Wars' world is and what all the rules are."
In fact, due to the long history of "Star Wars" and its heavy reliance on action, Dashnaw found he had a lot to discover about the franchise. "You think you know a lot about 'Star Wars,' but there's so many other different rules and things you need to learn," Dashnaw observed, "as far as [for example] these lasers — they shoot, there's no recoil, and us as stunt people who're used to firing weapons and having to pretend like there's recoil. The way that certain characters move, you got to learn that [and] come up with what kind of action works best knowing that. I'm still learning all these rules, and it makes coming to work that much more fun."
"The Book of Boba Fett" is available to stream on Disney+.