‘Andor’ Director Benjamin Caron Reveals Film and Real-World Inspirations Behind the Season 1 Finale
The Andor bits of news have been arriving fairly consistently these past few days. It was only last week that series lead Diego Luna commented on the positive response to season 1 and his feelings about the show ending after season 2. Then, we found out more about the show filming soon in eastern Spain. Now, one of the directors behind the first season has once again discussed his approach to the series and working with showrunner Tony Gilroy.
Director Benjamin Caron, who was behind the camera for three episodes of Andor, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about directing the season 1 finale. He also talked about Tony Gilroy’s storytelling philosophy and the real-world rebels and revolutions that influenced the series’ writing:
“He was like, ‘What was Che Guevara like before he became Che Guevara?’ So it was about how this individual who was a bit lost and just trying to make a quick buck could start believing in something bigger than himself, and that would be the start of a rebellion. Tony is a brilliant, brilliant mind. He’d been listening to all of these various podcasts about the fall and rise of different empires, and the machinations that can be orchestrated to begin a rebellion. So that’s what he was interested in, and we just talked about that and point of view. Tony also talks a lot about the idea of protein [in regard to storytelling]. Sugar might give you a big rush, but afterwards, it doesn’t leave you feeling satisfied. Whereas if you’re eating protein, you may not get an instant high, but you are going to get something deeper and richer if you’ve invested the time.”
Many fans and reviewers praised Andor for believably depicting the start of an uprising against a brutal, totalitarian regime. It makes sense that Gilroy would look at revolutions throughout history for inspiration. However, the show’s creators didn’t just draw from history to come up with Star Wars story ideas. They also looked at classic cinema. For the finale, both Caron and Gilroy looked to the 1966 war movie The Battle of Algiers to help them figure out how to portray the riot on Ferrix:
“I worked together with the producer Sanne Wohlenberg on Wallander, and I guess she told Tony what kind of filmmaker I was. I actually pitched him a reference for the last episode. One of my favorite films is The Battle of Algiers, and I was like, ‘There’s something about your writing that feels similar to that.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s it! I’ve gotta go back and watch that.’ And so we just jammed about how great that film is and how much of that flavor and texture we could get from it. So that became a big reference point for the [season one] finale where the locals rise up against the Empire.”
A crucial part of filmmaking is properly communicating with actors and working with them to help draw out their best performances. As it turns out, Caron and Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker helped Denise Gough, who played Dedra Meero in Andor, with a particularly difficult scene:
“I was lucky to have one of Denise Gough’s first days on set as Dedra, and she’s talked a bit about this, so she won’t be angry with me. This was actually in episode seven. She had this monologue that was half a page long, and as a professional, Denise had prepared the night before. But unfortunately, when she stepped on set, all the words just vanished, and so we just cut. And I said, ‘We’re going to leave it, and we’ll come back.’
This was something that I [encountered] when working on Sherlock with Benedict [Cumberbatch]. He had these huge long monologues, and early on, I remember him struggling with lots and lots of words. And somebody said, ‘You’ve just gotta hit this at pace. You’ve gotta hit this really hard.’ And I remember saying to Denise that the only way through this is pace. ‘Pace is going to be your friend.’ So she went away for a couple days, and I think she also spoke to Jodie Whittaker, who played Dr. Who. And she said exactly the same thing about learning it fast and just hitting it.
And when Denise came back to set, we had one of those scenes in the politburo with Anton Lesser, and she had this takedown of one of the other characters. And she hit it with such force to prove herself to Anton Lesser’s character. She just nailed it. And at the end of that whole monologue, the entire floor just applauded because it was amazing. Suddenly, Dedra had arrived.”
Characters like Dedra Meero and Syril Karn helped Andor give the Galactic Empire some added nuance by showing its inner workings. The show also made the Empire fearsome, oppressive, and omnipresent. Even the stormtroopers, who viewers everywhere have always liked to make fun of because of their supposed incompetence and poor marksmanship, were depicted as deadly and capable soldiers. As Caron tells it, the production team had some help from military service members in developing its portrayal of the Empire’s troops:
“Before I came on board to Andor, I had a feature film project that I was hopefully going to make about the origins of the SAS [British Army Special Air Service], but a television series [SAS: Rogue Heroes] by Steven Knight beat us to it. I don’t think it killed it, but for me, it slightly took the air out of it. Anyway, while I was developing that, I met a one-star general, who was basically in charge of the SAS. And so when I came on to Star Wars, I phoned him up and said, ‘I don’t think the Stormtroopers look like an elite force of troopers. The way they operate doesn’t have that professionalism.’ And he said, ‘Is this a joke?’ And I went, ‘No, I’m being serious. I’m working on Star Wars.’ And he went, ‘I’m the biggest Star Wars fan in the world. When I got married, I walked up the aisle to Darth Vader’s Imperial March.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty strong. I want you to come and give me some military advice.’
So this guy and his sergeant major, who had basically been in every known and unknown conflict around the world since the 1980s, were on set with me every day when we were filming those big scenes in Ferrix. And what was brilliant was that they gave me the know-how of taking real-world skills and translating them into the Star Wars universe. So they would take the Stormtroopers and show them how to clear a street, and it actually reminded me a bit of the amazing firefight in Michael Mann’s Heat. That’s what I wanted in Star Wars, and they spent weeks with me. All of the actors liked having those guys around because as an actor, you want to hang your coat on something real. So when I watch it back, I’m really proud of what these military advisers created for the world and the way the soldiers moved and blockaded the street.”
The stormtroopers in Andor definitely seemed more menacing than their counterparts in other Star Wars productions. The series doesn’t introduce them until its seventh episode, and when they finally show up, they’re presented as ruthless occupiers on Ferrix and Coruscant. The only major action scene they participate in during the first season is the Ferrix riot in the finale. While the stormtroopers take casualties of their own in that sequence, they also manage to kill a fair number of rioters. Andor played the long game when it came to showing the Empire’s most iconic enforcers, but its approach paid off.
It’s a shame that Benjamin Caron, like his fellow Andor season 1 directors, won’t be returning for the next batch of episodes. Still, fans of the political-spy thriller series will undoubtedly have plenty to look forward to when the second season premieres in late 2024.
If you want to read the full interview, you can visit The Hollywood Reporter.
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
