‘Ahsoka’: Natasha Liu Bordizzo Explains the Influence of Tiya Sircar’s Sabine in Her Performance
We are now under one month away from the release of the first two episodes of Ahsoka, and to celebrate that, Lucasfilm revealed over the weekend a new 30-second spot featuring recut footage that we’ve already seen in the two trailers released so far (see below). In addition, the latest issue of SFX Magazine is now out, and in it, Natasha Liu Bordizzo talks about the influences that Tiya Sircar’s performance as Sabine Wren in Star Wars: Rebels had on her own portrayal of that character in live-action.
Per The Direct, Liu Bordizzo said that she never tried to copy Sircar’s version of Sabine, which she’s very fond of:
“I loved Tiya Sircar’s Sabine!… I loved the energy, the sarcasm, and playfulness that really made Sabine Sabine, but obviously, it’s a delicate balance because I never want to try to copy someone. I want to be inspired by the energy they put into the character and then make the role my own.”
Dave Filoni was a great source of inspiration for her, too, as the showrunner fully trusted the entire cast with the characters he’d created:
“Just to have the creator around every day is a luxury… He’s like this bottomless pit of knowledge and the guardian of the story and the characters. Also, he really just trusted us – while we’d go to him for guidance, he’d also say, You are Sabine, so whatever you instinctually feel is right is right.”
She also added that, while she did a lot of preparation for the role and watched everything in the Star Wars universe, once cameras started rolling she decided to not watch anything else, so she could immerse herself in the Sabine of the show rather than the one that appeared in Rebels:
“And of course, I watched everything… including the original films, The Mandalorian and, of course, Rebels. But I didn’t watch anything after we started filming because otherwise, it gets too much. You want to have space, take all the experiences and memories and inspirations from everything you’ve watched, and then let the live action you’re creating find its own truth, its own journey.”
We know from the trailers that the show will be reproducing in live-action key scenes from the final moments of Rebels, but other than that, this seems to be a whole new take on Sabine. The latest trailer even confirmed that, after Ezra disappeared, she started training in lightsaber duels with Ahsoka, a plot thread that is shaping up to be an important part of the new series.
Ahsoka will debut its first two episodes on August 23. Check out the aforementioned 30-second spot here:
In one month, experience the two-episode premiere of #Ahsoka, a Star Wars Original series, only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/2kBKrPdZkZ
— Ahsoka (@ahsokaofficial) July 23, 2023
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
