talking bay 94

The Armorer herself, the great Emily Swallow, from The Mandalorian, is on the show today. “This is the way.”

It was so great to be able to dive deep into her instantly iconic performance. We talk all about what it was like to work in The Volume, be directed by Dave Filoni, Deborah Chow and Taika Waititi, and the influences and experiences she brought to her portrayal. More topics include:

• Bringing the Armorer to life with previous mask work / mime work experience
• Kurosawa’s influence on both her character and the Mando set
• Breaking the news to her about the Armorer’s Black Series toy
• The (surprise) Season 2 trailer voiceover
• And what exactly a blacksmith advisor was doing on on set!

The incredible work that Gavin Bocquet did with his team to bring worlds like Naboo, Coruscant and Geonosis to life in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, cannot go unsaid.

This is a really rare interview with someone who made an indelible mark on the saga, as well as things like Young Indiana Jones, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and so many more … and I don’t think he’s talked in-depth about Star Wars in nearly a decade.

It was a huge honor and a really great conversation. Some topics discussed:

• His early mentorship with Stuart Craig (Saturn 3, Harry Potter) as well as working of Return of the Jedi with Norman Reynolds, as a Draftsman (Speeder bikes and Greeblies)
• Working with Steven Soderbergh on Kafka, his second ever film
• Walking over to his neighbor’s house, Rick McCallum, on Christmas Eve  to inquire about working on Young Indiana Jones (later with David Tattersall and Trisha Biggar)
• Of course, the Prequels: collaborating with Doug Chiang and John Knoll, location scouting with McCallum (who wanted to shoot in the Vatican), the Pink / Yellow highlighters
• And wrapping with some serious Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance talk that no Henson fan will want to miss.

We’re LIVE and talking to Teek herself, Niki Botelho from The Battle for Endor.

This is a pretty short, fairly rare Star Wars interview podcast look inside making the second Ewok film, as well as Niki’s return as an Offworld Jawa in The Mandalorian … and if that was her as Teek in the Star Tours boarding video. (And, of course, since this was recorded live, some of our audio is not as crisp as other episodes, but you’ll get over it.)

If you want even more Teek stories, head on over to the most recent episode of Blast Points, where there is almost 5 extra minutes of this interview, which I recorded to help celebrate their Ewok Movie Month.

And, of course, this episode would not be possible without our friends at Galactic Productions. Head to their website for future appearances, as well as a really great stock of online autographs: galacticproductionsevents.com

With his groundbreaking work on The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark as optical photography supervisor, Bruce Nicholson is an Industrial Light and Magic Legend.

If you don’t know what optical photography and compositing is, this episode is a crash course in all of that, including what is was like working alongside the Dykstraflex, mistakes in the end scene of Raiders and … the time he was the first person to suit up in the finished Boba Fett costume.

Star Wars fans will know Ms. Owen best as the Kaminoan Taun We in Attack of the Clones, but she has done so much (including a return in Revenge of the Sith as Senator Nee Alavar).

From humble beginnings growing up in New Zealand, to first working with Temuera Morrison on Once Were Warriors, we went through so much of her incredible career (whether The Orville or Siren, and beyond).

And, listen on to find out what role she was initially cast to play in Episode 2.