“the projects align with his belief that human behavior ‘is more powerful than anything people design, and more powerful than any political system’ — even the Galactic Empire”
“Andor is more grimy, compelling, and immersive than has been in a while, and for Gilroy, it’s another opportunity to explore how human emotion, in all its forms — empathy and aggression, angst and love — is more potent than any system that attempts to control it”
“The idea of the funeral was amped up by the idea that Maarva could do her own eulogy. We did this in Rogue One with the Mads Mikkelsen hologram and it was so potent”
“If Maarva is going to give her eulogy, and she had been part of the Daughters of Ferrix, what would that be? Somewhere between an IRA funeral and a second-line New Orleans funeral”
“Thematically, the idea was to have this place we’ve grown to understand and love mirror Cassian’s awareness and consciousness”
“Everything I do starts really, really small. I mentioned those gloves — that’s a tactile entry point for me. My primary collaborator on the whole show creatively — almost a co-writer in the most important way — is Luke Hull, the production designer. Luke and I started working a year before anybody else got involved, because everything we do, we have to design, and that’s the overwhelming part. I worked with Luke before we had a writers’ room, and then he was in the room with us while we were doing everything else”
“Screenwriters, dramatists — if you’re working well, you’re making worlds all the time. So it’s just making a world where you have to do everything”
“There’s a ferry, and there’s a park and ride. What do they charge you? Wouldn’t somebody be outraged by that? We went really, really deep. And we’re going to do it again — we’re doing it again right now”
“Those Stations of the Cross Cassian marched through during the first 12 episodes, there’s no turning back from that. The issue we will examine in season two is his commitment to the Rebellion. It will be about many other things”
“There is one truth for both: It has to be real. It has to be on a floor of reality; you have to believe in it. If it’s an action sequence, it has to be a physical environment you understand, that you’ve really built. In your mind, it’s exhausting sometimes — you have writer’s block, and you’re just sitting there and days go by. That’s because you have to take all the effort to make this place in your head that really lives, so that you can create a reality for the things that are going to happen there. It has to be the same thing in a conversation scene”
“What I’ve found over time is there’s no shortcut other than making it real: Why are you here? Why are you in the car? Why are you on the phone? Why are you doing this? What happened before this? What do you want? What led us here? If you own all that, you can go forward”
“If there’s an overall thesis, it’s that I believe human behavior is more powerful than anything, and it sort of leaks like water through a spout, through anything you put it on. It rusts out everybody’s intentions”
“Whether it’s hitmen and organizations or law firms or huge corporations, or a marriage — what we need, what we’re afraid of, all the things that fuck us up, is more powerful than anything people design, and more powerful than any political system”
“You get on a roll with those things, and you just try to break your own heart. You’re trying to write speeches for the things you believe in. Sometimes it takes a long time to find the voice, but once you’re there, they tend to go quick”
“watching revolutions come together and watching political factions within them, there’s a universal truth: There’s almost never just one forward motion. There are all kinds of people moving in different directions. These are universal concepts”