Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated show about multiple star systems getting involved in a war and the Jedi Knights trying to maintain peace, received worldwide fame and recognition on its release.
![Darth Maul faces off against Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars [Credit Lucasfilm Animation]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/08150509/Darth-Maul-faces-off-against-Obi-Wan-Kenobi-in-The-Clone-Wars-Credit-Lucasfilm-Animation-1024x510.jpeg)
Dave Filoni, who was the supervising director of the show, was quite impressed with how things turned out. With the show relying solely on animation, Filoni had a genius inspiration for The Clone Wars!
Dave Filoni Was Inspired By A Very Famous Anime!
It has often been seen that several action directors were inspired by Japanese animes for many of their ideas. Well, the iconic animated show was not so different as Dave Filoni had one brilliant inspiration in his mind.
Since it was the 2010s, animation and CGI were still being explored and their full potential hadn’t been unleashed yet. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released in 2008 and continued to create episodes as recently as 2020.
However, when the CGI department was stuck on a particular scene, Dave Filoni suggested that they watch the classic Japanese anime Wolf’s Rain.
In an interview with Star Wars Insider Magazine, here’s what one of the CGI artists had to say about the whole affair.
Almost half a year later, when I’d become a full-on member of the production, Dave Filoni came to me and said ‘I want to do these rooster tails behind these speeders, but I don’t want to do the usual cloud and debris that kicks up behind a speeder when it flies, I want to do something stylistically like anime’.
He further continued,
So Dave dropped a Japanese anime called ‘Wolf’s Rain’ in front of me, and I watched what the show looked like and what the rooster tails did behind the cars that were speeding down the road, and it looked like a saw tooth pattern.
The CGI artist went on to say that he realized that he would have to be immensely creative for this particular scene as Filoni wanted something out of the box.
After a few strokes, the artist created a rendition of what the speeder would look like when it flew, and the result was simply astonishing. On the other hand, Filoni was also great with the voice cast of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as he helped Matt Latner get the role of Anakin Skywalker!
Dave Filoni Had A Fun Note For Mat Latner’s Audition!
Matt Latner is the actor known for voicing the iconic role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but he didn’t actually know that he was going to voice Anakin Skywalker.
In an interview (via SlashFilm), Matt Latner revealed that it was supervising director Dave Filoni who gave him some additional information before he auditioned for the role.
I actually had no idea I was auditioning for Anakin Skywalker. They told me the role I was reading for was a character named ‘Deak Starkiller.’ I did a quick online search but there wasn’t much out there, so I really had no idea.
He further continued,
I remember Dave Filoni suggesting I give them my best combination of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, and that’s what got me the job.
Well, the additional notes paid off in the end as the character of Anakin Skywalker was one of the most talked about portrayals in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The animated show ran for 7 seasons and received a rating of 8.4/10 on IMDB and a whopping 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is available on the Disney+ Hulu bundle in the U.S.
