Rosario Dawson explains how the makeup process has improved from The Mandalorian to her new series Ahsoka…cutting it in half from three hours to 90 minutes
As fans gear up for the highly anticipated Disney Plus Star Wars series Ahsoka debuting this week — with the streaming service pushing back the premiere by a day — star Rosario Dawson tells fans about the complicated makeup process.
Her title character was introduced as a 14-year-old Padawan apprentice of Anakin Skywalker in the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars before appearing in the animated series of the same name and its sequel Star Wars Rebels voiced by Ashley. Eckstein.
Dawson came on board to play the character live in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett ahead of this new limited series, which debuts August 22 with a two-episode premiere.
The 44-year-old actress’s character is a species known in the Star Wars universe as togruta, distinguished primarily by their unique “head tails” known as monrals.
She revealed this in a new interview with OW that they could cut the makeup process down from over three hours on The Mandalorian to 90 minutes on Ahsoka.
Premiere: As fans gear up for the highly anticipated Disney Plus Star Wars series Ahsoka debuting this week — with the streaming service pushing back the premiere by a day — star Rosario Dawson briefs fans on the complicated makeup process
Makeup: She revealed in a new interview with EW that they were able to cut the makeup process down from over three hours on The Mandalorian to 90 minutes on Ahsoka
‘We were very proud! We time ourselves every day. Depending on how much skin was visible, it sometimes took up to two hours,” she said.
“And that’s hard: We went in at 4am every day so we could be ready when the crew gets there at 6am,” added Dawson.
“We’d have a full day, and then it would take at least half an hour to get everything off,” she continued.
The makeup process included installing custom head tails and having her face painted, as the crew noted how shades of paint looked different in sunlight and in the ‘Volume’, described as ‘the groundbreaking LED technology used to project realistic backgrounds on set.’
“It was like, ‘Okay, I look really good in the light, but I’m neon now,'” she joked, adjusting the color for each scene.
The montrals are longer. It’s all 3D printed and it moves completely differently. It’s lighter,” she added.
“That technology literally didn’t exist when we first played the character in The Mandalorian, so it’s been really cool to see how it continues to evolve,” she continued.
Proud: ‘We were very proud! We time ourselves every day. Depending on how much skin was visible, it sometimes took up to two hours,” she said
Difficult: “And that’s hard. We went in at 4 a.m. every day so we could be ready when the crew gets there at 6 a.m.,” Dawson added
Langer: ‘The montrals are longer. It’s all 3D printed and it moves completely differently. It’s lighter,” she added
Technology: “That technology literally didn’t exist when we first played the character in The Mandalorian, so it’s been really cool to see how it continues to evolve,” she continued.
The popular epic space opera multimedia franchise announced in a tweet that Ahsoka’s premiere date would be moved up a day on Disney+, the popular subscription streaming service, and that new episodes would be available in primetime.
“Thank you to all the fans who celebrated with us last night at our @AhsokaOfficial fan events around the world!” the Star Wars Twitter account stated in its lengthy post.
“We’re excited to announce that new episodes of #Ahsoka are now launching Tuesdays at 6PM PT, beginning with our two-episode premiere on August 22, only on @DisneyPlus.”
A one-minute, four-second video clip was posted along with the tweet, featuring enthusiastic Star Wars fans attending various promo events and also from the soon-to-be-released limited series.