Extraction wowed viewers with its scintillating fight/chase sequences when it hit Netflix earlier this year, and director Sam Hargrave has now brought some his action expertise to the galaxy far, far away.
According to Collider, the filmmaker/stuntman was hired as second unit director for the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian, and was able to finish working on the live-action Star Wars series before the COVID-19 pandemic caused mass production delays.
While chatting with the site, Hargrave revealed that Lucasfilm actually came to him while he was in the middle of post production on Extraction, as Jon Favreau and co. were looking for someone who had experience with action to "bring a new perspective and take things to another level for the next season."
“I like the people over there — Favreau’s great — so I went over and it was a really fascinating adventure," the director explained. "They have a crazy way of shooting. Some of the stuff is traditionally shot, with the live-action and blue screen on the backlot, but they’ve also got this technology called ‘The Volume’ where it’s just, like, the inside of a live game engine. It’s quite insane what technology nowadays is available to filmmakers. It was really eye-opening, the potential of this technology that Jon and they guys had been working on. It was a really fun learning experience.”
Hargrave went on to say that, even though he wasn't involved in the editing process, he feels confident that they were able to work together to "up the ante."
"The difference is, with Extraction, I’m in the editing room so I can be extremely confident [the action] is going to be what it’s going to be. I’m not editing these episodes. […] But I know the footage we delivered, as a second-unit, they seemed to be happy with. We worked closely with the stunt team there, with Bryan Watson and the team that had done the first season; they did a really great job."
Are you guys looking forward to seeing what Hargrave brings to the table when The Mandalorian Season 2 premieres on Disney+ this October?