Line #5 Creator/DaveFiloni


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dave_filoni.png]]
2
3	David Christopher Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American animator, writer, director, and producer best known as the supervisor of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''.
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5	Born in Mt. Lebanon (a suburb of UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}), Pennsylvania, his first animation job was as a character layout artist on ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', and later as an episode director for ''[[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. He then joined the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise as the supervising director of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', and later co-created and executive produced ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''.
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7	[[http://io9.gizmodo.com/clone-wars-and-rebels-dave-filoni-is-now-in-charge-of-a-1787134065 On September 2016]], he was promoted to oversee all ''Star Wars'' animation projects, including ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance''. In October 2018, he was announced as an executive producer and episode director on Creator/JonFavreau's live-action show, ''Series/TheMandalorian'', in which he also has cameos.
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9	In mid-2020 Filoni was promoted to executive producer and executive creative director for Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, although it was not publicly announced until May 2021.
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11	On November 22. 2023, Filoni was promoted to Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm.
12	----
13	!!Selected filmography:
14	[[index]]
15	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' (1997 -- 1999) as character layout artist
16	* ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'' (1999 -- 2002) as storyboard artist
17	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' (2003) as storyboard artist
18	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'' (2003) as storyboard artist
19	* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' (2003 -- 2004) as storyboard artist
20	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' (2005) as storyboard artist
21	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' (2005) as episode director
22	* ''Franchise/StarWars'' as overseer of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} Animation
23	** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' (2008 -- 2020) as supervising director, writer, and the voice of Embo, Cheep, and others
24	** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' (2014 -- 2018) as creator, executive producer, writer, and the voice of Chopper
25	** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'' (2018 -- 2020) as creator, writer, and the voice of Bo Keevil
26	** ''Series/TheMandalorian'' (2019 --) as executive producer, episode director, writer, and actor (Trapper Wolf)
27	** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch'' (2021 --) as executive producer and writer
28	** ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' (2021 --) as executive producer, episode director, and writer
29	** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTalesOfTheJedi'' (2022 --) as creator and writer
30	** ''Series/{{Ahsoka}}'' (2023) as writer and episode director
31	[[/index]]
32
33	!!Filoni's works provides examples of:
34	* ArmedWithCanon: As long as he has permission from the Lucasfilm Story Group to do so (and discussing it with Lucas back in ''The Clone Wars''), he and the other writers can put whatever they want in the Star Wars animated shows. Not only can they create original work, but they can [[CanonImmigrant recanonize]]/[[ContinuityReboot decanonize]] and adjust ideas from ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'', especially now that as of 2014, the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse New Expanded Universe]]'' has plenty of blanks to refill.
35	* AuthorAppeal:
36	** He likes Plo Koon and wolves, hence why Plo Koon's clone battalion in ''The Clone Wars'' is called the Wolfpack and is led by Commander Wolffe. He's even apparently cosplayed as Plo at least once according to the first season box-set for ''The Clone Wars.''
37	** Ahsoka's design was partly based off of San from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. Further amplified when he revealed his personal headcanon of Ahsoka escaping Order 66 with the help of giant wolves whose legs seemed to be like trees, and a picture he drew of Ahsoka and Rex riding giant wolves in the aftermath of Order 66, though neither are canon. However, Filoni got around to making canon images for the Topps trading cards showing [[spoiler:what happened to Ahsoka after the end of her major role in ''Rebels'' -- she walks through a mysterious door with wolf designs on it]], which ties into...
38	*** Lothwolves, giant wolves native to Lothal, serve as a ChekhovsGunman in ''Rebels'', where they're mentioned in a nursery rhyme joke early on and are hinted at in ancient art on Lothal. A pack of them appear in the flesh in Season 4 to help the heroes.
39	** He likes ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', hence the Zillo Beast arc and the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unreleased sequel arc to it]] in ''The Clone Wars''. Commander Jun Sato from ''Rebels'' is named after two staff members in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and Hondo Ohnaka is named after ''Godzilla'' co-creator Ishiro Honda, and ''Film/SonOfGodzilla'' actor Seiji Onaka. Justin Ridge says that he even made a Mechagodzilla suit and wore it to a ''Godzilla'' premiere in Hollywood.
40	** In fact, it seems likely that he just loves Japanese film in general. He's made [[WholePlotReference pastiches]] of Creator/AkiraKurosawa's work in a number of instances:
41	*** ''Film/SevenSamurai'': [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E17BountyHunters "Bounty Hunters"]] in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' and [[Recap/TheMandalorianS1E4Chapter4Sanctuary "Sanctuary"]] in ''Series/TheMandalorian''.
42	*** ''{{Film/Yojimbo}}'': [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E5Chapter13TheJedi "The Jedi"]] in ''Series/TheMandalorian''.
43	** He's also a [[KindHeartedCatLover cat person]], too, which is why there's emphasis on lothcats in ''Rebels''. The [[CuteKitten tooka]] species is named after his late cat, Tuuk. Likewise, Mar Tuuk from ''The Clone Wars'' was also named after Tuuk.
44	* AuthorUsurpation: The success of ''The Clone Wars'' has overshadowed all of Dave Filoni's prior work, as well as his other ''Star Wars'' works (except maybe ''The Mandalorian''), and it's the first thing people think of when discussing Dave's works. ''The Clone Wars'' is also associated with him more than anyone else, even George Lucas.
45	* CreatorsFavorite:
46	** Plo Koon is his favorite character, which led to Plo getting an AscendedExtra role in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]''.
47	** Ahsoka's ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'' design is his favorite.
48	* DescendedCreator: He is the voice of [[Characters/StarWars Embo]] the [[BountyHunter bounty hunter]] in ''The Clone Wars'', though it can be hard to tell due to sound editing. As a bonus, the character also sports a nice hat, just like his voice actor! He also voices the occasional incidental character, more often in ''Rebels'', and it's revealed in the credits of the final episode of the latter that he was the one that voiced Chopper throughout the entire series.
49	* MasterApprenticeChain: Invoked. Lucas and Filoni have both commented multiple times that they're like a Jedi master and his Padawan.
50	* PromotedFanboy: Most definitely.
51	** He went from merely being a ''Star Wars'' fan to working on two animated shows (and now future ones included, now that he's pretty much supervising ''all'' of them since September 2016) and a live-action series, all set within the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse universe]].
52	** After developing an interest in ''Series/KimsConvenience'', he and fellow ''Mandalorian'' director Deborah Chow successfully convinced Sang-il Kim's actor, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, to play Captain Carson Teva in the ''Star Wars'' TV shows. For Captain Teva's [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E2Chapter10ThePassenger first appearance]], Filoni reprised the role of Trapper Wolf, to essentially act as his right-hand man.
53	* RailEnthusiast: Dave is a big fan of GO Transit and has a [[https://twitter.com/dave_filoni/status/867076589506383873?lang=en model train collection]] focused on GO Transit. The behind the scenes footage in [[Series/TheMandalorian Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Mandalorian]] shows him wearing his GO Transit t-shirts to the Mandalorian set as well. The character RG-G1 in the final season of WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars is based on the Pennsylvania Railroad's GG-1 locomotive class.
54	* SignatureStyle: Alien critters being subject to or causing shenanigans. To name a few, we have [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Sy Snootles making out with Ziro the Hutt]], [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels lothcats being cute one moment and being killer kittens in the next, nunas being treated as space chickens down to being depicted as prepared meals]], [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance gorgs being piranha-frogs that are eaten alive by other aliens]], and [[Series/TheMandalorian Kowakian monkey-lizards getting skewered over a firepit as street food]].

Context Creator / DaveFiloni