Star Wars: The Mandalorian Star Says He Would “Religiously” Make Fun of the Movies When They Came Out

For some performers, getting involved in the Star Wars franchise is a dream come true, but for Star Wars: The Mandalorian actor Bill Burr, his biggest connection with the franchise was to regularly mock people for expressing their love for the sci-fi saga. This isn’t to say that the actor necessarily looks down on the series, but merely expressed that this specific brand of sci-fi wasn’t his particular cup of tea, embracing his career in comedy to poke fun at the passionate fandom. What ultimately drew Burr to join the TV series was the ways in which it deviated from everything that came before it.

“This is the thing, I’ve never been a sci-fi…I like Blade Runner, there was a movie Sam Rockwell did called ‘Moon,’ I like that sort of dark, creepy, Stanley Kubrick [2001: A Space Odyssey], I like that, I was never into the Star Wars thing,” Burr shared on The Rich Eisen Show. “By the time I saw it, I was just too old, they had like Ewoks and stuff, and I wanted to see Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I missed the boat so I never got on it and I’ve religiously made fun of every one of them that came out. Just teasing, just because people are excited. I’m a jerk, I see people get excited about something and I just make fun of it.”

The series was created by Jon Favreau and, while it’s clear that the series will incorporate elements from all corners of the galaxy far, far away, the first trailer has hinted at a slightly darker adventure than what fans have seen in the past. Despite Burr not being interested in the saga’s history, it was that ambivalence that made Favreau want to recruit him even more.

“I ran into Jon somewhere…and he was like, ‘Hey, I’m doing this Star Wars thing, would you wanna do something?’” Burr recalled. “And I was like, ‘I kinda always made fun of it,’ and he was just going, ‘I think that’d be funny. I think your fans would get a kick out of the fact, if you went into that thing,’ and then I went in there and they were shooting it like a Spaghetti Western. And I was immediately so psyched to be a part of it.”

He added, “Once I saw the Stormtroopers’ heads on those sticks, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m in.’”

The first episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian debuts on Disney+ on November 12th.

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