One Emotional Andor Scene Made Even Diego Luna Cry on Set
A powerfully-written emotion is something even a professional actor can not resist - and Diego Luna could not hold back his feelings when he was on the set.
Tony Gilroy's direction and Diego Luna's performance really brought Cassian Andor to life over twelve episodes of Andor Season 1, winning critical acclaim and cementing him as one of the best characters that Star Wars has ever created.
Andor's evolution from a crook, scheming to make enough money for leaving Ferrix, to a dedicated rebel, was helped by some highly improbable coincidences plot-wise, sure, but Diego played it excellently.
But what scene throughout the season was the most challenging for the actor to play?
In a recent interview, Diego Luna said that this was a scene from Episode 12, where Cassian sets out on a mission to rescue Bix (Adria Arjona) from the Imperial prison, while Cassian's mother's funeral is going on.
The scene becomes one of the most impactful scenes in Star Wars history, with Maarva (Fiona Shaw) delivering her own eulogy via hologram, which becomes a call to action to fight back against the Empire, throwing the city into chaos, despite Imperial personnel's attempts to control the crowd.
Luna found that scene the most challenging, because its emotional charge resonated with him.
"Well, I was walking underneath Ferrix [and] the director started playing the words of Maarva. So I was listening to the music in a moment, and then the words. With the music, it was just before the words. Let's talk about the music. I'm walking underneath Ferrix, and I'm hearing the music, and I just started crying. I didn't want the character to cry there. It was like, "Shit, no, this can't be happening." I got so emotional. So emotional."
As the actor explained to Collider, it really meant a lot to him on a personal level. "That relation of Cassian and Maarva, and the way she ends up setting him in the right direction."
Apparently, the director and the scriptwriters did such a good job that Diego Luna still feels a connection to his character, perhaps a connection more powerful that they expected:
"I think it's such a strong, strong piece of Cassian's story, and I get emotional just by talking about it. It is, for me, the strongest relation, and it's clearly Maarva's example [that] sets him in that ride that will end in Rogue One. It was really tough to keep my emotions. To keep it strong because I didn't want him to break there. It had to be later on. I didn't want it to break there, and it was impossible."
Well, it's always good to see an actor putting his heart and soul into his performance.