Toby Haynes

"Every character that you'll meet in Andor will have two sides to them, and it's about peeling away the layers of those characters and showing all sides of people – the choices that they make, which side they are on and who they affiliate with. Star Wars is this incredible galaxy with loads of interesting planets to explore, but what I really think is interesting about what Tony [Gilroy] is doing is that he's exploring the mind and the ideas of what it is to be a rebel."

―Toby Haynes^[2]

Toby Haynes is a director who helmed the first, second, third, eighth, ninth, and tenth episodes of Andor Season One.

Biography[]

Toby Haynes has been a Star Wars fan for his whole life. In September, 2020, Haynes took over for^[3] executive producer^[4] Tony Gilroy as the director for the first block of the Andor television series.^[3] According to Gilroy, each director had three to four months to prepare and 55 days to shoot.^[5] This was more preparation time than Haynes had for most of his projects. Gilroy was worried about how much Haynes loved the franchise, but Haynes made sure to put being a fan behind being a dramatist. Gilroy told him he wanted the monsters and droids to be completely integrated in the world instead of announcing them in a special shot. Haynes was shocked to learn that his episodes started with a brothel and two dead cops, so he told this to Gilroy, who said that he was trying to make a point. When Haynes asked Gilroy about the lens choices, the latter said all he needed to know was that Haynes knew what he was going to do.^[3]

In the beginning, Haynes wanted to bring what he enjoyed about the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, including feeling it was on the ground.^[3] He liked that the show was realistic and was about the gray areas of life. He thought it was interesting how Gilroy explored the mind and ideas of what it takes to be a rebel.^[2] On Haynes' second day, he went out to see Ferrix being constructed in Marlow, England, and he was impressed by the scale of the set. He then realized the large responsibility that he had, which he found exciting.^[3]

Haynes found the use of handheld shots to be refreshing because he could engage with the style and it put him in the characters' points of view. Haynes enjoyed when he walked on a new set, and the set would inform how he shot the scenes. Haynes and the crew wanted every actor to use their own accents without softening them to provide realism.^[3] According to Gilroy, everything on Ferrix was filmed first.^[6] Haynes and the actors spent about a month block shooting his six episodes' scenes on Ferrix. He had fun working on the scene that introduces B2EMO on the Ferrix street. After Christmas, it was the coldest part of the shoot.^[3] Haynes enjoyed working with Diego Luna, the actor who played Cassian Andor. He viewed him as an intelligent and nuanced actor, as well as a "details guy."^[2]

When Haynes portrayed the romance between Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz, he tried to convey what is written to make it feel impactful. To do this, he made sure that he was feeling the romance and not making it too subtle or too bold. Haynes wanted the audience to empathize with Dedra Meero and Syril Karn because he believes that the scariest villain is one who thinks they are doing the right thing. He figured that showing that in three dimensions would make the audience think about what it takes to be a good guy. Haynes found it important to subvert the moral construct of the alliance. He enjoyed working with actor Kyle Soller because of the dimensions to his portrayal of Karn. Haynes said he was drawn to the actor despite how unappealing he should be.^[3]

Haynes thought Stellan Skarsgård was an intelligent and creative actor, and his transformation into Luthen Rael was a surprise for the director.^[2] The day before his rehearsal for the episode "Narkina 5," Forest Whitaker, the actor who played Saw Gerrera, called Haynes to ask him questions about backstory and Kyber crystals. Haynes enjoyed being present for the rehearsal in which Whitaker and Stellan Skarsgård, Luthen Rael's actor, first read the scene between their characters in the episode. When that scene was filmed for real, Haynes wanted to end it with a really direct and face-on shot of Whitaker after he ranted about the separatist groups of the alliance. Haynes had Whitaker repeat his speech several times to get the close-up, telling him to "go crazy with it" in a scene that the director said was magical and one his best close-ups. Haynes said that having Whitaker play opposite Skarsgård was a career highlight.^[3]

According to producer Sanne Wohlenberg, the scenes in the Narkina 5 prison were the last to be shot before filming ended for Season One.^[7] Haynes called the prison sets incredible, and he said it was one of the biggest indoor sets he ever saw.^[8] While working on the episodes set in the prison, Haynes walked onto the set barefoot to get the sensation of the setting, which made him feel vulnerable. Haynes enjoyed working with Andy Serkis, the actor who played Kino Loy. When Serkis tried an Iraqi accent in a rehearsal, Haynes and the crew dropped that in favor of Serkis' own accent.^[3]

In September, 2022, Haynes attended the Andor launch event in Hollywood, California.^[9] Gilroy wanted Haynes to return for Season Two, but he was too busy working on the Black Mirror show. Haynes was not able to give a decision in time, so he was removed from the second season.^[6]

Filmography[]

Year	Title	Series	Contribution(s)
2022	"Kassa"	Andor	Director^[1]
2022	"That Would Be Me"	Andor	Director^[1]
2022	"Reckoning"	Andor	Director^[1]
2022	"Narkina 5"	Andor	Director^[1]
2022	"Nobody's Listening!"	Andor	Director^[1]
2022	"One Way Out"	Andor	Director^[1]