Maz Kanata
| Maz Kanata | |
|---|---|
| Star Wars character | |
Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens
|
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| First appearance | The Force Awakens (2015) |
| Created by | |
| Portrayed by |
Lupita Nyong'o (motion capture) Arti Shah (motion capture double) |
| Voiced by | Lupita Nyong'o (Episodes VII-VIII) Grey Griffin (The Freemaker Adventures, The Resistance Rises) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Former pirate and smuggler Tavern keeper |
Maz Kanata is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she is a CGI character voiced and performed through motion capture by Lupita Nyong'o. Maz, a former pirate and smuggler, is over 1000 years old and manages an interstellar tavern in a castle on the fictional planet Takodana.
The Force Awakens writer/director J. J. Abrams told Entertainment Weekly in November 2015, "I wanted to do [Maz] as a puppet originally, but once we figured out the things that she was required to do, it felt like performance capture was the way to go." With most of the other creatures in her scenes being practical effects, Abrams noted:
Maz needed to look and feel and be just like one of those creatures. And given her mobility, and given the role that she played, it became clear that that was one creature where we should use the tool of CG. But the performance was all Lupita. She was there on set, and we did capture sessions afterwards as well.
Abrams said, "I had some specific ideas about how she would work and what she would do. I had this pitch about these goggles that she wore. Her eyes are an important aspect of her character, and you'll see how it plays out." Abrams told his home town newspaper, the Palisadian-Post, that he based Maz on his late Palisades Charter High School English teacher Rose Gilbert. He said:
We really wanted the story to feel authentic, despite being a wild fantasy. I mentioned Rose in an early story meeting as a sort of timeless, wise figure that I'd actually known in my life ... While we experimented with many looks and styles before settling on the character's final design, Rose was always at the center of the inspiration for Maz.
Nyong'o's meeting with Abrams about an undisclosed role was reported in March 2014, and her casting in the film was first announced on April 29, 2014. Nyong'o was revealed to be playing a performance capture-CGI character, pirate Maz Kanata, in a May 2015 Vanity Fair photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz. The character was first heard in the official TV spot for The Force Awakens, released in November 2015. Days later Abrams confirmed fan speculation that Maz was pictured on the film's theatrical poster, which had been previously released in October 2015, as a diminutive alien wearing large goggles. In December 2015, the orange-skinned character appeared briefly in a video for the Disney XD channel, featuring a scene in which John Boyega's character Finn draws his lightsaber.
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