Baby Yoda, whose name is officially Grogu, took the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, towards soaring popularity. Viewers of the famous Star Wars show have given Baby Yoda a star platform, with most Mandalorian merchandise revolving around the lovable green child.
However, not everybody is a big fan of Baby Yoda, including Gremlins director, Joe Dante.
Dante believes that Baby Yoda is a copy of Gizmo the Mogwai from the iconic 1984 flick, Gremlins. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Dante stated that: “I think the longevity of (the films) is really key to this one character (Gizmo), who is essentially like a baby. Which brings me, of course, to the subject of Baby Yoda, who is completely stolen and is just out-and-out copied. Shamelessly, I would think.”
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In an explanation to Deadline last year, The Mandalorian director Jon Favreau said that he was thinking more about E.T. than Gizmo when designing Baby Yoda.
“Dave [Filoni] had done a sketch of kind of a Michelangelo/E.T. moment, and that was a source of inspiration.”
The sketch, which shows Grogu’s cradle floating with his hand reaching out from it towards Mando’s hand strongly resembles Michelangelos’ “The Creation of Adam.”
“We got lots and lots of drawings,” Favreau explained in the Disney Gallery episode. “Some of them were too cute, some of them were too ugly, some of them were the wrong proportions.”
Favreau added that one image by Chris Alzmann was the basis for the final design of Grogu.
“His eyes were a little weird, and he looked a little out of it, there was something a little off with it. But we found it charming, and that became the rallying image that we said, ‘This is good.’ And it developed from there.”
What do you think? Is Grogu a copy of Gizmo? Let us know in the comments below.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
