The Mandalorian and Grogu director used Apple Vision Pro to preview the film in IMAX

Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) has not hesitated to adopt new technologies for filmmaking. While producing The Mandalorian for Disney+, he was one of the first filmmakers to use ILM’s massive LED screens, aka “The Volume,” to produce more realistic lighting and backgrounds on film sets. For the feature film The Mandalorian and Groguwhich hits theaters on May 22, Favreau recently revealed that he had Disney create an Apple Vision Pro app to preview the entire IMAX scope during filming.

“So I’m making an IMAX movie and I’m looking at a TV screen, and no matter how big your TV screen is, it’s not an IMAX screen,” Favreau said on a recent episode of The Town podcast. “We created software so I can use my Apple Vision Pro and sit in an IMAX theater and see the full aspect ratio when we line up a shot. And I can look at that take and see what people will see.”

Favreau is not the first director to use Apple Vision Pro — Wicked Filmmaker Jon Chu has also used it to handle post-production work, but he is the first to specifically mention the headset’s use for IMAX production. This is still a relatively limited use case for the Apple Vision Pro, but it could be useful to future filmmakers. With its wide field of view and crisp micro-OLED displays, the Apple Vision Pro is one of the only ways to replicate the experience of watching a big IMAX screen at home. (Meta Quest 3 is a close second.)

In general, Favreau says he’s more excited about using existing consumer technology in the filmmaking process than AI. He mentions using Unreal Engine to preview special effects on The Mandalorian and his previous films, and he thinks the quality of the game engines could be good enough to make them into later final productions.

“That’s what the animation industry has understood all along,” he said. “Do it right before you paint cellophane.”