Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian

So, here we are in a train yard in Los Angeles.

We got our whole cast here, and we're having a good time.

We're trying to draw from, uh, all over from Star Wars.

It's really helpful for authenticity.

And the enthusiasm is infectious.

I'm a fan since I was little.

And now I'm surrounded by other fans, too.

And it's been a real treat.

There's a whole generation, that was the age I was

when I saw the original trilogy that were that age...

Sure, for the prequels.

When they saw the prequels.

And you were around for the prequels. You were doing it...

I was.

That was super cutting-edge stuff,

just like the motion control stuff was cutting-edge then.

Now it feels like that's nostalgic, in a way,

compared to what we're able to do now.

Yeah.

You had to reengage with Star Wars

after people hadn't seen it for how long since the original trilogy?

Return of the Jedi was, what, 1983?

And then we're '99.

I was in high school.

I was an usher at the RKO Keith's in Flushing when that movie was playing.

I went from being a kid for the first one,

by the last one I was with the Ewoks and everything,

I was sort of, uh, It was no longer my main focus, you know?

I sort of moved on to the Mad Max movies

and The Road Warrior, that kind of stuff.

So, what was it like to...

Did you ever talk about these things while working on that?

What was Star Wars?

Or was it always George's vision, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do?

I was very inspired to enter the industry because of Star Wars.

In fact, I was 14 when Star Wars came out

and started to think a little bit about what am I gonna do with my career?

And, um, there was mechanical engineering or maybe architecture and...

But then Star Wars came out,

and suddenly there was all this exciting new stuff happening in entertainment.

And it was really energizing and inspiring.

And that really pushed me over the edge to want to go into the industry.

And so...

Then, all the steps that I took that landed me at ILM were with the hope that,

"I want to work on something as big and ambitious as a Star Wars movie someday".

And I just happened to be in the right place at the right time

when George was starting to ramp up new Star Wars films.

Were you at ILM at the time?

Yeah.

You were already there, and then, "Everybody, we're gonna make Star Wars"?

That's kinda what happened?

Yes, in a way and...

Everybody who was working at ILM loved Star Wars,

not thinking you're gonna do it again and George enters and says,

"We'll make three more Star Wars movies".

We had company meetings annually and, uh...

George would address everybody and take questions,

and inevitably, every year someone would ask...

"What about Star Wars?"

"Are you gonna do more Star Wars movies?"

And...

The first few years I was there, he was always noncommittal,

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someday".

And then I remember that one year, somebody asked that same question,

and he went, "Hmm, yeah, maybe".

Well, I can speak to that,

'cause I was around with the movies that were in between, which is the Indiana Jones movies.

And I don't think he ever stopped thinking about whether he would do more Star Wars,

and I think what happened during Indy was that he was not on the floor directing.

He was not necessarily, you know, "in it" making...

Which was Steven.

'Cause it's primarily Steven.

He was producing.

Exactly.

I think with anybody like George, and anyone who's a filmmaker,

they get antsy after a while

at not being able to be on that floor telling stories, making movies.

And his love of pushing the technology,

obviously, we were doing a certain amount of that

with each of the Indiana Jones movies.

But it wasn't like Star Wars.

And I think that each time we would push the technology

in making those movies,

he got the bug to start thinking about what that might mean for Star Wars.

I think Star Wars is such a part of people's lives,

and it's something they see now on a regular basis

that when you say "George Lucas, he created it",

I don't think people give enough full value to what that means.

I like to think I do, but I work with him, so I've seen him create it.

I've seen the person that comes up with the lines and the dialogue

and understands Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker in a very deep level,

because those characters are a part of him.

And for my part, joining Lucasfilm, I always respected that.

I never felt that Star Wars is something that was mine.

I felt privileged to be a part of telling the story.

I felt grateful that I got to do it with George

and that I would write stories and try and tell stories, and he would say,

"Okay, well, that's not what I meant", or "that's not how that works".

and he would course-correct it, because he should. It's his story.

He created the universe, the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca, Yoda.

I mean, all these things, Darth Vader...all came out of his brain,

and you just need to tap into that to stay true to kind of what this is

and do what George did,

which is constantly find new ways to tell these stories.

I've always been in awe

of Star Wars and the magic of that.

What George has always done is bring collaborators in

and see where you might go or take this.

He really understood that the characters

are meant to expand in ways that George might not even predict.

And he's always been inclusive in that way.

He's always wanted to really push the story

in directions that includes other storytellers.

That's good.

I really love Star Wars and obsessed over it in many different ways.

And what was always cool about Star Wars was that it was a galaxy,

and therefore as a kid growing up,

I always felt that there were stories within that galaxy

that I could be a part of and was a part of telling,

even if it was just me and my friends,

or me by myself with my action figures.

Okay, laugh.

And flames!

Whoa. Easy, easy.

It's fascinating to experience that as a child.

You know, to have your imagination so enriched by these stories.

There are such universal themes in the Star Wars stories,

and ironically, I think people feel that despite being fantasy,

it reflects the world we actually live in,

in its inclusiveness and diversity and conflict.

Wars not make one great.

The spirit of Star Wars,

it's always been about these young dreamers and hot rods

and everything else, and so...

What I feel is so great about the team that's come together

is that everyone is coming with their own experiences

to a universe and a galaxy that can support it.

And I think Jon wants to see that,

and everyone's gonna have their own different point of view

of what makes Star Wars special to them.

But I think that's exactly why this show is so exciting,

because it can hold all of that,

because the galaxy has always been that big.

Just like the good old days.

Yeah, just like the good old days.

Let's talk about George and all of...because I don't think people understand...

Let's rattle off all the breakthroughs...

Jeez.

That he had, starting...

I'll start...

We'll go around. Let's do a party game.

Everybody say one.

When I came in the company, I was astounded to find out

that there were over 126 patents

literally new technology that he had created.

Astounding. - Like Edison Lab.

So, let's start. Here, I'll do one. First CG character.

EditDroid.

EditDroid was turned into Avid.

Motion control.

For the miniatures at Kerner?

Yeah. Well, first motion control system on Star Wars, first film.

A good question that you know the answer to is,

which Star Wars film has the most practical miniatures in it of all the films. Including the new ones?

Episode I.

Phantom Menace.

That's all miniature work.

Everybody's like, "That's CG". No, that's real miniatures.

Models.

Yeah, models. Beautiful and big models.

What else we got?

It's not a single type of thing,

but Jurassic Park was a massive sea change for visual effects.

That was the tipping point.

Before that, you'd had the chrome T-1000.

People thought,

"Okay, that's suitable for computer graphics, it's a chrome dude".

It doesn't look like a real person.

There were other things that were kind of...

The Abyss really started that, and that was also ILM, right?

Abyss, then T2, and then Jurassic,

and that was when people saw for the first time it was flesh and blood.

Not like someone else was doing Abyss

and ILM jumped in to do Jurassic.

Back then, there were very few places.

When the dinosaurs come onto the screen for the first time,

I sat up in my seat and I thought, "I have to know how they did this",

because I understand that the computer, there's computer graphic involved.

I could learn how to do this.

I'll never be the world's greatest artist at painting or drawing,

but I feel like I can learn how to do this on the computer.

I can get a book, I can find people, 'cause this is gonna absolutely explode.

And that's how I started on my journey.

It was that moment, seeing that movie, and seeing things I need to know.

It makes me think, hearing you talk about this...

I'd be curious from all of you guys because of what we all do

and what we all get excited about.

What your movie experience was, when that light bulb went off,

and you're like, "I'm doing this"?

For me, it was the original King Kong. I saw it on TV when I was six or seven,