The Light & Magic director also looks back at Raiders of the Lost Arks infamous face melting scene.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s go back in time.
What was it like starting your career off that way?
Irvin Kershner, Gary Kurtz, George Lucas, and Lawrence Kasdan on set of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’.Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
LAWRENE KASDAN: Well, it was kind of amazing.
It had taken me seven years to sell two scripts that I had written, two spec scripts.
And the second one was purchased by Steven Spielberg.
An AT-AT from ‘Light & Magic’.Lucasfilm Ltd.
Are you okay with that?"
I said, “Yes, I’m very okay with that.”
And we walked over and we saw George, and he gave the bare bones of whatRaiderswould be.
Joe Johnston, John Dykstra, and Dave Jones in ‘Light & Magic’.Lucasfilm Ltd.
Will you help me with that?"
And he said, “I’m going to read it tonight.
I thought that was perfectly fair, but he did like it.
Face-melting from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’.Lucasfilm Ltd.
And so I found myself unexpectedly writing firstRaidersand thenEmpirein quick succession.
And I was in heaven.
At that time, almost none.
And I was busy writing a lot of things, but I visitedEmpireone time in England.
I never was on the set ofRaiders.
And so I was seeing people do the finished product, and I was amazed.
And now suddenly it’s on screen.
And what I didn’t know at that time was who these people were.
But over the years, I’ve used them.
I’ve made other movies there.
And it continued right through the generations.
They’re very grateful for having the experience of working there, being around these equally brilliant people.
So I found that all kind of moving.
And as the years went by, I got to see and know more about them.
And then, of course, this was the deep dive that I just really wanted to take.
Where did these people come from?
How did they wind up at ILM?
And I don’t think that’s a nostalgia at all.
They’ve gone from that tactile place into a digital place.
And sometimes the digital stuff is brilliant, but it can’t have that thing.
And I think what you’re talking about is an affection.
It’s not just you.
It’s the species.
They did it before anything.
They were in caves and making things, they were painting on the walls.
I think there’s something irresistible about that.
And when you don’t see the tactile part of it, you miss it.
I think part of it is also the: How did they do that?
When I watched those old movies it was: How did they do the Tauntaun?
How did they do these things?
That’s the magic for me.
Well, that’s what I wanted to show to be about.
And not only how did they do it?
Because the patience and the art involved is astounding.
But also how did theyfeelabout it?
It’s just astounding, the patience and the dedication that they brought to all of those undertakings.
Now there are people sitting at computers doing digital stuff and it’s painstaking work.
Why is it more exciting than anything I’ve ever seen?”
They know that there have been spaceships in movies since the beginning.
Why is this so dynamic?
Why is it so fast?
Why is it so energetic?
And so everything that’s inANew Hopeis the seed for everything that follows.
And they found out different, better ways to do it, but nothing can equal.
That’s like being there when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
It’s that first shot too, right?
And I love it.
And what did it look like when they first tried it?
It’s so simple.
And like you, that’s my favorite effect ever.
When I was a kid, there’s a scene inRaiders of the Lost Arkthat literally gave me nightmares.
I’m guessing you know what scene it is, don’t you?
It’s the face melting scene, which you guys get into in this series.
It was amazing that they had figured out such a good way to do it.
And Steven will be the first one to tell you that.
And he says it in the show, I think.
And that’s really the story of ILM, because these images don’t come full blown from people.
They come as an idea, and they’re dependent on the people at ILM to make it real.
And that happened with that very tactile…
It’s a wax figure melting under the heat.
That’s very powerful.
When people say to me, “What do you think about the evolution of effects?”
Because everything else, as we go along, you think they can do anything.
But when that movie came out, you didn’t think that.
You thought, “What just happened?”
What’s the most interesting thing you learned about ILM while making this series?
Well, there was something that I hoped, I didn’t know it, but I was hoping.
It’s a team sport.
And I suspected that.
So it’s astounding to see a 10-year-old Ken Ralston making a movie.
And he winds up here, where 50 years later, that’s what he did with his life.
And sometimes you ask two different people about something, you get two different sometimes contradictory stories.
Well, that was my main goal.
I would prep for each interview.
I love that feeling, generosity of affection between them.
And I sort of hope that would be what it was.
And it turned out to be much more than that.
What was it like going through that archival stuff?
When he was makingAmerican Graffiti, he wanted there to be a record of the process.
And he with full commitment, always had people documenting it.
And we had access to things that no one’s seen.
And that’s kind of thrilling when you see.
And I find that amazing.
I find these people amazing.
And Phil Tippett says, “Yeah, they said they wanted this kind of creature.
So I sat down and did a few of these things in an hour.”
And you see these incredible drawings, any which one could have become the Tauntaun.
And you should say, “Wow.”
If I spent my whole life, I could never draw a picture that way.
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