FEATURED CREATURES
Designer reveals what went into creating the cool new critters and droids for ‘The Last Jedi’
‘STAR Wars” superfans may live and breathe their favorite galaxy far far away, but they’ve got nothing on Neal Scanlan, the designer of all the aliens, droids and creatures scaly and otherwise in the new film, “The Last Jedi,” out Dec. 15.
For the Oscar-winning British visual-effects artist, it’s an enterprise that’s taken over his life.
“It’s 24/7,” Scanlan tells The Post of the five years he’s worked on the space-adventure movies. “We haven’t stopped since ‘Force Awakens,’” which came out in 2015.
“In fact, before we start ‘IX,’ [set for a 2019 release], as we call it, we’re due to have a one-month hiatus, which I am very much looking forward to, just in order to really energize and, in a sense, find that sort of creative mojo.”
What’s more, Scanlan also worked on “Rogue One” (2016) and “Solo” (due in May). For “The Force Awakens,” he designed about 100 creatures from scratch, including fan favorite BB-8, R2-D2’s cute successor, and Maz Kanata, the diminutive orange bartender voiced and played via motion-capture by Lupita Nyong’o. For “The Last Jedi,” that number has shot to more than 180 new beings, which took 18 months to create.
“It’s the most creatures, I think, that’s ever been done for any ‘Star Wars’ film so far,” he says.
Regardless of the intimidating todo list, “Jedi” director Rian Johnson and Scanlan and his team of 120 crewmen and 80 puppeteers
lovingly crafted each character, many of them actual puppets. It’s that meticulousness, Scanlan says, that makes the difference between a character beloved by fans, such as C-3PO or Jabba the Hutt, and a loathed one, like Jar Jar Binks.
“I have always felt that one of the great things about ‘Star Wars,’ one of the vital ingredients, is that it feels somehow recognizable,” Scanlan says. “Although we’re in a galaxy far away, there are elements constantly [in] any scene that make you feel that somehow you’ve seen them before, or you feel comfortable with them. We always use that as our kind of mantra.”
Scanlan adds: “We always try to reference in some way, shape or form, the world around us,” citing creatures like the porgs or crystal foxes that audiences will recognize because of their similarity to real-life animals.
What makes a “Star Wars” character iconic, Scanlan says, is its striking look. “They have a very strong silhouette. Anyone can draw BB-8 now, and that shape is instantly recognizable.”
In fact, that’s how J.J. Abrams first conceived the little round droid.
“J.J. sort of designed the initial sketch of BB-8 on a restaurant napkin,” Scanlan says. “And I have to say the first moment I saw it, I did marvel at the simplicity and brilliance of it. It’s just incredible. Like all great design, it just gets it in the moment.”
Here, Scanlan tells The Post about some of the new characters they’ll meet in “The Last Jedi.”