For those key scenes, only Leia was digitally added. “Claire Roy Harvey, who performed Maz’s body, was able to do that off set, still with line of sight to the animatronic, sitting right next to the monitor where J.J. was. As were the two puppeteers who were doing the dialogue and the facial expressions, and the three of them could work in a very close proximity where J.J. worked. There was very little intrusion into the atmosphere on the set, or into the emotion of the scene. So it brings a flair and a presence. She worked out pretty really well. She’s incredibly complicated. Probably the most complicated puppet we’ve ever made. Certainly, the most freely performed—the closest thing to a fully robotic mimic which we’ve ever made.”
“Probably the most complicated puppet we’ve ever made. Certainly, the most freely performed…”
We had to ask Scanlan if new droid D-O was named after singer Ronnie James Dio, which is the most obvious joke everyone makes. And the answer is…inconclusive because Scanlan didn’t even know the robot’s name at first. “All of the characters that we are making–the new ones, in particular, only have a code word,” he reveals. “They have a code letter or number, so it’s very late [when they get a name], and almost but not quite to shooting, but getting close. So you’ll have to check with J.J.”
As soon as he returns our calls, we’ll get on that.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available now on digital, Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K.
