Chewing gum and yoghurt pots to suggest spaceships, potatoes that become asteroids, painted frames to represent an abyssal void... The decorations as much as the extraterrestrial creatures of "Star Wars", it's a story of bits of string.
But assembled with skill and creativity.
So much so that George Lucas, creator of the saga and director of the first "Star Wars", set up a company to always stay ahead of the Hollywood industry: "Industrial Light and Magic" (ILM).
By the way, did you know that in the first movies, the ships don't move?
It is actually the cameras that move around them to give the illusion of movement in space: a technique developed by John Dykstra for the needs of the film.
Available on Disney +, the documentary mini-series "Light & Magic" paints the portrait of a company of dreamers who are asked to do the impossible: resourceful technicians.
And amateurs, above all: all excelled in their discipline, but most had not worked for the cinema, of which they will become magicians.
Phil Tippett and his puppets of extraterrestrial creatures, Harrison Ellenshaw and his "matte paintings" which bring the Death Star to life through an optical illusion... Director and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan ("The Empire Strikes Back"), here at commands, dwells on the original paths of these creative people who couldn't keep still: between two films (and two Oscars), Richard Edlund, for example, invented a portable guitar amp which met with great success.
The program, extremely well supplied in the archives of the studios, presents a company where life is good – we can even see the emergency evacuation of an inflatable plane used as a swimming pool slide in the courtyard.
Without forgetting the tensions: the fact that John Dysktra was not recalled (as he puts it elegantly) after the first “Star Wars” while Lucas embarked on the system he had invented.
Or those around digital: should we replace the practical effects that have made the success of the company?
Replace them no, always continue to innovate, yes.
What they did on the “Indiana Jones”, “the Goonies”, the “Back to the Future” trilogy or even the “Jurassic Park”.
The documentary sticks to this golden age of business,
Editor's note:
4.5/5
"Light & Magic", American documentary mini-series by Lawrence Kasdan (2022).
Six one-hour episodes.
On Disney+
