Disney+'s Light & Magic, a documentary series following the legendary VFX house Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), is getting ready to launch its second season—which has led to lots of reminiscing, including from Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best.
ILM Is know for their works on classic movies such as Jurassic Park and the original Star Wars films. But, they still continue to do incredible work on current movies and shows like Alien: Romulus and Andor, or future projects like Tron: Ares.
Ahead of the second season of Light & Magic, a virtual press conference was held, moderated by Brandon Davis, where some of the creatives were able to share some insigh on their experience.
Star Wars Star Ahmed Best Reflects on Jar Jar Binks and VFX In Light & Magic
"There Were a Lot of People Who Were Very Resistant to This Idea..."
Ahmed Best, the man who brought Jar Jar Binks to life in Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (and got his own new character in The Mandalorian), shared his thoughts looking back on the challenges of bringing Jar Jar to the screen, and the passionate reaction he generated from audiences.
When the character first debuted, he was caught up in a wave of controversy. Many proclaimed that Jar Jar was a raciat caricature, with others finding him to be unfunny, annoying, and simply a miss from Lucasfilms.
He was also a completely CGI character, which was fairly new for the time, and the movie’s reliance on VFX had some fans up in arms.
Nowadays, people are much more kind to the character, with that hate seemingly having dissipated quite a bit.
- Moderator: "The love for Jar Jar has really emerged and become such a beautiful thing... I'd love to hear about the experience of revisiting that time with, you know, the new lens of people really love this. This has made such a big cultural impact for Light and Magic Season 2."
Ahmed Best: I mean, I think at the time, we were dealing with a bunch of stuff, right? I think in '99, there was such a huge shift in moviemaking just in general, right, when digital was coming up. So there were a lot of people who were very resistant to this idea that digital filmmaking was actually gonna take over filmmaking.
And then there was also this idea that these digital characters were going to take away from real-life live-action characters, right? It's kind of the same conversation we're having about artificial intelligence right now. That was happening in '99 as well.
And so there were a bunch of, like, vested interests in this thing not working, right, because of just the overall feeling of what was changing, right? We were moving from the 20th century into the 21st century. Everybody was lamenting about Y2K. I mean, I remember my father collecting nickels and putting them in the basement, right? So there was this real big change happening, and when someone like George Lucas, who is a futurist, one of the reasons why I do the futurist work I do is because of George Lucas, who knows that we have to move forward in these ways.
When that person comes in and pioneers the way he comes in, there's going to be pushback. And Jar Jar was a perfect lightning rod for that pushback. But George also said to me and Rob, he said this to you as well, 'cause you say it in the documentary. He was like, '20 years from now, it's gonna be a different story.' Said it to me at the time, you know? And it was hard to deal with at the time, but looking back now, he was absolutely right. It's a completely different story now.
- Moderator: "And obviously, motion capture has become such an incredible, massive part of filmmaking. Has anyone come to you in the years since you were the first to do it the way you did it with Jar Jar to ask for advice, to say hey, man, how'd you do it, that stands out to you?"
Best: No. You know, one of the things that was tough for me when the whole backlash happened with Jar Jar was the fact that the thing that was overshadowed was the work.
And all of us were in this for the work, and 'Star Wars Phantom Menace' was this wonderful bubble where a bunch of really geeky, artsy people from different parts of the world, but with the same heart, got together and made something really special.
So, we were really focused on making the really special, and when it came out, we were all excited about the really special. So, the hard part about it for me was not being able to continue that really special work, right? I really wanted to be integral in where motion capture was going because I saw the potential of it.
I got so excited by not only the technological advances of it but the art involved. And watching John and Rob create software that was based off of the input of what I performed, I just saw this entire world open up that had tremendous amounts of potential.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contribute in the way that I wanted to because of the backlash, and that was hard.
How George Lucas and Company Got Over Disagreements
"George Was Famous for Saying, 'You Guys Will Figure It Out...'"
Rob Coleman, the creative director of ILM's Sydney Studios, shed some light on how they would get through some of the harder moments in making Phantom Menance, including navigating big disagreements between parties.
- Moderator: "Rob, Ahmed mentioned respect, George [Lucas] kind of leading the pack, positivity, and all that. There's a really fun sequence I saw where you and George had a disagreement... Can you talk about how these differing opinions and things like that that we see in Light and Magic Season 2 led to some of the innovation and the incredible achievements that ILM has delivered to the world?"
Rob Coleman: Yeah, I think George was famous for saying, 'You guys will figure it out.' And Joe was at the front line of that. John was famously, and it's in the documentary, where George is going through all the boards, and they cut to John's face a couple times. The realization in his face, right?
The truth is, we had a production meeting every Wednesday, is my recollection, with all the visual effects supervisors and producers, and then the head of production. And there was one agenda item every week. Can we get the movie done? And for months, if not a year, the answer was no, we cannot get the movie done, even though we were making the movie.
Because, for example, there's a line in the script that something like the Gungan Army marches out to war. We had no crowd system. I could load maybe 10 characters into my software to animate it. There's no way I could do hundreds or thousands.
So, we reached out to the R&D team, and they were feverishly writing this stuff. But time was ticking, and I'm actually getting goosebumps thinking about it right now, there was a reality in my head which is we're not gonna be able to deliver the Gungan Army.
So the thing about ILM, and even to this day, is that it's a company made of a bunch of really smart people, who sit together and say, 'How are we gonna figure this out?' And it's about innovation, but it's also about what Ahmed was talking about, which is respect and honoring and knowing that we are better because of the people we are with, and that's in our DNA.
So, I think there were heart palpitations, and you can see it both in the new footage of us talking and in the historical footage. You'll see facial expressions. And yes, we didn't always agree with George, 'cause I was in my head going, can we get this? I don't know how to do it that way.
And then he'd say sometimes, 'Well, you go away and figure it out and you come back,' and we would, and I would.
Joe Johnston on What Part of ILM's Journey Light and Magic Season 2 Focuses on
"We Really Start This Season With Jurassic Park..."
Joe Johnston, the director and executive producer of Disney+'s Light & Magic, shed some light on what audiences can expect going into Season 2 of the documentary series.
- Moderator: "Can you talk about the period of ILM's history that Season 2 of Light and Magic is covering and what its focus is?"
Joe Johnston: Well, we really start this season with Jurassic Park... Because it is recognized as the, sort of the moment in the history of film when everything changed. When digital technology became viable as a visual effects tool.
So, that's really where we started. And we take it right up to the present day... with the technology and the projects that ILM is working on right now.
- Moderator: "It does cover so much ground. It's so cool to see. And why do you feel like this is such an important story to tell? And where do you hope that audiences and viewers who see this get to take away from it?"
Johnston: Well, one of the important stories that I wanted to tell with Season 2 was the effect that George Lucas has had on digital technology. And, you know, just film itself. All his influences and the things that he's contributed, to the things he's come up with and invented and inspired, that's one of the focuses of Season 2.
Light & Magic Season 2 premieres on April 18, 2025, on Disney+.
