Hey folks, here's the poster, which came from Starwars.com where you can also get a banner. Below it though is one geek's story about a Frank Oz Directing Seminar, where he talks about many things, including Yoda and the New film, plus his reaction to seeing 30 minutes. Interesting stuff.
Frank Oz gave a directing seminar here in New York City Monday night. There were about twenty-five people there, and it seemed to me that many of them were Muppet and "Star Wars" fans rather than budding directors. I asked him about his rehearsal methods, and he was very generous and detailed in his answer. Unlike most films, which only rehearse on set shortly before the cameras roll, Oz has the clout to demand a two-week rehearsal period during preproduction. He told us about the way he liked to work with actors, cinematographers, etc. Very interesting stuff for budding directors.
Anyway, a couple of cool seeming "Star Wars" fans did ask him about his work on the old "Star Wars" films, and again he was very generous with his response. During a break I mused aloud that I might ask him about the new "Star Wars" movie, and the two guys suddenly got rather nervous and claimed that they'd rather not know anything about it. One of them was being tormented by another fan who kept opening up a prequel magazine inches from his face. He looked as though he was in hell. "I want to Know! No I don't!" etc. I considered respecting their wishes for about two seconds and avoiding the subject, but of course the topic of the new film did eventually come up. Oz told us that he'd recently flown to the Bahamas to loop Yoda's voice. Since he'd also told us that he was only looping the new Muppet film and not performing the puppets of Miss Piggy, Fozzie, etc. himself I assumed that the same went for Yoda. The logical conclusion seemed to be that while Oz would supply the voice of Yoda, the character would be CGI. But he then told us that he did actually perform the character. He operated a new version of the Yoda puppet with four other puppeteers for two days during principle photography in England. The only details he supplied were that the eyes, facial muscles and other details were remote controlled as opposed to cable-operated as in the previous films, and that the head was not made of fiberglass like the old one.
He also told us several interesting stories about his involvment in the "Star Wars" films in general, working with Lucas, Kershner, Freeborn and Hamill. Most interesting to me was a story about how he got the job. After Jim Henson suggested to Lucas that Oz perform Yoda for "Empire" rather than himself, Oz was shown a sketch of the creature while resting in his "Muppet Movie" trailer. He said "All I did was look at that sketch and I got the character instantly." By contrast, Bert took a year to evolve(!)
But the most encouraging thing he said was that Lucas showed him thirty minutes of the new film, and that it was, and I quote: "Fucking incredible. Amazing."
I later told him that he should direct one of the new "Star Wars" films, and he responded by saying, "Fuck no. I don't want to do any more special effects movies after 'Indian in the Cupboard'. Too big a pain in the ass."
Not a great deal of news here, but it is encouraging to hear from a very honest and talented fellow who was involved in the film (believe me, he was brutally honest about other films he'd worked on, as well as powerful people he'd worked with) that the new movie looks great. It was also fun to hear a creator of childhood pop culture icons say "fuck" about ninety times.
Call me Little Lord Farkie.
Well after hearing this from Frank Oz, and the earlier quote from Spielberg, I did this up for the Quote Poster thus far...
