With the recent release of The Director and the Jedi, more and more Star Wars fans have been able to get some insight into how much work it really takes to bring some of their favorite creatures to life. With the incredible focus on bringing back practical effects to the sequel trilogy, teams of talented performers have been tasked bringing these incredible creations to the widening universe.
One of these performers is the prolific Derek Arnold, who has been a part of some of the most iconic additions to the Star Wars universe. Whether as Resistance Controller Vober Dand, the Jakku-native Luggabeast or as Super Kaiju’s personal favorite, Bor Gullet in Rogue One, Arnold has worked on each of the Disney Star Wars movies, with no signs of stopping!
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Super Kaiju: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. We really enjoyed meeting you at the event earlier this year at Madness Comics. How did you get initially involved with the Star Wars franchise?
Derek Arnold: I worked on the Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics. Alongside a handful of other puppeteers, I was involved with bringing an eighty-foot-tall Lord Voldemort to life. One of those other puppeteers was Brian Herring (one of the puppeteers that brought BB-8 to life), who ended up being hired as the puppetry consultant on TFA. A year after the Olympics, Brian called me up and asked if I would be able to help out on one of his projects … low and behold, that project was Star Wars! And now I’ve been a part of four Star Wars movies to date!
SK: The first of those four films was The Force Awakens. One of the most iconic characters you brought to life for that film was the Luggabeast, part of the some of the first filmed shots of the sequel trilogy. What was it like to be on that set in Abu Dhabi?
DA: Abu Dhabi was hot! It was around 122° Fahrenheit. But The Force Awakens was actually the first film I had ever been a part of. In particular, that Luggabeast sequence was shot over three separate evenings, since JJ (Abrams) wanted to shoot it within the last hour of sunlight. We were out there for two weeks in total and it is still one of the best locations I have been lucky enough to shoot on. There was such a great energy out there from the whole crew and everyone was so excited. To this day, that energy for these movies still hasn’t drained!
SK: How exactly was the Luggabeast operated? I know it was two people, probably slightly similar to your work on War Horse. How much did you get to interact with Kiran Shah?
DA: The Luggabeast was a seven-month build, leading up to the actual filming in Abu Dhabi. Tom Wilton (the other puppeteer in the Luggabeast) and I went to Pinewood weekly, continuing to test it out and seeing what could be done to get the most from it. Tom and I have worked a lot together: if there is ever a two-man puppet in the films, they put us in it (whether it is the Luggabeast or Thala-Siren or Bargwill Tomder).
The puppet went through a lot of changes: originally it was all robotic, with some concept designs actually placing it in the snow of Iceland. Brian had brought us in specifically for the Luggabeast, because of our work on War Horse. I operated the back legs and Tom operated the front legs. If you had been there during the actual day of filming, you would have actually seen both of our legs, as well as the poles we used to connect us to the legs (painted out in post-production).
We worked a lot with Kiran leading up to the shoot in Abu Dhabi and during the rest of filming, as well as on Rogue One, The Last Jedi and the upcoming Solo. Simply put: Tom and I think he is a legend and genuinely one of the nicest people on set. You could just sit for hours listening to his stories, since he has been in the business for over 30 years and has worked with nearly everyone in Hollywood.
SK: How close do you get to work with the concept artists that help put together the look of the creatures you bring to life? I know you’ve mentioned working through a lot with, one of my favorite current concepters, Jake Lunt Davies.
DA: The concept work for the creatures is already done and signed off before we are even brought in for fittings. Once we see what we are being fitted for we can have chats with the designers about movement and where the ideas came from.
I’ve been lucky enough to help bring a lot of Jake’s crazy creations to life (whether it was the Luggabeast, Vober Dand, Chancellor Villecham or Pao) and always hope that I get to be a part of one of his creatures when the next Star Wars movie starts to prep.
SK: I love his designs so much … they are each so perfectly “Star Wars” and it really ends up being iconic when both of you get to work together on those characters.
What was the process like for Rogue One, compared to Force Awakens? Do you have any specific characters that you’ve portrayed that you’ve had a tougher time working on than others?
DA: The process between the films wasn’t too different, since the majority of the crew and CFX team were the same. Both JJ and Gareth (Edwards) are great directors, with a focused vision for their films. Both were great to work with.
Each character, however, brings a different challenge. Some challenge you mentally, especially if you’re in a confined space for hours and hours and it is pitch black. With Pao, for instance, I couldn’t see or hear anything when the animatronic head was on. I had an ear piece, with the external puppeteer (Phil Woodfine) controlling the face behind the camera guiding me through the scene, letting me know what was happening. With Pao, it was completely an exercise in trust: I had to trust that Phil was going to lead me where I needed to go, navigating me safely across the set. I couldn’t hold back if I was running or moving around or it would have looked hesitant. But it was a crazy five months shooting with Pao, so Phil and I had some good laughs together.
Other characters are heavy and physically demanding. It is never a surprise, though, since you know exactly what you’re signing up for from the first fitting. The CFX team does everything they can to make us as comfortable as possible, so that we can do our job in the best way we can. In that way, it is pretty hard to say which (if any) are harder than the others, simply because when you actually see the film and that end product, you’re just itching to start the next one right away.
Derek will be appearing all weekend at All-Con in Dallas, Texas, where we’ll be definitely swinging by to talk to him some more (and try to bug him for any info he might have on Solo). Also excitingly, Galactic Productions is also bringing in three more mainstays from the Original Trilogy: Angus MacIness, who played Gold Leader, John Morton, who played Dak and Bespin Boba Fett and David Ankrum, who voiced Wedge Antilles.
As always, we also want to thank Zachery McGinnis and Galactic Productions for helping set this up! Stay tuned for our coverage from All-Con!
