The Star Wars franchise has been rich with worldbuilding, history, and unique set designs and scifi gadgetry that is still celebrated today. With four decades of 11 films, six television shows, and a lot of releases in other media, it’s always been a wonder for many to think about the process behind the creation of any aspect of the famed franchise. Wired talks to Victoria Mahoney, the second unit director for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Mahoney shares what it’s like behind the scenes of the movie, and the process of its creation:
If you thought even space opera scenery would get humdrum after seeing it all day, every day for months, think again. “I can tell you with my whole soul that every time we went to a new location, or we walked onto a different sound stage, I had the same feeling as when I walked onto the first one: ‘Hoooly shit,’” Mahoney says. “You’d hear everyone whispering through the crowd, ‘I love this set.’ [As a director,] what’s fun was finding how to celebrate each crew’s set and all the little, teeny hidden Easter eggs they tell you about. It was like a really great Rubik’s cube. You had to really study them.” Getting her to pick a favorite was difficult, but she settled on Ajan Kloss, the jungle planet where the rebels make their base. “The height and the scale was really something to see. A ship inside a soundstage! The crew had built a forest! There were so many places for really delicious shots and story points to be discovered.”
image via Wired