Phil Roberts 
A rare appearance by Industrial Light & Magic maestro Dennis Muren at the BFI London Film Festival
Team Future of the Force attended a rare appearance by ILM legend Dennis Muren at the BFI London Film Festival.
How do we define a legend…? Would a legend constitute a cinematic champion who has crafted the visual effects that we have come to love and enjoy in countless movies, helping to define our cinematic experiences for well over thirty years? Indeed, it does.
We have all enjoyed his fantastical, genre-defining images in such movies as Star Wars: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Jurassic Park, E.T the Extra Terrestrial, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the Back to the Future trilogy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to name but a few of his on screen credits. The great man has been awarded nine Academy Awards for his stunning craftsmanship, which has created some of the most memorable visualizations that have been imagined by directorial giants like George Lucas, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg.
The artist I speak of is the Industrial Light and Magic architect himself, Dennis Muren.
BEHIND THE MAGIC
The Future of the Force team was privileged to attend an event at the London BFI, which was designed to celebrate the creative technologies of movie-making. The event focused on Industrial Light and Magic’s contributions to the genre. Event host Nancy Tartaglione, an international editor for Deadline.com with 18 years of experience in entertainment, engaged in discussion with legendary visual effects artist Dennis Muren, along with David Vickery and Kevin Jenkins from the UK branch of ILM.
ICONS
Jenkins and Vickery are icons of the UK film industry in their own right and certainly shone alongside the special effects expert seated with them. As they listed their numerous credits, they highlighted their work on films such as Jurassic World, The Force Awakens, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Edge of Tomorrow, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, among others. As the presentation video featuring Jedi Master Yoda and various starships from the Star Wars galaxy played on the big screen behind them, we were taken on a journey through the team’s many accomplishments. These achievements remain as awe-inspiring today as they were when we first saw them on the big screen.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex roaring at the finale of Jurassic Park filled the screen, and in what was a genuinely moving moment, the seats began to shake as the roar resonated around the amphitheater. The Millennium Falcon blasted across the screen in all its stunning glory before a fleet of X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters converged upon the Death Star in the finale of Star Wars: A New Hope.
PHONING HOME?
The beloved character E.T. from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial made an appearance next, welcomed warmly by the audience. This was followed by the impressive silhouette of the Hulkbuster from *Avengers: Age of Ultron*, which filled the screen like never before. However, the images presented were not the polished, finished composites we typically expect; rather, they were quite the opposite. The Hulkbuster was introduced with a simple tennis ball on top of a pole at the center of the shot. This was then enhanced through a time-lapse rendering, showcasing each stage of production until the completed version of the Hulkbuster appeared in all its shining glory at the top of the screen.
MAGNIFICENT
The presentation was magnificent, but that paled in comparison to the conversation that followed. The fantastic Mr. Muren indulged the Star Wars geek in all of us when he detailed his beginnings with Star Wars: A New Hope, giving special mention to the arduous task of bringing such iconic images to the screen at a time when the technology available to him restricted his creativity at every turn. With his entrancing account enthralling the gathered masses, he continued with Empire Strikes Back and the challenges of animating a Taun Taun upon the icy landscape of the Planet Hoth. This task had proven to be quite the challenge.
With the shot proving to be a laborious endeavor, he considered throwing in the towel and disappointing the legendary George Lucas but undeterred, Muren allowed himself just fifteen minutes more to address the problem and but being the technical marvel that he truly is, he had solved the issues dogging his efforts and presented the finished method which was quickly incorporated into the finished film.
WILLOW
The conversation quickly shifted to Jurassic Park, captivating our enthusiastic and often nerdy minds. We discussed how stop-motion animation was transitioning to CGI technology. Although this format had been previously attempted during the filming of George Lucas’s fantasy film Willow, starring Warwick Davis, the technology was still in its early stages of development. As a result, the final effects were nowhere near the realistic rendering we have come to expect in today’s films.
FROM JURASSIC TO HARRYHAUSEN
Created by special effects legend Phil Tippett, a go-motion representation —originally a modernized version of the traditional stop-motion animation of the Tyrannosaurus Rex —thundered across the screen to my delight. Muren explained that it had been the original template for the movie’s effects until the notion of utilising the revolutionary CGI technology was mooted and presented to Steven Spielberg. With Phil Tippett witnessing the technology firsthand, he uttered the defeated words, “I think I’m Extinct” as he regarded the fantastical CGI images presented to him, which allowed Spielberg to decide to incorporate the format into his movie. The result was the multimillion-dollar blockbuster that changed the format of movie-making forever.
No longer were our visionary directors restrained by the dated stop-go animation, which, in my opinion, made some of the finest movies of my childhood. Movies like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Clash of the Titans were at the pinnacle of my imagination in my youth, and I still hold them in high regard against the Jurassic and Star Wars of today. CGI allowed these visionaries to present images only fantasy and imagination could reveal, but Muren then alluded to the argument that had accused the format of detracting from storytelling and allowing directors to become over-reliant on the technology.
PARADOX
It was a fascinating paradox, but the esteemed members of the ILM team sat atop the stage and swiftly dissected the argument, elaborating on how many shots we see on the screen that, unless we were told, we would never know had been treated by visual effects and vice versa. The screen filled with images of the Death Star chasm from A New Hope, which had been filmed in sections before being rendered on top of each other to complete the final shot for the film. It was a fascinating revelation, which came as a pleasant surprise to me considering that I have been a fan of the Star Wars saga since childhood, and yet was still confounded by the amazing scene, which I regard as one of the movie’s best sequences.
With the debate at the forefront of discussion, David Vickery put the issue into context as he reminisced about a past feature film where Clive Owen and Julianne Moore were required to propel a ping-pong ball into each other’s mouths within the confines of a car. The shot had proved to be a trial of steadfast endurance, and after hours of attempts with little result, the decision was made to computer generate the ping pong ball.
A GAME OF PONG?
However, in doing so, it opened up other issues within the sequence. With the ping pong ball animated, the actors were forced to imagine that the ball was dropping into their mouths, but without the real ball as a representation, they had no way of gauging the size and shape of the ball. Once the production had finished shooting and it was time to animate the sequence, Vickery was forced to digitally reshape the actor’s mouths to accommodate the size and shape of the ball. It was a laborious task, one that took a great deal of time to remedy. But it revealed the true extent to which these pioneers were willing to go to entertain us as an audience.
IN CONVERSATION
It was a fascinating conversation, one that a single article could never do justice to. However, these amazing visionaries treated us to an insightful glimpse into their world. We were teased further by the revelation that both Vickery and Muren were currently working on both the sequel to Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However, they were understandably unable to offer any details about either film. This ultimately brought the fascinating hour-and-a-half expo to a close, which in its own right would be enough to appease even the die-hard fans of these fantastic movies we know and love. But nothing could prepare us for what was to follow, for upon leaving the stage door, the great man himself had graciously offered his time to meet and greet the fans in attendance.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dennis Muren in person alongside Stewart Gardiner, co-founder of Future of the Force. He generously offered us the opportunity to get his autograph and take a photo together, which we both eagerly accepted.
On reflection, the night was a fantastic success, Dennis Muren not only fascinated us by his understated contribution to the movies that have shaped our imaginations but also forwarded the Future of the Force team the chance to meet the real man behind the ILM legend, and believe me he did not disappoint.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the aftermath of the success of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, all we can do now as fans of his movies is await the release of his following crowning achievements, which will be Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jurassic World. These movies will undoubtedly go on to secure his legendary status among fans and cement his legacy as an iconic pioneer who made the Millennium Falcon fly and the Tyrannosaurus roar.
Until then, let your imaginations run wild…May The Force Be With You
Meet Phil Roberts! He’s the dedicated owner, daily content manager, and editor-in-chief of The Future of the Force. Phil is a budding novelist who turned his passion toward writing about the franchises he loves back in 2016. He’s a huge fan of all things Star Wars, Batman, DC, Marvel, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, King Kong, and the Ray Harryhausen movies. Phil is a BFI-accredited journalist and a distinguished member of the Film Critics Association UK.
If he’s not catching a movie at the cinema, you can bet he’s streaming something just as awesome!
