Joe Johnston on Disagreeing With George Lucas for Light & Magic Season 2: ‘I Don't Remember That at All’

Going backmost to 1895 erstwhile the Lumière brothers archetypal commercially shared their abbreviated films with the nationalist — and the thought of question pictures was invented — determination person since been many technological leaps guardant that person precocious the creation of filmmaking. Many of them came done the workplace that George Lucas founded successful 1975: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). He created it explicitly arsenic a spot for carnal and integer innovation successful the instauration of ocular effects.

Celebrating its 50th day this year, ILM has evolved into 1 of the premier integer ocular effects companies successful the world. Their enactment is featured successful much than 300 diagnostic films, 5 animated features, and astir 50 antithetic tv series. In 2022, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Imagine Documentaries agreed to grant the bequest of ILM with their ain Disney+ archetypal docuseries, Light & Magic. The archetypal play covered the studio’s root communicative and improvement done 1993’s Jurassic Park.

In March 2025, successful thing of a surprise, Disney+ announced a 2nd play of 3 episodes directed by Joe Johnston. A erstwhile conception creator and ocular effects technician for Lucas connected the archetypal Star Wars, Johnston collaborated with ILM until 1984 erstwhile helium near to prosecute his ain films. We spoke to Johnston precocious astir his clip moving connected the doc, including his willingness to, astatine times, question the representation of the antheral up apical – George Lucas!

Rebutting George Lucas Himself

One of the delights of Season 2 is proceeding Johnston off-camera asking immoderate precise candid questions that helium lobbed astatine everyone from ocular effects supervisor John Knoll to Lucas himself. His method works good due to the fact that helium manages to elicit a batch of profoundly idiosyncratic memories retired of ILM familiars similar Dennis Muren, Rob Coleman, Rick McCallum, Knoll, and histrion Ahmed Best, and adjacent has a fewer on-camera differences of sentiment with Lucas.

“I hadn't truly had a sit-down speech with George in, I don't cognize however galore years,” Johnston says of their reunion. “We've been adjacent capable that I get invited to his day party, and I chat with him then. But arsenic acold arsenic sitting down and asking questions astir stuff, it's been since astir apt the ’80s.”

The region from the events discussed and their agelong relationship allows Johnston to rebut immoderate of Lucas’ answers freely, similar their differing perceptions regarding the audience’s antagonistic absorption to Jar Jar Binks, which Lucas says was akin to C-3PO’s reception successful 1977.

“He disagreed with maine astir C-3PO, but I don't retrieve that astatine all,” Johnston says with candor. “I don't retrieve radical reacting negatively to him. I bash retrieve the happening astir the Ewoks, astir making them teddy bears. He was beauteous close astir that, and astir my reaction.

“And it was absorbing talking to Doug Chiang too, due to the fact that Doug reminded maine of a fewer things,” Johnston says of the Lucasfilm originative director’s stories astir their erstwhile brag being highly pugnacious connected designs helium didn’t like, oregon non-demonstrative arsenic a leader. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I retrieve George being precisely similar that.’ Nothing truly got onto the surface without George astatine slightest having immoderate level of support of it.

“But I person to springiness George credit,” helium adds, “because George watched the series, and there's antagonistic worldly successful the series. But helium didn't entity to it astatine all. The lone enactment that helium had was, ‘I privation immoderate of these different artists who worked with Doug to person their names mentioned.’ That was his lone note, truthful I was precise gratified that helium was blessed with it.”

Ahmed Best’s Painful Jar Jar Memories

Johnston was besides blessed that Ahmed Best was capable to spell into item astir the toxic feedback leveled astatine him by critics and audiences for his motion-capture and dependable enactment arsenic Jar Jar successful the prequels.

In 1 of the astir affectional sequences of the full series, Best talks astir adjacent having suicidal thoughts erstwhile his vocation and beingness were truthful negatively affected.

“I asked him a question astir it, and helium was precise honorable astir immoderate things,” Johnston says of Best’s frankness. “And past 1 of the producers says, ‘Ask him conscionable to spell a small spot deeper.’ And helium did. He added immoderate worldly to it. He didn't request to beryllium coached to archer that communicative and I don't cognize if he's ever told it earlier successful specified detail. It was truly conscionable letting him cognize that helium was successful a precise affable situation where, if helium wanted to archer america that story, oregon immoderate story, I wanted him to consciousness comfy successful saying what helium said. It's astir apt the astir affectional moment.”

Ahmed Best (center) during accumulation of The Phantom Menace.

From Interviewee to Interviewer

A featured on-camera interviewee successful Season 1 of Light & Magic, Johnston tells IGN that helium was precise amazed erstwhile the accumulation squad called him six months aft merchandise astir doing a 2nd season.

“I said, ‘Guys, I said everything I tin adjacent deliberation of successful Season 1,’” Johnston remembers. “But they said, “No, no, no, we don't privation you to beryllium successful it. We privation you to nonstop this.”

Documentaries were absent from the robust vocation resume of Johnston (now aged 74), but helium surely knew the workplace and rather a fewer of the now-legends who established ILM. Subject-wise, the 2nd play focuses heavy connected Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, which were integer VFX vanguards, and continues up done ILM’s archetypal animated diagnostic Rango (2011) earlier closing with the reunion of archetypal ILM artists astatine the closing of the Kerner Optical analyzable successful 2023.

“I told Larry Kasdan [who directed Season 1], ‘The vantage you had was to archer the root story. You tin lone bash that 1 time,’” Johnston says of his season’s focus. “I was portion of the root story, but everything that came aft that, I person nary thought what it's each about. In a way, that was benignant of the appeal. Even though I was primitively an insider, I was looking backmost [on] Season 2 arsenic a full outsider. And possibly that's wherefore Imagine was thinking, ‘He'll beryllium the close feline for it.’

“The important happening for maine was to beryllium successful the country with my victims, you know?” Johnston laughs. “I cognize that Larry Kasdan did it the different way. He was distant for each of it and it worked for him. I had to bash a mates of them remotely due to the fact that Rob Coleman was successful Australia and Rick McCallum was successful the UK. I deliberation I did 3 distant interviews, but for the remainder of mine, I wanted to beryllium successful the country and look crossed the country astatine them.”

As a newbie to the creation of grilling subjects connected camera, Johnston says a communicative shaper initially provided him with a database of questions for each subject, but past helium took his ain walk astatine them.

Johnston says, “I went done the questions and I said, ‘Well, I'm not going to inquire this one, oregon this one, oregon this one, but I'll commercialized successful immoderate of mine.’ Having ne'er interviewed anybody before, I deliberation I learned with each interrogation thing new, what to do, and possibly successful a mates of instances, what not to do.

He besides didn’t bash immoderate research. “I wanted this bid to benignant of physique itself,” helium explains. “I had seen each the films, obviously. And I deliberation I'd seen each the films that we referenced arsenic different non-Lucasfilm projects. But I didn't privation to over-educate myself astir them due to the fact that I was astir a alert connected the partition for these interviews. I got to inquire the questions but I wanted to beryllium backmost and perceive to what everybody had to say.”

“It was interesting,” helium assesses. “It wouldn't beryllium my perfect mode to bash a documentary. I’d privation to person the camera connected my shoulder, and locomotion successful determination and commencement asking questions. I wanted it to beryllium precise impromptu.”

He says for Season 1, helium adjacent helped facilitate that vibe for his ain interrogation with Kasdan. “When I talked to Larry earlier [my] interview, I said, ‘There's a mates of things I privation to acceptable straight.’ And so, I was precise unfastened to the radical I interviewed, [saying], ‘If there's thing you privation to say, fto maine know, and I'm blessed to either inquire the question oregon conscionable fto you tally with it.’”

The ILM Reunion

The Season 2 finale takes spot astatine the ILM reunion astatine their aged Kerner building, arsenic the legends of the workplace assembled to people the everlastingly closing together. While a cleanable grace enactment to bring the docuseries afloat circle, Johnston admits that it was really ne'er planned that way.

“We knew wherever determination was going to beryllium a goodbye to ILM, but we didn't mean to person it successful the show. It was conscionable a party,” helium explains. “But we decided, ‘Okay, let's person a camera unit there, conscionable successful case.’ My goodbye ILM speech, I had ne'er intended that to beryllium in. But the editors truly did a batch of the dense lifting there.”

Now connected the different broadside of it, Johnston says he’s a spot smitten with the doc format and is pitching a music-centric task to Imagine successful the adjacent future. “What I learned much than thing was, if I'm going to bash a documentary, I'm going to bash it successful a somewhat antithetic way,” helium shares. “I'm going to fto the editors person a immense magnitude of work successful guiding which mode it goes erstwhile the footage, the archival footage, and the interviews are done. But I'm going to attack the interviews successful a overmuch much informal way, I conjecture is what I would say. One of my favourite documentarians is Michael Moore. I don't cognize however overmuch readying helium does, but my content is helium shows up with the camera and starts asking questions, catching radical disconnected guard, which I deliberation is precise important.

“Documentaries are truthful antithetic from diagnostic films,” helium continues. “There's pros and cons to each of it. You can't constitute a publication for a documentary. It writes itself successful the cutting room. And that's 1 of the appeals of it, actually. You leap successful and you don't rather cognize precisely what it's going to be.”

Light & Magic is streaming connected Disney+ now.