Exclusive: Behind the scenes of Lucasfilm talking Star Wars!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In my 11-plus years at JoBlo.com, I had never once been invited to the vaunted Skywalker Ranch and frankly, few have. But last month, I got an invite that would include my first trip to the Ranch, plus a tour of Lucasfilm with just one caveat: kids only.

George Lucas, while out promoting RED TAILS and now STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D, has made no secret of the fact that he’d rather do interviews with kids. And he held true to that with the press day for the PHANTOM MENACE 3D rerelease. Parents were allowed to come along for the ride, but make no mistake about it, this one wasn’t for the big kids, but for the actual kids. And before you say that Lucas wanted kids there because they’d take it easier on his least adored film, I’ll just say that kids are a lot more honest than you (or Lucas, perhaps) would think.

So my son and I boarded a flight for San Francisco (his first time on an airplane) to head west and interview some of the team behind the STAR WARS films (his first time interviewing people on camera). We interviewed four Lucasfilm staffers and over today and tomorrow will be presenting those interviews to you.

With that, I present JoBlo.com’s Junior Correspondent, Indy Sampson, speaking with Matthew Wood (Bib Fortuna, the voice behind General Grievous and Supervising Sound Editor at Lucasfilm) and John Goodson, Concept Model Maker. It was a nerve-wracking experience as a dad but one that left me insanely proud.

John Goodson, Concept Model Maker

Matthew Wood, Supervising Sound Editor