Full video

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[Music]

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Star Wars has been at the cutting edge

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of special effects. Puppets,

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prosthetics, animatronics, CGI, and now

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thankfully animatronics again.

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All the facial expressions go, all the

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limbs moving. It It's almost like a

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little symphony, you know? It all comes

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together in a very magical moment.

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To create the Star Wars world, we have

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to create monsters that inhabit these

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strange alien worlds.

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Gustaf's been making monsters for three

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decades, and he's taking a look back at

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his creations.

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I made many creatures. Rodis, six eyes,

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lost, Admiral Abar, the head of Maz.

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Take us back to the beginning. Where did

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it all start? I remember vividly my dad

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taking me to see Return of the Jedi in

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Toshinsky Cinema in Amsterdam when I was

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6 years old. That film sort of lit a

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spark in me. First of all, I was just in

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awe, overwhelmed, and it made me

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extremely curious how they crafted these

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films, how they can physically make

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something that realistic. I just took it

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all in and uh I think that sort of, you

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know, slowly prepared me for my future

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career. I would read up on books,

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magazines. I started experimenting with

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rubber heads, hobby clay, plaster, wood,

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anything, and put them in my room as

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ornaments. You know, I just kept

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churning them out, trying to perfect my

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style.

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So, how does it work?

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It's a lengthy process. From script, it

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goes to the design department, and then

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that mold lands on my desk. I insert

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clay for the for to create the skin.

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Within that, I build my animatronics.

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Every hair has to be perfect. The

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movement has to be near perfect. You can

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only get do so much with a rubber skin.

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That sounds like a lot.

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When I take a creature on set, my

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anxiety levels are through the roof just

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because I know what potentially could go

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wrong and how much is riding on it. So,

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I'm just hoping it's good.

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And it goes beyond Star Wars.

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hitchhikers. I did jelts. Charlie and

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the chocolate factory. I did the

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squirrels that listen to nuts. And they

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asked me to build a swimming pooler. I

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remember not being able to sleep cuz I

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was so nervous cuz mechanics,

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electronics, and water don't mix.

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Did it work out? Okay.

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The moment comes that we're shooting it.

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Tim Burn says action. The kids run in,

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run to the tank, and they say, "Yep,

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release the looper. Switch it on. Swim

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through frame." He says, "Cut. We got

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it." That was one of them moments that I

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felt like I was walk on an air.

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Gustaf's done his fair share of creepy

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horrors, too.

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There was this small Finnish film I did

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and the creature we built that was very

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prominent in the film. It was like

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almost like a throwback to the 80s. You

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know, we're on the floor with rods and

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doing everything in our power to bring

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this thing to life. The blings are still

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linked up to a motor. You can hear the

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buzzing noise.

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There was a mechanical jaw and a

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mechanical tongue, which was a nice

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little extra.

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So, after 30 years in the job, what's

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the secret?

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It's all about replicating the organic

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movements that you see in nature. That's

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the art of animatronics. It's breathing

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life into a rubber skin. To see one of

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your creations on a big screen, that's

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what you do it for.

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[Music]