"The Mandalorian and Grogo" VFX veteran Hall Heckel reimagines Rota, Phil Tippett, and Jon Favreau with a "less James Bond, more Jackass" approach

Industrial Light & Magic animation supervisor Hal Heckel approached Jon Favreau's "The Mandalorian and Grogu" with a deceptively simple question: "What was Phil doing?" The elephant in question was stop-motion pioneer Phil Tippett, whose work on the original Star Wars trilogy provided the template for everything from the walking AT-AT to the spectacular battle that […]

The ILM artist recounts the animation of "Star Wars" at the now-closed Tippett Studio in Berkeley, while detailing the redesigned creatures and the film's practical effects and homage to Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro."

Industrial Light & Magic animation supervisor Hal Hickel approached Jon Favreau's "The Mandalorian and Grogu" with a simple and enticing question: "What was Phil doing?"

The elephant in question was stop-motion pioneer Phil Tippett, whose work on the original Star Wars trilogy provided the template for everything from a walking AT-AT lumberjack to a spectacular battle involving two giant hand-animated droids. Related Stories Prime Video's Carrie Is A Great Remake Of The Horror Classic: TV Review Matchbox: The Movie Review: John Cena Can't Big This Toy Car Spinoff

Speaking at the View conference in Turin on Thursday, Hickel, who recently celebrated 30 years at ILM, explained how the team combined digital animation with physical sets, mechanical rigs and traditional stop-motion. He also recounted Berkeley Tippett's return to the stage to animate a picture himself. Popular in Variety

For the first time, the AT-AT Battle movie resurrected the animation tests done for Rogue One, which involved placing computerized walkers in the original trilogy to study its lighting, texture and stop-motion feel. The new walkers moved even more slowly to emphasize their enormous weight. The full-size extended interior set entered its moving head through the neck of a walker, while a planned gunfight between characters riding two walkers was filmed but ultimately cut.

The smaller AT-RT presented a different challenge. The animators studied the ostriches before moving their digital motion curves on a six-axis mechanical rig. Early tests shook the machine so much that Hickell joked, "Poor Grogo, he wasn't going to survive." Favreau wanted the vehicle to be flying, but not too fast or unacceptably smooth. Hickel recalls that his broader direction for Mando's action was "less James Bond, more Jackass" — dangerous escapades that always teeter on the edge of disaster.

Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, needed a bigger departure from familiar "Star Wars" imagery. Rather than Jabba's listless bulk, Ruta needed to move like a powerful warrior while remaining a character that audiences could sympathize with. Legacy Effects had full physical references, while ILM developed a digital muscle system and explored movements inspired by elephants and sumo wrestlers.

But after filming, Favreau worried that the original plot would be too similar to "Battletoads." "He wasn't feeling it enough," Hickel said. "And he didn't feel like his father's son." The team tweaked Rota's face and paint to bring her closer to Jabba, while tweaking her muscular physique. "We want you to like him, to care about him, to root for him," Hickel explained. He also revealed that Druta had the second longest dialogue after Mandu, which made us decide to have him speak English instead of having younger viewers read extensive subtitles.

The softer side of this characterization even included an homage to Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro: Dave Filoni had Grogo fall asleep on Rota's chest during a production session. "It's a 'Totoro' moment, for sure," Hickel confirmed.

Another sequence transformed 1977's Star Wars holographic chess monsters into full-sized combatants. Tippett and fellow animator John Berg initially created the miniature figures under tight deadline pressure. For the new film, ILM kept their recognizable silhouettes while inventing more realistic anatomy, movement, and fighting styles. Meanwhile, second-unit director Peter Ramsey worked alongside the stunt performers, with some of the creature interactions achieved through surprisingly simple physical stand-ins. "Low tech. Sometimes it's the best tech," Huckle quipped.

The most direct homage to Tippett was in a battle with two giant droids guarding a lord's chamber. "We did a real stop-motion sequence in this movie at Tippett Studios," Hickel added. Working with Tippett's animators, Favreau, and editors, he turned a few sentences of the script into an elaborate fight. "The math involved was surprisingly complex," he admitted. "Sometimes it would bend my brain." Tippett's team animated the physical puppets, while ILM worked on compositing and digital fire, smoke and explosions.

Hekel also found himself behind the camera and moved a doll frame by frame. "They made me shoot myself," he recalled. "I was reluctant, but I did it."

The experience is especially poignant now: Tippett Studios has since left its old Berkeley facility, though the company continues to operate elsewhere. "Sitting on Tippett's stage, which we all know no longer exists, doing stop-motion in a 'Star Wars' movie will probably forever be the highlight of my career," Hickel said. "And I don't mean simple."