“There’s a perception out there that digital effects are a black box, that it just gets shipped off and the directors are just handed this work,” Vaziri comments at one point in the video. “[That] couldn’t be further from the truth. We work directly with filmmakers to achieve their vision.”
Set during the Reign of the Empire, Beyond Victory introduces players to an original story that blends the thrilling world of podracing, a stellar cast, powerful narrative and mixed reality play. To celebrate the launch, we sat down with Beyond Victory‘s director, Jose Perez III, for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creative vision, development journey and personal influences that shaped this experience.
Jose Perez III(Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm)
Let’s start with the basics, for those who haven’t heard yet, what is Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset and what makes it different from previous Star Wars experiences?
Star Wars: Beyond Victory is a mixed reality playset that gives you three ways to experience the fun of the Star Wars galaxy. We have Adventure mode, a short story about an up-and-coming Podracer who’s struggling with grief and the desire for fame. Then we have Arcade mode, which is a really fun, replayable experience that gives you a taste of old-school arcade games with a new mixed reality (MR) twist. And finally, we have Playset mode, where you can literally bring your favorite Star Wars toys to life, scale them up, and have them interact with each other. This is our first time experimenting with mixed reality at this scale, and we wanted to mix it up, no pun intended.
Can you tell us your role in bringing this project to life?
I am the director of Star Wars: Beyond Victory. My job was to work with all the talented artists, programmers, designers, writers, and actors to help bring this experienceto life. I get to wear a lot of different hats over the course of development, which keeps me really excited. I came up with the original story, and then worked with our writers and the story team to help flesh it out and give it texture. In this role, I assisted with casting, and I directed the performance capture and voiceover. I was there every day working with the designers, production designers, and artists to help shape the look of the experience and how it feels to move around in mixed reality or drive your Podracer. It’s one of the best jobs in the world, and I’m a very lucky person to have it.
Concept art by Evan Whitefield (Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm).
Piggybacking on that, could you describe how your core team at ILM is organized and how you work together in developing a production like this?
Our team is highly cross-disciplinary. The key roles include designers, engineers, and programmers. We have the entire ILM Art Department and a fantastic production team that helps us pull all of this stuff together. We also have marketing folks who join us, especially as we get towards the end of the project to help show our work to the public. I think how we develop it is where things get most interesting. We like to maintain a culture of kindness, but we also like to be honest when something isn’t working and do our best to make it better. It’s a very iterative, humbling, and egoless process. It’s a lot of really smart, intelligent people working together to try and make the best thing they can on the hardware that we have. We try to keep it honest so everyone should be able to say what they need to say, and we really focus on what’s on the screen — what is the best experience for our guests.
Where did the original idea for a mixed reality Star Wars playset come from? Was this always envisioned as an MR experience?
The original idea was actually a virtual reality (VR) playset for filmmakers to help them visualize and compose scenes. It was a tool I created with a few friends in the Advanced Development Group at Lucasfilm and ILM, for directors working on big Hollywood movies. We found that it was a simple, fun tool for them, and when mixed reality became a viable technology, we knew it could be a cool experience that would easily translate to digital action figures.
Can you tell us about why you decided to make the podracing in this experience something that’s top-down on a holotable in third-person vs. a first-person POV?
It’s not truly ‘top-down’ as much as it is a 3D diorama when you’re standing next to it. It was definitely a conscious choice to make it third-person to fit into what we were trying to do here, which is pushing the boundaries of mixed reality. Early on, we knew we wanted to lean into the “Toy” vibe of the Playset and do something unique with the technology. This approach felt like the natural way to achieve that. I’m a big fan of 1980s retro games, so for me, this was about taking those classic arcade concepts and adding a whole new dimension.
Concept art by Casey Straka.(Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm)
How did you balance innovation with staying true to the Star Wars legacy and canon?
I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so I love working within the established canon. Our innovation came from the way we approached storytelling. This isn’t a galaxy-spanning event; it’s a smaller, personal story. Telling a story in mixed reality is hard, and we made some big choices, like letting the camera cut to express the narrative while you’re looking at miniatures. The key was to balance this innovation with ensuring all the characters and the world fit seamlessly within the broader Star Wars galaxy.
Were there any particular Star Wars films, shows or eras that inspired the tone and style of this experience?
The main inspiration was definitely The Phantom Menace [1999] and the podracing scene. Beyond that, we used the Star Wars galaxy as a palette to tell stories that were interesting to us and that would deepen the world.
Can you explain how you landed on the three distinct modes? How do you balance development for them all since they’re all so different?
We settled on three modes to offer players a variety of experiences. Adventure mode is for those who want a guided story, while Arcade is for replayability and pure fun. Playset is the ultimate sandbox for creativity. The three modes mirror how I experienced Star Wars as a kid: I’d go see the movie (story), hit up the arcade afterward to play the latest Star Wars game, and then go home to play with my toys. This is just a way of bringing a modern version of that nostalgic experience to people today. Balancing development was a challenge because they are so different, but we approached each one as its own mini-project while maintaining a consistent visual style and user interface across all three. This allowed our teams to focus on the unique requirements of each mode without starting from scratch every time.
Concept art by Chris Voy (Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm).
Mixed reality is still new to a lot of fans. How did you approach that, especially for younger players or those new to immersive tech?
Mixed reality is definitely new, and that’s actually really exciting for us. One of the things we love to do here at ILM is really push on new technologies, so it’s a joy to work with Meta and continue to push the boundaries of mixed reality, virtual reality, and, hopefully in the future, augmented reality. For this experience, we knew we had to make it intuitive and accessible. We treat every one of our experiences like it’s the first time someone has ever put on a headset, and this was no different. Making it accessible and user-friendly is something we always come back to; we want to politely walk you through the experience and ensure it’s enjoyable in the most delightful way possible.
Was there a moment during development that made you feel, “This is it. This is Star Wars.”?
Anytime you work on a Star Wars project with ILM and Lucasfilm, you’re going to have those moments. For this one, a couple of moments stand out, especially during the voice recording sessions. Hearing Greg Proops doing the voice for Fode, or Lewis MacLeod voicing Sebulba — it felt like we were right there, talking to those characters! Those performances and the incredible vibe they brought were instantly recognizable. The score was done by Joe Trapanese and Clark Rhee, and what was so awesome about them doing it is that they brought their own unique vibe to the music. We were also able to include some of composer John Williams’ music, and when you mix that in with the new score, you get a fresh, new version of Star Wars that is still very much Star Wars. It’s very exciting.
The audio in this experience is exceptional. Can you talk about what it was like working with Skywalker Sound on Beyond Victory?
Working with the team at Skywalker Sound is always an amazing experience — I’ve been collaborating with them for over a decade now, and they just always bring the heat. They are masters of their craft. It was a true collaboration; they didn’t just provide us with sounds — they worked with us to build a rich, immersive soundscape that elevates the entire experience. They have an incredible library of assets they can pull from across all the films and animated shows. The audio they created for the Podracing alone makes the experience so much more beefy and visceral. Additionally, Kevin Bolin, who is one of the main audio supervisors, provided a lot of great suggestions and even co-directed a couple of parts of this experience. They are truly the best.
(Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm).
Speaking of sound, let’s talk about the cast of Beyond Victory. What was it like working with such a stellar cast? Were they only involved in the voiceover or did any also do motion capture work?
We are always fortunate to get an amazing cast of voice actors, and this was no different. Between Greg Proops, Fin Argus, Lewis MacLeod, as well as Lilimar Hernandez and Bobby Moynihan — we just had such a great time. One of the things that was so fun is that we actually did a full performance capture for this. The audio that you hear was captured at the same time as they were doing the mocap, so it was super fun to see Greg Proops, Bobby Moynihan, Fin Argus, and all these people in the same room collaborating to bring this to life. They all did such an amazing job and they really elevated the entire experience.
And that’s not even counting the loop group! At Skywalker Sound, we have a loop group of great voice actors who come together to help fill in the world, doing a bunch of background voices and stormtrooper voices. They always do such an amazing job and have worked on the cartoons and films, which brings an authentic Star Wars feel because you’re hearing voices familiar from other Star Wars stories as well. Yes, we had an amazing cast.
I felt like I was reliving my childhood while playing in Playset mode. Were you a fan of the toys growing up and was the intention of Playset to bring some of that nostalgia to life?
Oh yeah, I was a huge fan of Star Wars toys growing up and I’m a huge fan of Star Wars toys now. When I was a kid, I had a bunch of different ones — I had the Ewok Village, I had the Millennium Falcon for a little bit. One of my saddest memories is when I was heading into fourth grade and I gave all my Star Wars toys to Goodwill because I thought I was too old for them, and I immediately regretted it afterwards. It feels like I’ve spent my whole life trying to rebuild that collection! So, this is probably me just tapping into some childhood trauma and trying to bring some of that back [laughs]. Today, my office is full of Star Wars toys.
This must have been a massive cross-disciplinary effort. Can you talk a bit about the collaboration between designers, engineers, writers and the teams at Lucasfilm & Skywalker Sound?
It is a real undertaking. We have a lot of really smart people with a lot of opinions, and getting everybody onto the same page and making sure that we’re working on something we are all proud of is hard to pull off, but I think we did a really good job. Our production team is a big part of that, making sure that all the different disciplines are talking and coming together for the proper meetings. It is a massive cross-disciplinary effort, not just within the people working on Beyond Victory, but you have to remember that we need to fit into the entire Star Wars galaxy. So, we have to be cognizant of all the other projects going on and make sure we fit in that world, too, without breaking canon. A lot of work goes into pulling all of this together, and a great team and production process made it all happen.
(Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm).
We absolutely love seeing Star Wars comics character Grakkus the Hutt in this. Without getting too spoiler-y, is there a moment in this experience that you think fans are especially going to love? Something that will make them pause and smile?
Hopefully there are a couple of moments like that! Grakkus the Hutt is amazing. He was awesome in the comic books, and we just knew we had to bring him into this experience — he’s just too cool. I can’t wait for people to see him in all his glory when he’s standing above you; he’s literally like 12 feet tall! But I think for me, the real moment was getting to see Sebulba in person. Watching him walk around, just seeing the creature that Sebulba is — for me, as someone who loves The Phantom Menace and the prequels so much, it was really cool. It definitely brought me a lot of nostalgia.
ILM celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and interactive experiences have continued to play an important role in ILM’s diverse range of storytelling. How does Beyond Victory help carry this interactive legacy forward?
It’s incredible to be celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. We’ve done a lot of interactive work through Lucasfilm and ILM, but Beyond Victory marks a new step for us. We’re breaking technological ground by pioneering at this scale in mixed reality. It also, in an unusual way, echoes our early film history, when we were working with miniatures and seeing the world through that lens. As far as carrying our interactive legacy forward, I hope that people see this project as a successful push into new territory. This is the first mixed reality Star Wars project with a full, integrated experience — a cohesive story, an arcade mode, and a customizable playset. At the heart of this, like all ILM projects, is really the story, and I hope people really appreciate it and that these characters can go forward into the galaxy. We’re always trying to do something different, and we hope the community appreciates this push.
Any final message you’d like to share with ILM.com’s readers?
Thank you to the entire Star Wars and ILM fan community. We’re thrilled by the love we’ve received as we explore new realms like mixed reality. We couldn’t do this without you!
Concept art by Stephen Zavala (Credit: ILM & Lucasfilm).
ILM.com is showcasing artwork specially chosen by members of the ILM Art Department. In this installment of a continuing series, eight artists from the San Francisco, Vancouver, London, and Sydney studios share insights about their work on the 2025 Disney production, Lilo & Stitch.
Art Director Cody Gramstad
Gramstad: This concept was tackling two key problems for this scene. What should our balance be between Chris Sanders’s soriginal visual style and the limitations of live action expectations? At the same time, we could use this image to give practical design guidance for the environment team on how to stage the podium space so that the window both frames and provides value contrast to the Grand Councilwoman’s head for our primary focal point.
The iteration process for this concept was an evolution of a pre-existing previs set. From the original film we knew key staging, camera placement, and expected lighting direction. The iterations came in adjusting the environmental elements around the figures, exploring different shape languages and materials, and experiments in color and saturation to find a balance that maintains the personality of the original animated film but could exist in the lighting and material context of a more dimensional rendering approach.
My favorite part of this piece is the simplified value shape language. When this composition is refined down to its most basic fundamental art skills, it creates a graphic shape language that feels in character to the original film, while at the same time allows for a clear read of the primary focal point.
Senior Visual Effects Art Director Alex Jaeger
Jaeger: The main brief for Lilo & Stitch was to try out some ideas to pull it away from looking like an animated feature and make it feel more realistic while keeping all the main structures from the original film the same.
The work on this piece was done as part of a push to complete a set of shots early for the trailer. As part of the process it was also done in an effort to gain a bit more realism in this sequence and offer up some new suggestions and options for detail and lighting. So, after looking at the existing sequence, I found that the textures overall were soft and that a few indications of hard reflections might help.
One of the challenges was to not alter any of the models, but rather keep my alterations to lighting and texture. So I added more fall-off and texture to the spot lights, added a metallic line element to the platform railing and floor. I also added a more metallic glint to the threads in the banners. The hardest part was finding spots to add metallic elements that would be most effective for the added realism that the client requested, without altering major elements.
Concept Artist Mathilde Marion
Marion: After his trial, Stitch is sent to a lab room where he is being tested upon, and from where he escapes. We needed to start from the client’s design of the room, and in the same spirit, expand a workstation into a DNA reading machine. We came up with a few variations of designs and how it would work, based on the client’s storyboards. This one is, in my opinion, the most successful.
This is a frame of the overall design, but it was actually designed and sent to the client as a series of close-up shots where we can see Stitch’s hair being processed and tested by the machine. There were primarily two challenges: designing a machine in the spirit of the original animated feature, all the while showing a sequence of mechanical events that are somewhat logical. Because the movie isn’t meant to be realistic, we had a bit of leeway, but it still needed to work within the chosen design and make sense story-wise.
I took inspiration from Chris Sanders’s original designs, and the original movie’s assets and weapons. I made a goal to try and match another artist’s style, which is not the easiest thing to do. My style is usually not as cartoony, and it was important for the story that everything was sitting in the right visual universe. A stylized-type of drawing is really tough, as it requires a perfect understanding of the basic shapes, values, and color relationship. You can’t hide behind details or processing in your image. I found that very interesting and had to challenge myself.
Senior Concept Artist Brett Northcutt
Northcutt: I worked on this piece late in the schedule trying to help with lighting and reality cues to improve the look of the shot.
This shot was originally front lit against space and I thought it looked a bit flat. I reversed the lighting to make it back lit, which really helped the mother ship look more imposing. With the ship now pretty dark, adding a nebulous background really helped to make it pop and also added visual interest. Finally, adding a planet to the lower right justified adding some unusual light reflection to the dark side.
Supervising Art Director Fred Palacio
Palacio: The task was to make the character more appealing to a broader audience, while avoiding a design that may appear too frightening for some. The main challenge was the time constraint, as the character had already been modeled, textured, animated, and rendered, so any changes had to be made on the spot.
In situations like this, my approach is to assess where we are and iterate step by step through paintovers, gradually exploring the visual possibilities. For example, we might ask: what if we changed the shape of the pupil? Its size? Its color? What if the skin appeared softer, the color more uniform, or the hair density had more contrast?
Each adjustment was aimed at subtly shifting the character toward a more stylized, graphical direction, while still preserving the realistic quality the team had already achieved. It felt almost like sending Jumba to our makeup and hairstyling department. We also explored enhancing the clothing by injecting more saturation and slightly shifting the hues to evoke the distinctive palette of the 2002 film.
Art Director Amy Beth Christenson Smith
I worked closely with senior animation supervisor Hal Hickel under a fast deadline to get final boards ready for these sequences. The location had been scouted, so I had to make sure to match the scale and layout of it all. The most challenging part was also the best part: making sure Stitch had a lot of over-the-top personality and that the comedy would shine through.
The client shared reference for the scouted location, as well as some rough sketches for a few frames. The biggest inspiration came from the characters in the original animated movie, trying to match their body language and personality. I also took inspiration from my pet rabbit – having Stitch turn only his ears in the direction of the sound when the shop doors are opening came from how my rabbit’s ears twitch and turn when she hears any sound.
Art Director Igor Staritsin
This was an art direction shot paintover that was meant to help the visual effects team establish the look of the final shot. The main challenge for this sort of task is to make the concept as close as possible to the final quality of the shot, as if it was seen in the movie. It usually requires quite a bit of research on the subject matter, as we want to make sure that the decisions made are based on reality. For example, a good design is usually achieved not only by establishing a pleasing aesthetic look, but also a logical function. The same goes for shot paintovers. We want to play up the most important elements in the frame that help to tell the story and play down the rest.
For this shot I knew what I was going to do after gathering enough information from my prior research on the task. However, there are certainly moments when one might experience a bit of struggle when trying to find a solution. I think it is best to assess your design in the simplest way possible, meaning one shouldn’t try to go into details too soon and get lost there. It is important to make sure that big shapes read well. Proportions and distribution of shapes make for a pleasing arrangement. When the basics are in place then mindful distribution of details on top will bring the design home.
I really enjoyed adding small details, a variety of materials, and break-ups that made it all look more realistic in the end. Tiny things like halation, bloom, vignetting, and suppressing details in secondary areas, as well as increasing the attention around the focal point really helps to bring it all to life while telling the story in the shot.
Concept Artist Evan Whitefield
The squid-piloted robot was designed as a supporting but visually memorable background character in the Grand Council chamber. While not a primary character, it helped reinforce the sci-fi tone, scale, and advanced tech of the Galactic Federation. The design retained the creature-in-a-tank-helmet concept, evolving through multiple iterations to balance the charm of the original animated version with a more grounded, high-tech look for the live-action world.
When I first started exploring the design, my goal was to go all out with the initial concepts to really push the creativity and explore extreme ideas without limits. This helped uncover unique shapes and personalities for the squid-piloted robot. Once I had a strong range of options, I focused on pulling things back to create a more grounded, believable design that would fit seamlessly into the live-action world. That balance between bold exploration and practical refinement was key.
One of my favorite details is how the tank-like helmet functions as both a life-support system and a clear window into the squid’s personality, letting its expressiveness come alive. I also love the contrast between the squid’s relatively small size and its massive, bear-like robotic frame. The functional, mechanical design of the robot pairs beautifully with the organic shape of the squid, creating a compelling balance between technology and creature.
Discover Industrial Light & Magic’s role in helping inspire one of the world’s most iconic pieces of imaging software.
ILM executive creative director John Knoll and his brother Thomas recently joined Adobe’s Russell Preston Brown for a live recording of The Photoshop Archives at Lucasfilm’s San Francisco headquarters. Together, they discussed the origins of Adobe Photoshop, first created by the Knoll brothers in 1987 and acquired by Adobe the following year.
John Knoll had been hired at ILM in 1986 and soon began working the night shift as a motion-control camera operator. He also pursued an interest in computer graphics, then a rapidly expanding field quickly gaining traction in the realms of filmmaking and visual effects. Not long after he started at ILM, Knoll toured the ILM CG Department. The team had only recently been formed after the spin-off of the Lucasfilm Computer Division’s graphics group as “Pixar, Inc.” had left a vacuum for active work in the field within the company. The ILM team retained a fabled Pixar Image Computer, a groundbreaking image processor that had already been used to create a memorable stained glass knight in the ILM production, Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).
Knoll’s exposure to the Pixar machine yielded a glimpse of the future for visual effects, as he explains in The Photoshop Archives, and he quickly set about finding the means to create similar tools that could be adapted on more accessible computers available to the average consumer. He soon recruited his brother, Thomas, already an experienced computer programmer and scientist, to partner with him in the venture. Working on their own time while John continued in his role at ILM, the roots of Photoshop had been planted.
Soon after its debut, Photoshop was employed by ILM artists on James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989), which featured the all-computer graphics pseudopod creature. The software would continue to play an important role in helping the ILM team to innovate CG characters and worlds for many years to come.
Former Industrial Light & Magic artists join ILM.com to reflect on bringing the pre-digital cinema classic to life.
By Clayton Sandell
ILM modelmakers at work on the Inferno. L to R: Chuck Wiley, Barbara Galucci, Bill George, Randy Ottenberg (Credit: ILM).
During the summer of 1985, The Goonies hit movie screens and became an instant audience favorite. The timeless adventure tale follows a group of kids on a quest to discover One-Eyed Willy’s hidden pirate treasure, avoid a trio of ruthless family crooks, and save their homes (and way of life) in the “Goon Docks” of Astoria, Oregon.
While it’s not considered a massive visual effects film, part of the enduring charm of The Goonies is thanks to around 20 shots created by Industrial Light & Magic. Forty years later, four former ILM veterans share their memories about working on the celebrated classic.
Before a fruitful run as a visual effects supervisor, Bill George helped build a number of iconic models for films including Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Blade Runner (1982), and Explorers (1985).The Goonies was directed by Richard Donner (Superman [1978], Ladyhawke [1985]) from a story by Steven Spielberg and a screenplay by Chris Columbus. Frank Marshall and the now president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, were among the producers.
The production team conducts a location scout on the Oregon coast (Credit: ILM).
MICHAEL McALISTER, VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR: Number one, Dick Donner was such a good man. His personality was so big, and he spoke with a booming voice, and he was just confident and gentle and kind. I was really impressed with him. It was a real joy to be around him. I also had good crews at ILM, and the experience of being on location in Astoria, Oregon, which is absolutely stunningly beautiful, was delightful.
DAVE CARSON, VISUAL EFFECTS ART DIRECTOR: It had so many effects shots in the first draft. I remember being in a meeting in Burbank early in the production. I don’t think Dick Donner was even there. And we were talking about the effects. And I said, “Well, I think eventually there’ll probably be like 80 shots.” The blood drained from everybody’s faces. I could see that was not where they were headed. It still was a great project, but the number of shots kept dwindling. The first draft had skeletons that came to life. It was full of effects and fantastic stuff.
I started just by drawing scenes from the script. Nobody asked me to, but you can’t read that script without wanting to draw some of the scenes in it. J. Michael Riva was the production designer, and he was cranking out beautiful stuff. [Art director] Rick Carter made beautiful blueprints. They were establishing the look of this film, and it was great. From that point on, my actual work for the production was pretty much taking established background plates and indicating where the effects would go. There wasn’t too much pie-in-the-sky stuff. I did a bunch of storyboarding of the sequence where the kids run into the cove, and they see some skeletons and they get on the ship.
Concept art by Dave Carson depicts the unfinished sequence when the Goonies are attacked by a giant octopus (Credit: ILM).
The ILM Model Shop built a highly detailed scale version of One-Eyed Willy’s sailing ship, the Inferno. Under the supervision of Barbara Gallucci, Bill George led a model-making team that included Randy Ottenberg and Chuck Wiley. ILM had plenty of previous experience with model spaceships, but building a wooden pirate galleon was something the crew had to learn from scratch.
BILL GEORGE, CHIEF MODELMAKER: I was really happy to be put on the project leading the construction of the miniature pirate ship. We wanted to do a good job and do something impressive that would get people talking. We put more into the model than we needed to. The production provided blueprints, which were amazing. We read books on building miniature ships and had the opportunity to do research and learn. We went to San Francisco Bay to study the Balclutha, which is a vintage wooden sailing ship. We studied all the details, the belaying pins, the rigging, the wood texture and wear. We wanted our model to look as authentic as possible.
We started with stanchions, very much the way you would build a boat. Those were covered in thin sheets of balsa wood. One of the big technical challenges on this was the rigging and the sails. Randy’s main focus was the sails. And, of course, there were no computer graphics that were advanced enough to do CG sails at that point. So the decision was made to make them out of a very, very fine silk, which would blow in the wind, and the silk was also great because it was transparent and pure white. Once again, we did some research. We found that we could use coffee and tea to stain the sails so they had a little bit of a warmer, aged color without stiffening the fabric. At the time Goonies came along, ILM had established itself as the visual effects house of choice for very successful films. Then there were all these films that Spielberg was producing, including The Goonies and Explorers andBack to the Future [1985], and all of them kind of funneled through ILM. It was a really exciting time because there was a whole diversity of interesting projects coming in.
Chief modelmaker Bill George at work on the Inferno (Credit: ILM).
MICHAEL McALISTER: It was unbelievably beautiful. But by the time the model was in the process of getting made, they decided to just go ahead and build the entire set on the soundstage. Which then meant that we didn’t need as many shots using the model.
BILL GEORGE: I was a little disappointed because we didn’t get to showcase it as much in the film. It was very backlit, and it was very far away, and I knew that the model could hold up. So it was a little bit of a disappointment. But I’m super proud of the model we built.
On deck, there’s even a little R2-D2 Easter egg. It was actually a casting from Star Wars. In the model shop, we had molds of the castings that go with the plug at the top of the X-wing starfighter. That’s what that was.
In 2023, the Inferno model was donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Richard Donner’s widow, producer Lauren Shuler Donner.
The hidden R2-D2 figure from Star Wars tucked away on the deck of the Inferno (Credit: ILM).Modelmaker Randy Ottenberg at work on the Inferno‘s masts (Credit: ILM).
Production designer J. Michael Riva had the Inferno and a water-filled cavern built as a full-size, practical set on Stage 16 at the Burbank Studios (now Warner Bros.) in Southern California.
MICHAEL McALISTER: I’ll never forget it. It was the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen in my entire movie career, hands down. The first time I walked on the stage, here’s this full-size pirate ship. And every little glorious detail was just striking.
The director of photography, Nick McClean, was going back and forth to another stage at the same time as he was trying to light this pirate ship, and it wasn’t working out very well. He just didn’t have all that much time to be on Stage 16.
So he just turned to me and said, “Michael, light it for me,” and walked away. I was like, “Oh my God, I don’t know how to light a set!” I was freaking out because I didn’t want to come up short. I didn’t want to disappoint him, didn’t want to embarrass myself. And I remember thinking, “How would you light it if it was a miniature, and just scale it up?” So that’s what I did.
You just got thrown into something, and you had to figure it out. So Nick came back, and he looked at my lighting, and he was pretty happy. Only changed one thing. I learned something about confidence, and I learned something about lighting. It doesn’t really matter how big a thing you’re going to light. It’s all the same idea.
The ILM team made visits to the Goonies sets in Burbank to capture reference photography. Here the Inferno and surrounding cave is under construction (Credit: ILM).
DAVE CARSON: It was an amazing thing to see. One morning on the set, there were probably a dozen of us all standing around drinking coffee, and Steven Spielberg walks in and he’s looking around. We’d met a few times, but he didn’t know me all that well. He says, “So what do you think?” I said, “There’s some great shots here,” and he says, “Oh yeah? Where?” I’m thinking, “Is he kidding me?” I was just trying to be conversational. But I decided I’d just follow through. So I walk over to the island with like twelve people following Steven, and I got down, just trying to find some interesting angles. I don’t know what he made of it all.
Visual effects supervisor Michael McAlister wades in the water tank on the Inferno set (Credit: ILM).
For wide shots of the Inferno, ILM artists Frank Ordaz and Caroleen “Jett” Green created matte paintings to help complete the illusion of a tall sailing ship rising beyond the limited height of the Burbank soundstage. Chris Evans served as matte painting supervisor.
CAROLEEN “JETT” GREEN, MATTE ARTIST: They had that big ship that they shot in a way that, at the last minute, they needed to extend the masts and add sails. We had to work quickly to make it all work perfectly.
The challenge was, we didn’t have much time, and the sails of a ship needed to have fluidity, an airy quality. Our matte painting extensions were static, so lucky for us the shots of the sails were only on for a couple of seconds.
I knew how to paint something realistically. What you also learn with matte painting is how to change lighting. You need to know what goes on with light, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, how it affects everything. If there’s a blue haze that’s moving in the shot, I might add some carefully mixed blue paint to match. It all got combined together.
I was an apprentice matte painter, learning the techniques and skills in order to become a great matte painter. I was working in a room with highly creative people, all excellent at what they do. I really wanted to keep up with these guys. And I told myself, well, “I’m just going to put in 150%.”
Matte painting supervisor Chris Evans (right) confers with Carson (left) and McAlister (Credit: ILM).Matte artist Frank Ordaz (Credit: ILM).
Another ILM contribution includes what might be considered an early example of a so-called “invisible effect.” Searching for their next clue, Mikey (Sean Astin) lines up a doubloon with cutouts to match rocks and a lighthouse in the distance. What appears to be a practical shot is actually a mix of multiple blue screen elements, background plates, and matte paintings. A complex rack focus helped complete the illusion.
DAVE CARSON: I remember the challenge at the time on the doubloon shot was they wanted the doubloon in focus and crisp up close. That means anything in the distance is going to be soft. So they had to pull off the rack focus in post-production.
MICHAEL McALISTER: One of the reasons that the shot was never attempted on set is because the rocks in the ocean didn’t exist. And they certainly didn’t exist to line up with the doubloon. So, based on that criteria, it automatically became a visual effect. And dealing with the rack focus was very challenging during that time because it was all optical printer composites, and you didn’t get good mattes out of blurry edges in the optical process. Today, it’s not an issue with all the CG capabilities and the compositing software, but it was a challenge at the time to get that right.
A storyboard by Dave Carson (Credit: ILM).
The organ chamber sequence – in which an incorrectly-played musical note causes part of the floor to fall away and reveal a treacherous cavern below – was achieved using five different matte paintings and a 16-by-20-foot miniature set featuring stalactites, pools of water, and fog. The original set was scaled down in size during pre-production, posing a challenge for creating the critical illusion.
ILM modelmakers at work on the large miniature for the organ chamber sequence (Credit: ILM).The miniature set ready for shooting (Credit: ILM).
MICHAEL McALISTER: The concept was supposed to be something that instantly communicated absolute death if you fell down there. That was one of the hardest things I’ve actually ever done in my career, creatively. And to this day, I’m not really happy with what that image communicates because it didn’t look like instant death to me. Richard [Donner] and [Steven] Spielberg didn’t ever complain to me about it, but I wasn’t really happy with that. It was supposed to be all misty and foggy, which made the lighting so diffuse that it was just really hard.
The ILM camera crew prepares to shoot the miniature from the ground up. A mirror was used for reference while standing (Credit: ILM).
Four decades later, The Goonies continues to be treasured by fans young and old. In 2017, the Library of Congress added the title to the National Film Registry, which honors movies with cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance.
DAVE CARSON: It’s so funny. Of all the films I’ve worked on, when people find out I worked on The Goonies, a lot of times that’s the one that they’re impressed by. “Oh, you worked on The Goonies? I love that movie!” Yeah, it’s still a very popular film.
BILL GEORGE: The story reminded me of when I was a kid with my buddies, and we were looking for adventure on the street, throwing dirt clods, that kind of stuff. It really captured the essence of that in a really magical way. And I think for kids that age, they’re like, “Hey, let’s make this happen. Let’s find the treasure.” Goonies have a special place in our hearts.
CAROLEEN ‘JETT’ GREEN: We were all seriously into what we were doing: matte painting.
I considered many of the artists geniuses. Just a brilliant group of creatives. We would start painting at around 10 o’clock in the morning and go into the zone of silence for hours. Then we’d come up for air at the same time, lunchtime or later. At times, I would even stay until sunrise.
MICHAEL McALISTER: It is meaningful to me that there are a few films that I’ve worked on that are classics and will always be remembered. During TheGoonies, I had a hunch about it because every kid dreams about finding a pirate ship and a pot of gold. I can’t take any credit for the fact that these movies have such legacies, but it’s nice to have been involved with a movie that made such a dent and endures.
When I first walked the halls of ILM, I realized I was walking among the best in the world at what they do. It was just such a privilege to be in that company, in the company of those artists, that level of creativity and expertise for so many years.
A doodle by an ILM crew member on the Inferno model during its construction (Credit: ILM).
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Clayton Sandell is a Star Wars author and enthusiast, Celebration stage host, and a longtime fan of the creative people who keep Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound on the leading edge of visual effects and sound design. Follow him on Instagram (@claytonsandell), Bluesky (@claytonsandell.com), or X (@Clayton_Sandell).
Industrial Light & Magic has unveiled a new trailer and key art for the podracing adventure that’s coming this fall.
Industrial Light & Magic and Lucasfilm announced today that Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset, the next groundbreaking entry in interactive Star Wars storytelling, will launch on October 7, 2025, exclusively for Meta Quest 3 & 3S headsets.
“This experience is designed to celebrate storytelling, action, imagination and everything we love about Star Wars,” said director Jose Perez III. “We wanted to give players a new way to step inside the galaxy and make it their own.”
ILM’s Mohen Leo and Scott Pritchard and Lucasfilm’s TJ Falls are among the winners for “Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie.”
The team from Andor pose in the press room with the award for outstanding special visual effects in a season or a movie during night one of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
The 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards took place on September 6, and Lucasfilm’s Andorseries took home four wins, including “Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie.” Industrial Light & Magic’s Mohen Leo – who served as Andor‘s production visual effects supervisor – took home the award along with ILM visual effects supervisor Scott Pritchard and Lucasfilm’s visual effects producer TJ Falls.
The other Emmy recipients for “Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie” include special effects supervisor Luke Murphy, special creature effects lead Neal Scanlan, Hybride visual effects supervisor Joseph Kasparian, Scanline visual effects supervisor Sue Rowe, In-House visual effects supervisor Paolo D’Arco, and digital colorist Jean-Clément Soret.
ILM’s Mohen Leo, production visual effects supervisor of Andor, attends the Governors Gala at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards (Credit: Invision/AP).
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The ILM visual effects supervisor speaks on ILM’s contributions to the blockbuster film that brought Marvel’s First Family into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
By Jay Stobie
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
Marvel Studios’The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) transports audiences to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Earth-828, where Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) must prevent Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner) from destroying their entire planet. Directed by Matt Shakman, whose acclaimed credits include helming episodes of the long-running comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-Present) and the mystical Disney+ hitWandaVision (2021), The Fantastic Four leans into a retro-futuristic aesthetic that blends 1960s-inspired designs with out-of-this-world technologies.
With this innovative endeavor in mind, the filmmakers called upon Industrial Light & Magic and its accompanying half-century of visual effects expertise to help execute Shakman’s vision, with a particular focus on The Thing, Galactus, the climactic third act battle in New York City, and more. Daniele Bigi (Ready Player One [2018],Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker [2019],Eternals [2021]), who served as the ILM visual effects supervisor on The Fantastic Four, sat down with ILM.com to discuss the company’s numerous contributions to the project, from devising a fresh approach for portraying The Thing’s rocky features to constructing Earth-828’s distinctive New York City skyline.
An ILM Overview
As the ILM visual effects supervisor on The Fantastic Four, Bigi spearheaded ILM’s involvement on the project from the company’s London studio, working closely with invaluable colleagues like ILM animation supervisor Kiel Figgins and ILM senior visual effects producer Claudia Lecaros. “In this case, ILM didn’t split the work between multiple ILM facilities, so my team ended up keeping all the asset and shot work in London. We were assigned the major task of handling the third act of the movie, which centered on the final battle between the Fantastic Four and Galactus,” Bigi tells ILM.com. “Although it’s divided into multiple sequences, the third act is a continuous narrative from Galactus’s arrival on Earth through the end of the film. It was a fascinating and important piece of work to deal with.”
ILM’s assignment included devising an innovative look for Ben Grimm’s iconic alter ego, The Thing. “We did all of the initial development with [production visual effects supervisor] Scott Stokdyk and [visual effects producer] Lisa Marra from Marvel, in collaboration with [head of visual development] Ryan Meinerding. Ryan provided us with the concept for The Thing, which is what we based our work on,” Bigi relays. As the leading vendor for The Thing, ILM developed the entire character and then distributed the asset to the film’s other visual effects vendors for their own sequences.
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
“After the initial development of The Thing, we were assigned another prominent character to build. Since ILM had several shots in which Mister Fantastic stretched his body and used his ability in an extreme way during the final battle, ILM ended up leading the look development of Reed Richards, too,” Bigi explains. In January 2025, ILM’s success with these character creations prompted Matt Shakman to task Bigi’s team with crafting the Fantastic Four’s immense nemesis, Galactus.
“Another big component to ILM’s work was the development of New York City, which was an imaginary version of it based on Marvel concept art,” Bigi continues. “Roughly 90% of the New York City shots were done in computer graphics by ILM. It’s a 1960s futuristic New York, and while certain aspects appear exactly like our New York, there are many buildings and stylistic elements that reflect both 1960s and futuristic designs. A large section of the city, including Times Square, was ingested from Sony Pictures Imageworks, whom ILM collaborated closely to combine different city blocks into a unified layout with a matching style, color palette, and overall look.” Most of the city set-up was handled by environment supervisor Stacie Hawdon and CG supervisor Tobias Keip at ILM’s London studio. In total, Bigi estimates that ILM contributed between 350 and 380 shots to The Fantastic Four.
Thinking the Thing Through
“At ILM, we aimed to deliver on Matt Shakman’s vision by dramatically changing what had been done with The Thing in the past. We sought to create the most believable, realistic performance that would respect Jack Kirby’s original design, from the size of the rocks to the very specific rock formation of The Thing’s brow,” Bigi shares. Animating facial expressions for a character whose face is composed of rock proved to be a considerable challenge. “We explored different options, but I always wanted to keep the rocks as rigid as possible. If we started to squash and stretch them, The Thing would resemble what was done in the past with plastic material and foam prosthetics.”
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
Leaning into The Thing’s bouldery frame, Bigi’s team created small, undefined gaps between the rocks. “Depending on the expression, we could move the rocks in these minuscule spaces. Additionally, we allowed the rocks to gently stretch in areas that were invisible to the camera, giving us larger gaps that let us keep the rest of the rocks completely rigid.” ILM employed another sophisticated technique for The Thing’s face and body, running an effects simulation on the rocks rather than dealing with geometric skinning. Bigi praises FX and creature technical director Maybrit Bulla, who used Houdini to create a custom setup to control the collision between the rocks. “We used our blend shape technology to move the underlying surface, but there are rocks on top of it that are actually colliding. They push each other and land in a natural position. In some shots, we had to guide the simulation in an artistic manner to avoid having rocks go into unwanted territory and seem weird or strange. The process is something new that we developed for this movie.”
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing (Credit: ILM & Marvel).
When it came to actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s performance capture for The Thing, ILM referenced the work-in-progress geometry data from Digital Domain (another effects vendor on the film). “The data was useful for the initial stages and the blocking animation, but when we started to go into the minutiae with Scott Stokdyk and Matt Shakman, we ultimately worked on our own system and reanimated the character for our final animation,” Bigi details, crediting CG supervisor Marco Carboni for developing a workflow to quickly ingest data from Digital Domain and transfer it to ILM’s proprietary facial rig.
Rules for Reed Richards
Alongside Shakman, ILM outlined clear guidelines for Reed Richards’s capabilities as Mister Fantastic. “Matt was keen to avoid creating what we called a ‘noodles’ or ‘spaghetti’ feeling. How we controlled the stretch was unique and based on Matt’s vision,” Bigi recalls. “Instead of developing the character for months and then realizing that it didn’t behave in the right way, I proposed exploring various 3D action poses with extreme body stretch from several angles. Matt was incredibly receptive to the notion of rendering these static frames before having a functional rig or muscle simulation for the animator to use.”
Setting rules for Mister Fantastic became essential to ILM’s process. “What can Reed do? Do we want to stretch the neck, or don’t we? We decided not to, so there’s not a single shot where you see the neck stretching a lot,” Bigi notes. “We established a rule that only Reed’s limbs would stretch, meaning his upper torso and shoulders would remain the same width as the actor’s. Another rule dealt with his bone structure. While stretching, his elbows and knees would be more defined, the idea being that the skin was getting thin and wrapping around the bone. This was all discussed with Matt and Scott and developed in the initial stage where we did our 3D maquette action poses.”
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
Bigi took inspiration directly from Marvel’s comic books, as well. “Many comic book artists before us, in particular Alex Ross, maintained a very strong V-shape when portraying Reed’s upper body. So, in the ILM shots where Reed is stretching, we kept the lat muscles on his body fairly large, like an athlete or swimmer,” Bigi declares. “We also decided Reed would snap his limbs back to a natural pose relatively quickly. The thought was that it wasn’t easy for Reed to stretch, so he would only do so on important occasions. He doesn’t do it for fun, at least in this movie.”
While Reed’s arms and legs stretch extensively, Bigi points to another key decision ILM made when generating the look and feel of Mister Fantastic. “The stretch of his fingers is minimal, and the gloves you see are usually the normal size as established by the practical costume designer. The concept being that, unlike the fabric close to his body, the actual fabric of the gloves didn’t need to stretch at all.”
Seeing Sue Storm
As was the case with The Thing, ILM pursued a unique path to conveying Sue Storm’s abilities in the final battle. “Rather than relying on particle simulation, all of ILM’s Sue effects were based on optical elements,” Bigi reflects. “The Sue effects were meant to be analog, in a way. There are no effects simulations of any kind. Most of those shots were crafted by ourcompositing team, so it’s a 2D-based approach using references of how lenses naturally create refraction and color variation. You see that we enhanced and exaggerated the prismatic fringes that occur with specific types of lenses.
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
“Although this route was simple in a technological sense, it was nevertheless quite effective visually, and blended well with the atmosphere of the movie,” Bigi concludes. “Going with the latest, state-of-the-art technology is not always the answer. In this case, it was the opposite. We wanted it to feel simple and analog, so we stayed with the real optical effects. It’s all about what the director wants and the feeling you wish to convey.”
Grappling with Galactus
Unlike the challenges that ILM tackled with The Thing’s rocky features, the surface of Galactus’s face resembled the actor to a much greater extent. “We were able to use Ralph Ineson’s performance through a normal blend shape technique for Galactus’s face. Matt wanted to infuse Galactus with a god-like aspect, so he had us downplay the realistic human aspect and micromovements of the actor’s face. We reduced the range of motion and kept the face a bit firmer,” Bigi states. “For the body, we received a scan of the beautifully-constructed costume, but at the end of the day, ILM replaced it with CG in all of our shots because of its need to appear metallic.”
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
Representing Galactus’s true scale also came into play. “We determined a specific height for Galactus, so the camera had to conform to that size. There are several shots with plate photography, but the majority was done digitally, especially due to the interaction between Galactus and the city,” Bigi reports. “Galactus’s body had to be covered with thousands of tiny lights, which couldn’t be done realistically with prosthetics, and he’s so large that the amount of detail necessary to set the scale was tremendous. We scattered literally millions of tiny pipes, greeblies, and geometric objects to increase the sense of scale. At a distance, our Galactus was the same as the costume, yet it was much more elaborate in the extreme close-ups.”
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
ILM held conversations with Matt Shakman and Scott Stokdyk about the bridge devices that serve as a centerpiece for the climactic conflict with Galactus. “We developed an effect that we called ‘bridge effects,’” Bigi notes. “The bridge is an amazing device that – spoiler alert – Reed conceived to transport Galactus to another location in space. Because of the 1960s style of the movie, we avoided a digital quality for the portal. We found references and simulated optical effects rather than calling upon inspiration from the digital world. It was a real brainstorm with Matt and Scott. All sorts of ideas, such as having Galactus’s body stream with particles inside the bridge effects, came up in our conversations with Matt.”
A “New” New York
In preparation for depicting Earth-828’s New York City, Bigi traveled to New York for a 10-day shoot with The Fantastic Four’s second unit. “It was an amazing experience,” Bigi beams. “Based on the previs, there were certain shots we knew would be CG, but we tried to film as much as possible. Before going to New York, I used a combination of Google Earth and other digital resources to virtually scout Manhattan and propose methods to capture it from specific locations in a thorough fashion. I spent days capturing 360 HDRI panoramic views, mostly along 42nd Street, that construct a library of texture and material references. At the same time, a small team from Clear Angle Studios scanned the entire road using a LiDAR [Light Detection and Ranging] scan.”
The work continued upon Bigi’s return to London. “Initially, we took the images of New York and removed all the buildings constructed after the 1960s. It was essentially a filter that permitted us to show this version of the city to Matt and Scott,” Bigi remembers. “Then, in collaboration with [production designer] Kasra Farahani and Scott, we drew inspiration from futuristic-looking buildings elsewhere in America, such as Chicago. We selected preexisting real-world buildings that had rounded shapes and concrete bases. Another selection was done by concept artists at Marvel who had come up with original designs.
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
“My team at ILM modeled those buildings, and we set their number and location along the street. We built several layouts and versions, gradually shaping the features of the street. That aesthetic relied on the props, as well,” Bigi asserts. “The cars and billboards resemble those from the 1960s, and we scattered spherical water tanks around the city. The phone booths aren’t based on their 1960s counterparts, as they were designed specifically for the movie. From the skyscrapers down to minute details like the color of the phone booths, everything is either a combination of real 1960s references or the artistically-driven futuristic elements that are now synonymous with the film.
”The time and talent that ILM invested in The Fantastic Four has paid off for both the artists involved in the project and audiences around the globe. Upon seeing the final cut, Bigi gravitated towards one of ILM’s shots when ranking his top stand-out moments from the project, declaring, “There are several moments that I love, but for me, Galactus emerging from the water and entering Battery Park from the river is my favorite. The water simulation and the composition combine to create a wonderful shot to begin that sequence.” Applauding the work of compositing supervisor Juan Espigares Enríquez and his compositing team, Bigi concludes, “I think it’s one of The Fantastic Four’s most exciting and spectacular moments.”
(Credit: ILM & Marvel).
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Jay Stobie (he/him) is a writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to ILM.com, Skysound.com, Star Wars Insider, StarWars.com, Star Trek Explorer, Star Trek Magazine, and StarTrek.com. Jay loves sci-fi, fantasy, and film, and you can learn more about him by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.
