TheBehindtheScenes.blogspot.com recently posted a heads-up for a rare video gem from the ‘80s offering a glimpse inside the Industrial Light & Magic facility during the classic trilogy era.
Legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, who hosted a news science magazine show called “Universe” between 1979 and ’82, took cameras inside the cloistered environs of Industrial Light & Magic where it appears at least one “making of” Empire set-up was re-enacted for the benefit of Cronkite and his audience. Some great chatter between Cronkite and George Lucas, too, who personally hosted the tour.
Check it out — the audio/video quality is pretty sketchy, but the rare look inside the ILM studio during the company’s early days is worth the watch!
From issue 121 pg.66 of Cinefex:
Quote: “After the cultural phenomenon that was Star Wars, there was intense interest by the mainstream media of the making of The Empire Strikes Back. No less a news luminary than Walter Cronkite toured ILM to document the behind the scenes visual effect effort for broadcast on an episode of his television series, The Twentieth Century. Tippett and Ken Ralston succumbed to the mischievous impulses and their natures when they were asked to do a sample tauntaun setup for Cronkite and his film crew. “We set up a tauntaun shot,” Ralston recalled, “except, just for fun, we set it up in a completely fake way with a bunch of surface gauges and rulers stuck on them – all kinds of crazy things. During the demonstration, we adjusted things and acted very serious, as if we were animating this character using all this ‘high-tech’ stuff. It was a complete joke; and when I look back on it, it may not have been a smart move to do that with Walter Cronkite – but it was fun!”