Joe Johnston on Star Wars 40th Anniversary

The Silver Chair director Joe Johnston shared a series of tweets today reflecting on the 40th anniversary of Star Wars. Johnston began his career working on the first Star Wars film as a concept artist and sounds technician, and was an art director of visual effects for the second and third films of the trilogy. Here’s a snippet of what he has to say about the experience and why it was so special:

With few exceptions, the people who came together in 1975 to put Lucas’s creations on screen weren’t seasoned veterans of the film industry. A few had a little previous experience but for many of us it was our first entry into the world of cinema. George Lucas didn’t assemble a team of technical experts. He called on largely untested people who had imagination, talent and a passion to try things that had never been done before. The adventure we shared happened because the right elements came together at a moment in time sparked by the brilliant vision of one man.

We are all well aware that our unique experience on the original Star Wars trilogy—the way our teams of passionate people created such stunning visual effects in the pre-digital age—will never happen again, to those who lived it or to anyone else in the future of filmmaking. We’re profoundly fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time, escorted through it all by the creative mind of George Lucas.

Fans of Narnia know that things never happen the same way twice, but here’s to hoping that the time is right for The Silver Chair to come together in a new and magical way through the efforts of an imaginative and passionate team!