One of the most pleasant surprises in Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the return of Master Yoda to offer Luke Skywalker some advice when he needed it most. The moment was emotional, both for audiences and the performers involved--Mark Hamill can be seen getting very emotional during the rehearsals in the documentary The Director and the Jedi. Yoda's return was kept a secret (mostly) during the production and promotion of the film and now Frank Oz, who both voices Yoda and performs the puppet spoke about keeping the return a secret in a new interview with IGN.
Oz spoke about how he was approached about playing Yoda again, saying,
"Several years ago I had lunch with Rian [Johnson], and Rian asked if I
could do Yoda in the next Star Wars, and I said ‘Sure,’ because I
thought it was just CGI. And then [Lucasfilm president] Kathy Kennedy,
who I’ve known for quite a while, who’s fantastic, she called me about
it and then I realized that it wasn’t CGI, that it was actually the
character. I said, ‘Kathy, do you have any
idea what’s going to happen here? This is tough!’ and she said ‘That’s
okay, let’s do it.’ So, you know, the workshop made him and everything,
and did a fantastic job,"
He also spoke about keeping the reveal a secret, saying,
"I was told that that was going to be the surprise of the movie, so
when I went to Pinewood I had to be a secret there. Although if people
saw me… people DID see me, but if they questioned me it would have been
fine because I shot Little Shop of Horrors ... there, and could have
just said I had some meetings for movies. But the idea was to
keep me off the credits. I was asked, ‘Could you have your
name off the poster?’ and I said ‘Sure.’ So the idea was that that would
be the surprise."
IGN also asked him about the potential of there being a Yoda stand alone film (which was one of the very first rumors about the stand alones back in the day). Oz replied that he hadn't heard anything about it, however Yoda would have to be CGI (like he was in the prequels) if he were to have his own movie. He explained,
"It would have to be [CGI], yeah. It would have to be. It’s far, far too
difficult because I’m doing it with three other people. So it’s four
people and you can’t just wing it. You’ve got to study every single word
with four people."
Oz is currently promoting his new documentary Muppet Guys Talking, which is available now!
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