Is this character in The Last Jedi a puppet, CGI, or a mixture of both?
In The Last Jedi:
An “old friend” (Yoda) appears in spirit form on Ahch-To and has a conversation with Luke.
I'm guessing that this character was a puppet, however the eyes in particular looked strange which makes me wonder whether it was CGI after all, or possibly a mixture of the two.
Are there any sources (yet) that confirm which approach was used?
Best Answer
TL;DR: The character was a mixture of both - a puppet enhanced in post with CGI.
Lighting company Digital Sputnik, which specializes in practical lighting effects used on movie productions, commented on a recent tweet that they have now illuminated both Jesus
and Yoda.
Given that the company is fairly new, we can safely eliminate any of the older productions in which he appeared. This, along with a few other hints here & there, would seem to indicate that the character is indeed a practical puppet on-set.
In addition, Star Wars theorist Mike Zeroh claims to have heard from a source at Pinewood Studios that a special set was constructed to accomodate
the Yoda puppet speaking with Luke.
Update: Director Rian Johnson has now confirmed this during an interview with Uproxx...
Neal Scanlan and his team did a recreation of the Yoda puppet. It’s not only a puppet, it’s an exact replica of the Empire puppet. They found the original molds for it. They found the woman that painted the original eyes for Yoda. Then Frank came and worked with them for a few weeks to get the puppet right. He did a lot of testing and a lot of adjusting with the puppet creators. It was amazing to watch the process.
So the answer to your question would appear to be... a mixture of both.
Pictures about "Is this character in The Last Jedi a puppet, CGI, or a mixture of both?"
Is Yoda CGI or a puppet in the last Jedi?
The film marked the final time Oz would portray the character as a puppet until the release of The Last Jedi (2017). However, in the 2011 Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace, the Yoda puppet was replaced by a CGI character to match the later depiction of the character.Why does Yoda look different in the last Jedi?
Why does The Last Jedi's Yoda look so weird? The reasons Yoda looks not his best in The Last Jedi are many, ranging from advances in filmmaking to our own nostalgia. That they painstakingly recreated the Yoda puppet from Empire is amazing, but then The Last Jedi wasn't filmed in the same manner as Empire was in 1980.Why did the last Jedi use puppet Yoda?
The Last Jedi's creature designer Neal Scanlan explained why they returned Yoda to his original puppet glory, saying: We just felt that it was absolutely right and proper that we create the puppet in the closest likeness to the original and to give Frank exactly what he had the first time around.The VOICE LUKE HEARD as He Died in The Last Jedi Revealed - Star Wars Explained
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Images: Magda Ehlers, Pixabay, cottonbro, Craig Adderley