Filmumentaries is back as host Jamie Benning sits down for the first part of his chat with ILM model maker John Goodson, who started his time with the company back in the 80’s and continued through The Phantom Menace and beyond to The Mandalorian and Grogu.

John Goodson is a model maker and digital artist who spent more than three decades at ILM. His credits span The Rocketeer, Star Trek: First Contact, the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Rogue One, and most recently The Mandalorian and Grogu. In this first of two episodes, I talk to John about his lifelong obsession with spacecraft and model-making, how he got to ILM, what the model shop was like at its peak, and the craft philosophy that has defined his career. In this episode:

• Growing up obsessed with Lost in Space, Star Log, and the making-of books that shaped his ambitions
• Writing letters to ILM at age 14 — and getting politely told to stop
• How a childhood friendship and a homemade recreation of the Battle of Hoth eventually led to his first visit to ILM
• The advice that sent him back to finish school — and why it was the right call
• Getting hired for one week on Body Wars and spending the first three days hiding in the model shop hoping nobody would notice
• What the ILM model shop culture was like at its peak, and what he absorbed from Bill George, Lorne Peterson, Larry Tan, and the rest of that team
• The 18-foot Titanic model for Ghostbusters II and learning to just start building
• The 33-foot Hindenburg for The Rocketeer — eight months of construction, a night shoot at a decommissioned Air Force base, kerosene running out of the holes, and a cherry picker at 25 feet
• The pasta trick, pancake syrup, and other unexpected materials that found their way into ILM shots
• Watching the digital wave arrive and feeling like parts of the machine were being taken away
• The transition to digital model-making and eventually finding his footing with Mari
• What it felt like to return to physical model-making for The Mandalorian — and what was hardest about working without the model shop around him
• The mechanical language of spacecraft: why weathering works, what Star Crash got wrong, and the disposable camera exercise that taught a kit-bash class to see the real world differently
• How the Razor Crest started as a 3D-printed assembly that couldn’t survive construction — and what he did about itPart two is coming soon…

I’ll be chatting with John onstage at Rebel Scum Con in Frisco, Texas on Friday 7th August in the Inside ILM: Bringing the Star Wars Prequels to Life panel at 3.00pm in Panel Room A, where he’ll be joined by fellow ILM-er Kim Smith.