While it’s been long-suspected – right back to the earliest days of The Phantom Menace on VHS back in 2000 when hitting pause allowed fans of the day the chance to pour over the screen for clues and easter eggs – that George Lucas was hiding somewhere in the pillars of Theed City, and finally our pal Clayton Sandell has been able to dig deep into the weeds by chatting with former Industrial Light & Magic matte painter Caroleen “Jett” Green who confirmed that yes, the Maker was indeed present on Naboo during that momentous battle.
For this delightful addition to Episode I we can thank Jett Green, and here’s how the “cameo” came to be. She says that one day as she was working on the matte painting, she realized the oval-shaped area atop the arch looked sort of like a plaque with a blank space in the middle.
“I decided to get a picture of George, and I put it on this plaque,” she tells me. “I thought, ‘Well, that’ll be cool. By the time you shrink that down, his face is just a blur.’”
She showed off her handiwork to one of the Episode I visual effects supervisors, Scott Squires.
“I said, ‘Hey, Scott, look what I did. I put George in the shot!’ And I magnified it up 400%,” Jett remembers. “And he says to me, ‘You know, I think we’re going to have to get George to approve that.’
Not long after, Jett says George Lucas himself—accompanied by a “huge” entourage— walked up to her desk. Because she admired Lucas and had worked for him for so long, she says she wasn’t at all nervous as she pulled the scene up on her monitor and zoomed in.
“George is really quiet,” recalls Jett. “He looks at it, and he goes, ‘Oh, naughty, naughty.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s you! It’s your face.’ And then there’s silence again. And I’m just sitting there with everybody. And for some reason, I can’t describe the feeling, but— I knew that I wasn’t going to get in trouble.”
A few more tense-ish moments go by.
“And then,” according to Jett, “George says, ‘Okay. Leave it in.’”
Wizard.
For the full interview which delves into Jett’s wider and fascinating career, be sure to check out Clayton’s Substack Efforting with Clayton Sandell.
