Anyone that’s seen Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out talking about one of the film’s biggest set-pieces in which a young Han Solo and young(er but still incredibly old) Chewbacca lead a daring heist aboard an Imperial train. It makes for a stunning sequence, and is the latest scene in a Star Wars movie to be produced with the help of VR.
In a piece on the official Star Wars website, Lucasfilm design supervisor James Clyne revealed that the crew first created the setpiece within VR and effectively put themselves in the movie. This helped the crew judge just how feasible Han and co’s action were (outside of, y’know, surviving on a speeding train suspended around freezing cold mountains). Clyne put on an unspecified pair of VR goggles and actually acted out some of the movie’s stunts.
“I just put my back against the one wall and I ran,” he said, also adding that he nearly tripped over and fell into the back wall as he ran around. Don’t worry; someone was holding the wires for him as he stumbled about, though is still sounds almost as dangerous as the real thing.
“And I went back and reported back to production, the directors — I, normal Joe, can jump over that!” Clyne added.
This is far from the first time Lucasfilm has used VR to help bring its Star Wars movies to life. Virtual sets were also made for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, for example.
