George Lucas' innovative and imaginative work has attracted some of the very best talents in moviemaking, ever since the director's first teams started creating new technologies to make his vision a reality. From producers to art directors, visual effects supervisors to swordmasters, the movies of the Star Wars Saga have inspired new ideas and generated great stories.

Come and hear some of these amazing stories from movie craftsmen who have worked at Industrial Light & Magic at key points throughout the three decades of Star Wars, and have come to take part in the celebration!

Jon Berg
As a child, Jon Berg was captivated by the stop-motion animated classic Mighty Joe Young, which featured the talents of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. His first job was at a California studio called Cascade Pictures, which produced television commercials. It was here that Berg first met his future Industrial Light & Magic co-workers Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett. Eventually Berg left Cascade to join ILM, where he worked as an animator, modelmaker, and visual effects artist for the three original movies. Most notably, Berg (with Tippett) animated the holographic chess sequence between R2-D2 and Chewbacca in A New Hope, and handled the modelmaking and stop-motion animation of the AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back. Berg also played a Bith band member as well as one of the two arguing Duros (Phil Tippett was the other) in the famous cantina scene.

In addition to the original trilogy, Berg has worked on a variety of films including Gremlins, Dragonslayer, The Fly, Naked Lunch, 2010, Ghostbusters, The Nightmare before Christmas, and the Star Wars prequels.

Don Bies
Don Bies, the Droid Unit Supervisor for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, has a long and close association with the Star Wars galaxy. Bies started operating R2-D2 for Industrial Light & Magic for a series of Japanese television commercials in 1987. Since then, he has worked on countless films and commercials for the pioneering visual effects studio, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Congo, Starship Troopers, and the infamous "Darth Vader vs. the Energizer Bunny" commercial.

Bies worked on the Star Wars Special Editions, and added a list of on-screen appearances to his more typical off-screen contributions. He appeared as a Bith musician and Boba Fett in Jabba's Palace, as well as Imperial stormtroopers, officers, and aliens throughout the new sequences. Bies, also a senior model maker, has worked on each of the Star Wars prequels. See Bies at Celebration IV on the stage, and in the R2-D2 Builders' Room, where he encourages and inspires the worldwide group of droid builders.

Richard Edlund, ASC
Richard Edlund has made a deep and lasting impression in filmmaking and visual effects. A founding member of Industrial Light & Magic, he established his reputation by winning four Oscars® for the effects in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi, and a nomination for Poltergeist. He has received five additional nominations, three Academy Scientific and Engineering awards, two BAFTAS and an Emmy for visual effects in the original miniseries Battlestar Galactica.

In 1983 Edlund founded Boss Film Studios, its maiden project being Ghostbusters. Until its close in 1997, the studio produced visual effects for about 30 movies, including 2010, Poltergeist 2, Cliffhanger, Batman Returns, Ghost, Alien3, Die Hard, Species, Multiplicity and Air Force One. Edlund was awarded the John Bonner Medal of Commendation this year for his contributions to the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences by its Scientific and Technical Awards Committee.

Dennis Muren, A.S.C.
Dennis Muren is the Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. Recipient of eight Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Muren is actively involved in the evolution of the company, as well as the design and development of new techniques and equipment. In June 1999, Muren became the first visual effects artist to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Muren's academy award-winning movies for ILM include The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Jurassic Park.

Lorne Peterson
Lorne Peterson is one of the original members of Industrial Light & Magic, having been hired by George Lucas to create the models for Star Wars. In 1978, Peterson was invited by Lucas to move to Northern California to oversee the production of models for The Empire Strikes Back. Since that time, he has worked on most of Lucas' movies, as well as those of Steven Spielberg.

Aside from the work he has done for ILM, Peterson has done industrial design modelmaking for McDonaldland, JBL Speakers, Kikkoman, Yamaha Snowmobiles and the feature film The China Syndrome. Peterson was honored with an Academy Award and a British Academy Award for the special effects work in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Ken Ralston
Ken Ralston has earned five Academy Awards as Visual Effects Supervisor for Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cocoon, and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. He most recently completed production as senior visual effects supervisor on The Polar Express with longtime collaborator, director Robert Zemeckis, and senior visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen. He is currently working with Jerome Chen and Robert Zemeckis on the upcoming performance capture adaptation of Beowulf.

For close to two decades, Mr. Ralston was a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, placing his aesthetic and technical stamp on many of the company's landmark film innovations. Constantly pushing the technological envelope, he played a central role in establishing ILM's groundbreaking reputation. Working side-by-side with directors and production designers, Ralston helped filmmakers hone their visions and realize their ideas on the screen.

Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett, award-winning visual effects supervisor, animation pioneer, and director, knew what path he would take from the age of seven, when he first watched Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion classic The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. By 1978, Phil was at Industrial Light & Magic animating the Imperial walkers for The Empire Strikes Back.

After developing the animation technique of Go-Motion in 1982, Tippett became the head of the ILM creature shop for Return of the Jedi, for which he was awarded an Oscar. After founding Tippett Studio in 1984, Phil received acclaim for his work on the Emmy-award winning Dinosaur!, and for the movies RoboCop, Willow, and Starship Troopers. He was awarded his second Oscar for his supervision of the dinosaur animation in Jurassic Park. Phil developed and directed his own feature, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. Currently he mentors the artists who create the unique visual effects at Tippett Studio while developing innovative new projects.


Previously announced, and also appearing at Celebration IV - John Knoll
Knoll will present a rare, behind-the-scenes retrospective of the ground-breaking work at ILM, with shots from the visual archives that document work on the Star Wars original trilogy, as well as his very personal tour of "life on the prequels."