A case can be made that genre filmmaking as we know it wouldn’t exist today without Industrial Light & Magic bridging the gap between fantasy and reality. But now, the company’s technical wizards are finally getting their due. Lucasfilm has premiered the first trailer for Light & Magic, a new documentary series that examines ILM’s history and cultural impact throughout the last 47 years.
The series hails from director Lawrence Kasdan, best known as the award-winning screenwriter behind Lucasfilm hits like The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Over the course of six episodes, Kasdan will explore just how ILM became the film industry’s premiere VFX house. The story begins in 1975, when a young George Lucas was starting production on the original Star Wars. Unfortunately, there were no visual effects companies in town that could help him realize the grand scope of his vision…which is precisely why he decided to create his own company to bring his ideas to life.
You can watch the new trailer for the series in the player below.
RELATED: Disney+ Announces a New ILM Docuseries, Light & Magic
The trailer is loaded with ‘70s archive footage, revealing how ILM’s founders produced several classic Star Wars moments. According to them, Lucas’ goals for the film forced them to think outside the box and build new equipment from scratch. But they eventually moved beyond the Millennium-Falcon-on-a-stick approach. As the decades wore on, they honed their techniques to deliver standout moments from other blockbusters like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Transformers, and The Avengers.
Kasdan’s documentary features interviews with tons of recognizable filmmakers, including Lucas, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Barry Jenkins, and Jon Favreau. But more importantly, viewers will hear from the VFX designers themselves and discover that they were more than just co-workers. Above everything else, they were also a family.
Light & Magic will begin streaming on Disney+ on July 27.
Are you looking forward to watching the series later this month? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: The Star Wars Archives (1977–1983)
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