Yoda Men!

Image credit: Attack of the Clones: © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM All Rights Reserved. Digital Work by ILM

SABER RATTLING Your answering machine message as Yoda, Frank Oz don't ask

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Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones

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One supplied the voice. The other, the body. Together, Muppeteer Frank Oz and ILM animation director Rob Coleman converted Jedi Master Yoda from a lump-on-a-Dagobah-log puppet to a digital badass for ''Attack of the Clones.'' Interview we did, these two.

Did you grieve at Yoda's digital conversion?
FRANK OZ: I had no qualms. Puppeteering is such a f---ing hard thing to do. [Laughs] Do I miss it a little bit? Yeah. But I'm happier it's gone to another plateau.

What were the main challenges?
ROB COLEMAN: I was confident we could do the acting moments. But I was faced with a sequence where I was not able to rely on what Frank had established: the fight scene. That took me months to wrap my head around.

Was there a ''Eureka!'' moment?
RC: When George added the shot of Yoda grabbing that blue lightning and pushing it back. We needed to show how this old warrior could kick Count Dooku's butt.
FO: It's the concept of a mother doing superhuman things to save her child. Plus, Dooku was Yoda's student; he'd be f---ed if he was going to look like some old man to his student. Yoda's got an ego too.

You totally nailed Yoda -- right down to his ear jiggle.
RC: Actually, I remember showing Frank some work, and he said, ''That wasn't exactly intentional....''
FO: Things like the ear wiggle -- those were things we were actually trying to work against.
RC: We could have not put it in. But when we didn't, he just didn't look like Yoda.

How many times have you been asked to record answering-machine greetings as Yoda?
FO: People ask me to do Yoda's voice and I don't. It only cheapens him.