Designer Doug Chiang on Returning to the Star Wars Galaxy

When Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005, almost everyone involved figured that it would be the last Star Wars theatrical release. Series creator George Lucas had indicated that the final prequel was also the final Star Wars movie. He hinted at further adventures on television and in video games, but for brand new theatrical experiences, the franchise had run its course. And this was the sensation that people who worked on the film felt as well.

Doug Chiang, who designed much of the prequels for George Lucas, was one of these people. If you look back at the prequels, some of the most striking images come courtesy of Chiang: the hot rod yellow star fighters, the junky pod racers, the showdown between the Jedi and bounty hunters on a slippery, rain-soaked platform. After working for many years on Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers team, Chiang returned to the Star Wars fold, for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The design challenge couldn’t have been more different—instead of sleekness and opulence of the prequels, the new movie emphasized the worn down, “used future” look of the original trilogy. Chiang couldn’t have been happier.

“It’s funny because I grew up with Episode IV, I saw it when I was 15, and so I started my whole career thinking that I wanted to draw in the [original concept designer] Ralph McQuarrie style. And when I started working on Episodes I, II, and III, George, completely threw me for a loop when he said ‘No, we’re going to change the design. We’re going to go back into the design history and design something more romantic that then leads into Episodes IV, V, and VI,’” Chiang explained. “Within me, for all of these years I’ve been itching to do classic design, so when I heard that Episode VII was happening I was really excited, I really wanted to come on board again as a team member to just do designs to do classic IV, V, and VI design aesthetics. You know, following in the footsteps of Ralph McQuarrie.”

Chiang says that for the past 10 years he’d been “out of that loop doing hands-on work,” since he was more of a production designer than an actual conceptual designer. So he had to really study up on design techniques and cutting-edge software, just to stay up to date. “Coming into Episode VII, I had to do a lot of homework and learn 3D at home and on weekends, just to keep up with those guys, and to me, today, I can still barely keep up with those guys.”

Working on the prequels and now returning to the franchise also gave Chiang the chance to return to material in a fresh way. If he was unhappy with anything from the prequels, he could revise and adjust. Not that he wanted to change anything. “When I work on films it’s really to fulfill the director’s vision, and getting in sync with the director,” Chiang said. “I always say it was the best art and design school ever because I really got into the process, and what I took away from that was a greater appreciation for how he envisioned the universe, because he actually had it all laid out in his mind making logical sense, so it wasn’t just about creating pretty images and pretty designs. It was all about fitting into a timeline that actually made historical sense within our human history.” Chiang faced something different on the new film. “It was slightly different in that J.J. was really keen on going back to creating designs that could fit right into IV, V, and VI. I remember one of the early meetings, he said, ‘Let’s design these sets as if George built them in the late ‘70s, but he just never shot them.’ It’s an interesting way of looking at them because that really grounds you in terms of how you approach design, so we would look at it and say, ‘Well, if these were sets that were designed and worked in the ‘70s and ‘80s, let’s think of how they would have made them.’”

One of the biggest changes to the approach of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was to emphasize practical effects and sets instead of the largely digital constructs of the prequels, something that isn’t exactly true, according to Chiang. “It’s interesting—in hindsight, people seem to remember The Phantom Menace had very little physical sets and miniatures. In fact, it was actually the largest miniature shoot, ever!” The desire to use digital technology, Chiang says, came from Lucas’ desire to expand the world of Star Wars in a way that wasn’t possible when he made the original films. But with The Force Awakens, “The pendulum is swinging back and finding a nice equilibrium where it’s like, Okay, let’s put those tools aside. Let’s just see what is most appropriate for it.” He said walking onto a set and “smelling the paint” was a powerful reminder of the restraint and power of this approach.

There’s a big emphasis on the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the creative process–there’s a wonderful, hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary and a bevy of deleted scenes that almost made it into the final film. But when I asked Chiang if there was any design that he wished was still in the film, he said no. “It’s interesting because even working on Episode VII, there are a lot of great designers who are new to the Star Wars universe and they’re fantastic. They’re very fresh, and yet they still fit within the mold of Star Wars, and that’s what I love about the universe George has created. It’s so expensive, you can have all these different point of views, and yet they all funnel into a very cohesive world.”

Chiang has already completed work on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first stand-alone film directed by Godzilla director Gareth Edwards, out this Christmas, and is hard at work on Episode VIII, currently shooting under the direction of Looper filmmaker Rian Johnson. So I asked what he was looking forward to exploring in these subsequent films. “You would think it would all be more of the same, but in fact it’s not, it’s very different, because of the directors and their point-of-view,” Chiang said. “And that’s what’s really attractive to me, whether it’s JJ or Gareth Edwards or Rian Johnson, they all bring their passion to it. And it really pushes you into unexpected directions, and I love that ability in that, you know we’re all playing in the same playground. There’s so much room for exploration and expansion. That’s the appeal for me as a designer—it’s still very unexpected. I don’t know where things are going to go but I’m excited about the possibility.” Everyone else is excited too (me included).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out now on Digital HD, and on Blu-ray April 5.