Steven Spielberg May Have Been the One that Saved Babu Frik in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Director Steven Spielberg has always had a special interest in Star Wars, as he is close friends with George Lucas, and the first film, which he had viewed before its theatrical release, came out alongside Spielberg’s film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg and Lucas each believed the other’s film would do better than their own in the box office, and obviously Spielberg was correct in his assumption. Since then, he has had a small stake in the franchise, and has been able to pre-screen the films and give his opinions.

During a pre-screening of the final film in the franchise, The Rise of Skywalker, Spielberg gave a warm reception to the film, but had one major concern. In a recent report from Empire, they said creature effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan, concept artist Ivan Manzella, and actor Shirley Henderson explained:

“It could be a rumour, but I believe J.J. screened the movie for Steven Spielberg, and at the end Spielberg said, ‘What happened to Babu?’.” “Everybody thought, ‘Oh God, what did happen to Babu?’” As it turns out, even Henderson – who voiced Babu and puppeteered his mouth live on set – was surprised to see the character return in the last stretch of the film. “I think he was going to die originally – I think the AD shot that,” admits Manzella. “When the planet [Kijimi] was blown up, he was on it.” Instead the little guy was rescued, his reappearance drafted in from one of many deleted Babu Frik scenes. “We shot several other sequences,” says Scanlan. “The ILM guys found one, lifted out Babu and put him into Zorii’s ship at the end.”

This was a good win for the fans in the film. Babu Frik was a fun character, and it was nice that Spielberg made sure he was saved. While fans couldn’t agree with the movie as a whole, I’m sure most were good with a definitive happy ending for the lovable creature.