It seems that Steven Spielberg may have played a pivotal role in saving Babu Frik from death in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Empire Online explains all….
In the upcoming new issue of Empire, we spoke to the people behind Babu Frik himself – creature effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan, concept artist Ivan Manzella, and actor Shirley Henderson – to get the full story behind the instant icon.
As it turns out, it wasn’t just Star Wars fans who fell for Babu Frik – he also reportedly has a major fan in one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Not only that, but said director could even be partially responsible for Babu’s greatest moment – that final ‘Heyhey!’ in the final reel, when he pops up in Zorii Bliss’s ship during the battle of Kijimi. “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?’,” Scanlan told Empire. “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.” Now that’s a happily ever after.
So now you know how Babu Frik was saved!
