Don't follow me. Town is that way.
(BB-8 SIGHS)
(BB-8 CHIRPS INQUISITIVELY)
No!
(BB-8 MOANS DEJECTEDLY)
J.J. ABRAMS". We were working on this list of things
we knew we wanted in this movie,
and we wanted a droid that had a strong personality,
and a big role in the film.
We had to be very careful that we designed and constructed
and brought BB-8 to life in a very sensitive way.
ABRAMS: R2 and Threepio are such classic characters.
This droid, it needed to look and feel very different,
and yet needed to be in the family of what Star Wars does.
(BB-8 CHIRPING)
ABRAMS: We were trying to figure out what it would look like,
and we saw a bunch of images for things.
CHRISTIAN ALZMANN: I think the first one I did
was almost like BB-8's head
with little wings and it would float.
I tried a tall skinny one and a big fat one.
ABRAMS: And I just had this idea,
and so I just drew a picture of BB-8, a very, very simple one.
ALZMANN: We got J.J.'s Post-It drawing and I always called it,
"Oh, it's like a snowman without a chest."
From there, it was trying to give him personality
and attitude by those limited parts.
J.J. was very vocal about that in the beginning
of wanting as much on-camera as possible.
(BB-8 CHIRPS)
The ability to have an actual, physical droid on set
animating as he would, that was as real as anyone else,
that was an incredible goal.
FINN: Come on, BB-8!
There was this wealth of design work that had come through
from the art department,
and we spent a lot of time to develop it into an animatronic droid
that would appear in the film.
(CHIRPING)
(WHIRRING)
MATT BENTON: It's just an evolutionary process to go through,
and figure out what works best,
what's feasible and what's just crazy-mad.
(GROWLING)
Our job was to make this design real-world.
BB-8's face was a very, very difficult thing to get right,
the proportions, the placement of parts.
Turning that into a practical puppet was something that we could use
and was probably the most advanced thing we'd ever done, to be honest.
(BB-8 CHIRPING)
Early on, having looked at a few designs,
it was a case of going through
and looking at what could be demanded of it,
and saying, "Okay, you could use this type of BB-8 for this type of shot,
"you could use this type of BB-8 here."
There was many iterations of BB-8.
There's the puppeteered version.
Brian has control of most of the movements.
(APPLAUDING)
LEE: You can't really beat that.
BB-8 has been, without a doubt,
the most physically demanding role I've done
as far as puppetry is concerned.
If I want to make BB-8 go forward, I push him.
Then there's the two trikes.
The trikes are incredibly difficult to drive.
BENTON: It's a really weird, wacky drive system.
It was hard, but, actually, I really enjoyed it.
DAVE CHAPMAN: I'm the flashing voice light,
sometimes I look after the head movement as well,
left and right, back and forth, depending on which version we are using.
We go through it together. We're a team. (CHUCKLES)
And then there's the one called, "The Wiggler".
(BB-8 CHIRPING)
We've got a carrier version, which is a bit lighter
so the actors can pick him up.
I've got him...
SCAN LAN: As we got to a shot, we would talk to J.J.,
and we would look at the camera and see,
and you would say, "That's definitely gonna be this version."
So we got a mix going after a while and we would bring them out
as and when they were needed.
ALZMANN: When I saw him rolling around on set,
it was great to see,
and there's such a positive to having that interaction
between two performers.
BRIAN HERRING: BB-8 does a lot of performing with Daisy Ridley,
and they've got a really nice little rapport going on.
When she first meets BB-8 she repairs his aerial,
like she ruffles his hair,
or if he's a little dog, she'd give him a pat on the head.
Where do you come from?
(BB-8 CHIRPING EXCITEDLY)
LEE: He's like a dog, so he's this son' of plucky terrier.
He's small but he's got a big heart.
UNKAR PLUTT: I'll pay for him.
60 portions.
BB-8 is like our version of R2.
I remember when me and BB-8 had our first scene.
You could feel the love and the warmth.
OSCAR ISAAC: It's amazing, he's really there,
so he really comes to life,
and you actually get to see it and interact with it.
ABRAMS: One of the amazing things was seeing
the three droids together for the first time,
because we had Threepio and R2, and then BB-8 is there.
And I found myself more nervous probably about that.
(BB-8 CHIRPING)
(WHIRRING)
ANTHONY DANIELS: I'm in a scene with BB-8.
You'd expect me to say BB-8 is in a scene with me,
but actually BB-8 is such a star it's like, "I'm in a scene with him."
And I was instantly enchanted.
ABRAMS: I thought if Anthony Daniels is giving a seal of approval,
then we might be okay.