The adorable rolling droid has quickly captured the hearts of Star Wars fans — but it turns out BB-8 was already a showstopper on the set of The Force Awakens.
Matt Denton and Joshua Lee, the animatronics masterminds who created and controlled BB-8, were recently interviewed by CNN, and shared what they could from their time on Star Wars. The pair were sworn to secrecy on the project, and are actually still barred from revealing how the little droid works.
But Lee and Denton aren’t surprised at the outpouring of love for the “very huggable” droid. BB-8 began rolling to fame by garnering serious adoration during filming of The Force Awakens.
The impact of BB-8 became apparent on one fateful day on the hot sands of Abu Dhabi. As CNN reports, BB-8 flipped over while filming a high-speed run — but Lee, operating the droid’s tow cable, didn’t notice until it was too late.
He kept operating the droid, until poor BB-8 could move no more.
“There was shocked silence on the set,” Lee remembers. “BB-8’s head was totally smashed up… It was as if [an actor] had been hurt. The crew didn’t know where to look.”
“This is the first project we’ve done where the character’s been appreciated this deeply and at this level by the cast and crew,” Denton says. That appreciation extended all the way to the end of the shoot.
“When we did our last shot on the last day, BB-8 was wrapped like an actor,” Denton recalls. “[He] got a round of applause. It was amazing.”
The Force Awakens is (finally!) less than two weeks away from release, but BB-8 is already an international superstar. He’s everywhere, from toy replicas, to clothing lines, to Verizon commercials — and he’s become beloved by species across the galaxy.
Whether or not fans are positively impacted by the newest installment in Star Wars, there’s no question that BB-8 has already made his impact on the world… and for all we know, the little droid that could is just getting started.