Revenge of the 5th: Rey, BB-8's interactions are based on puppeteer Brian Herring's relationship with his pet
It wouldn't be 'Star Wars' without adorable droids and their bright attitudes and their vocabulary of beeps and boops. Bringing those droids to life are people like Brian Herring, a puppeteer for BB-8, the Porgs, and many other 'Star Wars' creatures and droids throughout the sequel series of movies. In a live Q&A session hosted by ReedPop as part of the 'Star Wars' 'Revenge of the 5th' celebrations, Brian Herring talked about how he got into puppeteering for the franchise, the technical aspects of bringing the various creatures of 'Star Wars' to life, and his inspirations behind their "vocabulary of movement."
A lot more work goes into the "performance" of BB-8 than most people realize. At some points requiring several puppeteers at once, BB-8's design allows for a lot more freedom of expression as opposed to say, R2-D2. BB-8 had a lot more movement - Brian Herring talks about how he had to get in shape just to keep up with the droid's range of movement on set. Towards the end of the interview, Herring talked about some of the inspirations behind BB-8's movements, and how he saw the droid's relationship to Rey (Daisy Ridley).
In response to a fan question regarding whether or not Herring's puppets all felt like his children, in a way, he talked about his initial impressions of BB-8. "I did some tests with him," he said, "and I very much - thought he was very much like a dog."
He then goes on to explain his personal connection to this interpretation of BB-8. "I had a dog that was hit by a car, and he had a plate in his back leg," he said. He said the dog would let people know where his bad leg was when asked, to receive extra pettings and attention in that injured area. "I took that idea, and when Rey initially finds BB-8 he's got a bent antenna, and he puts his head down. We shot it a few times and she would just take it out," he said. "She went to do it once and I just put [BB-8's] head down and she took it out, and I put BB-8's head back, and she went to put it back in, and I pushed the head forward again, and she put it back."
The shot ultimately didn't make it into the movie, but it became a part of the pair's dynamic. "Every time she meets BB-8, he puts his head forward, and she just checks his antenna." The action did, however, make its way into 'The Last Jedi' and 'The Rise of Skywalker.'
"That was kind of a thing that I based on interactions with my dog...and it was just a nice bonding moment, a character moment," he said, "for something that is really an inanimate object, that builds a little bit of character into that."
You can check out the full interview at the Florida Supercon Facebook page, here. 'The Force Awakens,' 'The Last Jedi,' and 'The Rise of Skywalker' are all available to stream on Disney+.