Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545215
Summer 2026 – LOCAL695.COM 23 of stunts with and without Pedro, so you really had to be prepared to capture the dialog in all situations. My Boom Operator Patrick Martens was masterfully able to follow the action and help preserve Pedro's performance. In true Star Wars boom op fashion, he wore pink short bathing trunks! IYKYK! We also had a distant planet street set built inside a warehouse where we had moving Star Wars vehicles, some of which sounded like the oldest hot-rods you've ever been in the presence of. Loud! Especially in doors. We worked with all involved departments, transportation, camera, etc., and were able to coordinate when the loudest vehicles would clear camera so they could stop and turn the engine off before we would get into our dialogue. That set also required a constant mist in the air, so things were always in some state of dampness. Not the best for an RF environment. But we got it done! Star Wars locations and environments are so unique, it can prove challenging at times, but my crew and I have been in this galaxy for years and we work together well. Boom Operator Patrick Martens and UST/2nd Boom Yvette Marxer are truly some of the best in the business and are at the top of their game. Be it booming a scene on a set full of hanging cages with various noisy animatronic space animals moving around inside them (think Disneyland Enchanted Tiki Room) to figuring out where to put a microphone on an actor who will be inside a large costume being controlled by puppeteers, these two have proven time and time again they can face any challenge and come out on top. I have been blessed to have done many projects with them, and I thank them both for their professionalism, strength under pressure, their fantastic attitudes, all the laughs and most of all, their friendship. We also had the great pleasure of having Maribeth Powers as our trainee. She was an invaluable addition to the team and excelled in the position. She has now become a sought-after utility sound technician. Ryan Pedersen did the majority of our playback work with Jeff Zimmerman also helping out. Ryan and Jeff are two of the best at what they do and thank goodness we had them. This project was one that had a number of complicated playback elements. Martin Scorsese as a Ardennian fry cook and Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt are just two examples of dialog playback we had to work with. It can be very complicated for a Playback Operator when you have one actor on set and one only on playback. You have to time out the playback elements just right to keep the scene conversational. Ryan and Jeff did a fantastic job. Our 2nd unit The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Dragonsnake. © Lucasfilm Ltd.