An adorable short-film was unveiled this weekend at the Sonoma Film Festival featuring one of the most beloved Star Wars characters, and also George Lucas’ favourite, R2-D2. In the short film, R2-D2 meets some of the challenges of dating before finally meeting the love of his life at the end. But not before he meets the dark side and experiences the loss of one he cares about.
The film is just filled with awww moments, but there are also several easter eggs hidden. There are both references to the millennium falcon as well as some well-known costumes.
The director of the film, Evan Atherton, is an engineer at Autodesk and he used the company’s 3D printers to construct the props. Atherton made the short after meeting the R2 Builders’ Club, a global group of the most hardcore Star Wars nerds who spend years constructing screen-accurate R2-D2’s. He also got some help from Lucasfilm’s effect artist Landis Field that helped to add the special effects and rain.
“People have definitely been having real emotional reactions to it,” says director Evan Atherton, “I think that stems from what always made Artoo special: He was more than just a machine. So seeing that play out, and seeing Artoo really sad, tugs on some childhood heartstrings.”
The light-hearted should stop reading here as there is a real sad story behind the pink droid seen at the end of the film.
That is the droid the R2 Builders’ Club constructed some years ago for the daughter of Star Wars superfan Albin Johnson, Katie Johnson. She wished a droid would watch over her while she was battling childhood cancer, and she got it. Sadly she lost the fight against the cancer but got to hang out with R2-KT one time before she died. With the blessing of Albin, who still holds the original, Atherton included this replica in the film.
Thanks to Mashable for providing us with this information
