CineSecrets.com
CineSecrets.com
Star Wars memoirs
from someone who was actually there!
Nick Maley’s
There are so many rumors about the inspiration for Yoda that they are hard to count. Followers of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have told me that they are certain Yoda was based on him. The similarity of “Yogi” and “Yoda” being used to justify the claim. A group of marshal artists who follow the teachings of Sokaku Takeda in Japan think Yoda is based on him too. Possibly because Sokaku was small and wise and fought hard. But the most popularly held sectarian belief by far is that Yoda's features were patterned after the Mormon prophet Spencer W. Kimball which almost every Mormon missionary who passes through Planet Paradise likes to tell me.
Since I was in the workshop the whole time that Stu was modeling Yoda, I have been asked repeatedly to confirm or deny these rumors. So I'm here to set the record a little straighter.
Conceiving Yoda...
7/5/10
When I rejoined the Star Wars creature crew for the second movie ESB in 1978, the script was already complete as was the concept art. Yoda's dialogue was already backwards. I cannot speak with certainty about what ideas influenced the writers and whether any of the people named above inspired the characterization. It has been suggested that George Lucas had the Japanese classic movie "The Seven Samurai" in mind when writing Star Wars. So possibly there could have been a little of Sokaku Takeda in the concept for Yoda. But the drawings we were given that Ralph McQuarie had done showed no signs of it. Ralph drew a very thin, YOUNG, character remarkably similar to Jiminy Cricket with pointy ears and a plated forehead. Clearly there was no physical resemblance.
Similarity between the names "Yoda" and "Yogi" is the basis of claims that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the inspiration for Yoda, That’s a stretch. There was no reference of any kind to him in the workshop. I prefer the theory that the name "Yoda" was derived from the Sanskrite word "Yoddha" which means warrior, and/or the Hebrew "ידע" (pronounced "Yodea"), which means "He knows" or "One who knows".
As the deadline grew closer Stu turned in a new direction, subtly altering the features to echo personalities renowned for wisdom. The face shape altered to be more the shape of Ghandi. The eyes and white hair of Einstein, when he was old, were added. You couldn't have old eyes on a young face. So Stu looked in a mirror and added the lumps and bumps of his own face to fill the gaps. (He was 65 at the time). There are photos of Stu and Yoda smiling together. The resemblance is remarkable.
This was the 4th version of Yoda that Stu modeled. it may have taken 4 and a half months to modeling the first 3 that were not used. But the last version he rushed to put together at the last minute. George (Lucas) and Gary (Kurtz) came in the morning after it was completed and the older, wiser, smiling yet worried face of the ultimate Jedi master was an immediate hit.