Who I'd like to meet:

I've met every celebrity I'd like to meet already. Its always a pleasure to meet a fellow Star Wars fan however. ;)

Regarding meeting George Lucas...

I first saw George Lucas in person in February of 2003 for a Tribute to Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound held at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The closest I got to him at that point was a few feet away, yet it was fun to hear him talk about the movies. The funniest thing was when I heard George Lucas describe the Original Trilogy Yoda as a "Puppet with a hand up its a$$." (I just never thought I'd hear George say the A-word).

I then saw George at Celebration III, and attended all three shows. For the second show I was actually seated front and center, directly behind the Lucasfilm people. I didn't get to actually speak to him at C3 however. I caught pneumonia that morning while working "Line Control" for the George Lucas line in stormtrooper armor in freezing temperatures, but I guess George was worth it. ;)

I actually got to meet George, shake his hand, and talk to him at Skywalker Ranch on May 6th 2005, and got to see the premier of ROTS in his own private theatre. The theatre had comfy chairs, and was even larger than our digital theatre here in San Diego. Plus with the THX surround sound, the whole experience of seeing it there was fantastic. Every few minutes during the movie I would suddenly realize, "OMG I am at Skywalker Ranch and seeing the movie with George Lucas!" I'd then look over at George to make sure the whole thing really was happening, then go back to watching the movie. Before the movie I couldn't help overhearing his conversations with his daughters. My impression of him is that despite his other successes, I would say that he is most proud of his children and is a fantastic dad. Listening to him talking to his girls, it dawned on me that he is just a "normal person" like you and me. I asked his daughter Katie where her brother Jett was that day, and Katie responded, "He's at school. Dad wouldn't let him stay home from school today. But its okay because he saw the movie here yesterday with Hayden Christensen." LOL George said that after he was done with the press for the day he was going to take his son to see the movie XXX at the movie theatre. See? A normal dad, a normal person who goes to the movie theatre, goes to the mall, and spends time with his kids like everyone else.

Going to Skywalker Ranch was an experience in itself. I got to see the room where John Williams composed the original scores, got to take a tour of the Tech building, see the main house, go down to where the X-Wing was on display alongside Ewok Lake, and buy a ton of Skywalker Ranch exclusive merchandise at the gift shop. A lot of Hollywood types had also been invited to the Ranch that day including the cast of "That 70's Show", Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luther), Peter Gallagher, Seth Green, Elijah Wood, and basically every big Hollywood Star Wars fan.



Pictures from Skywalker Ranch

I next saw George Lucas during the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Awards presented to him at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the dancing stormtroopers on stage who danced in the opening number with William Shatner (yes William Shatner) who sang a song entitled, "Your Way." George was seated in the middle of the room at a banquet table with Steven Speilberg, his wife, Harrison Ford, Callista Flockhart, and George's children. Carrie Fisher was seated just below us at one of the many circular tables, Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew, and Jimmy Smits were also in the audience along with anyone who was anyone in Hollywood. The coolest part though was chatting with Mark Hamill backstage for a good 20 minutes. I also got a picture with him in armor, and he signed the forearm armor piece, which I have now in my collection. It was a grueling 3 days rehearsal for the show with top choreographers from "Solid Gold" but it was all worth it. I've just been lucky enough to have so many wonderful opportunities come my way, that it is really hard to say what the "best day" in my life has been, but I can say this was definitely in the top 5.

Pictures from AFI Event