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Caught on the Cam: Justin Dix

If polishing C-3PO’s golden suit sounds like your idea of a dream job, then you have plenty in common with Droid Technician Justin Dix. Fans watching the webcam closely during the filming of Episode III in Sydney, Australia, may have found themselves staring at him as he tirelessly worked on C-3PO’s suit and helped actor Anthony Daniels get into the complicated costume on the set.

“My job on Revenge of the Sith as the Droid Technician was to oversee the aesthetic look of the droids, basically making up new action figures, also looking after the needs of Anthony Daniels on and off screen, which keeps the whole droid crew busy,” Dix explains with a smile.

Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, Dix was a Star Wars fan as a child. “I have always been a fan for as long as I can remember,” Dix says. “Though I never in my wildest imagination thought I would ever work on one of the film. Like all kids, when I first saw Star Wars, I believed this space adventure was real with all the creatures that populated the strange worlds in which these films allowed us to visit.”

Before his work on Revenge of the Sith, he also was part of the crew for Attack of the Clones.

“Actually Episode II was my first feature film I worked on,” Dix admits. “I was offered a job on Lord of the Rings at the same time, but come on, this is Star Wars! Before that I was making independent films for about 10 years.”

In a typical day, fans watching Dix on the webcam could see him polishing or fixing C-3PO’s metal costume, helping Anthony Daniels put on and take off the costume during production and assist Industrial Light & Magic modelmaker Don Bies with the other droids.

As Dix worked on the droids with Bies, Dix also came up with the idea of approaching Lynne Hale (Lucasfilm Director of Publicity) if they could create a contest to let the fans pick a droid design to be featured in Episode III. The Droid Department created a variety of designs. Bies and Dix presented George Lucas with the options, which resulted in four final choices that were put before members of Hyperspace, who chose #4 — the bronze and copper droid that would become Obi-Wan Kenobi’s droid R4-G9.

Speaking of Obi-Wan Kenobi, actor Ewan McGregor was a frequent visitor to the Droid Shop. In fact, webcam fans caught McGregor acting rather mischievous one day in the shop.

“Ewan would often come in and visit the Artoo unit, sometimes by himself and sometimes bringing friends or family,” Dix says. “I think he has a soft spot for the little guy. The day he was captured on the webcam at my desk, we were talking about something, probably the Threepio suit now being gold. I mentioned to him that the webcam was there so he started hamming it up, putting on the Threepio head, making gestures. The scary thing was a few minutes later a picture message came through on my phone. A friend of mine looking at webcam footage in Queensland, grabbed a shot of Ewan and me and sent it straight to my phone. I showed it to Ewan, we all looked at the webcam in shock. Big Brother is watching!”

While Dix was on the Revenge of the Sith set, he became part of history and none other than famed photographer Annie Leibovitz was there to capture the moment.

“I couldn’t believe it when Annie Leibovitz showed up to photograph the entire cast with the new and classic characters together for Vanity Fair,” Dix remembers. “It was so cool to have Annie suggest that the Droid Department jump in for a shot for the article too.”

But not all of Dix’s most memorable moments were related to Revenge of the Sith. In fact, probably the most important event that happened on set for Dix had something to so with the always helpful duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO and a special ring.

“While my girlfriend was visiting me as we were working on the Jedi Temple set, I had Artoo deliver her an engagement ring,” Dix says. “I wrote a little script for Threepio for him to say, ‘Master Justin, Miss Kimberly so good to see you fully functional, Artoo has a gift for you. A gift , what gift?’ The whole thing was filmed by the documentary team, so you never know — it could end up being a webdoc!”

If fans watched the webcam long enough, they may have spotted Dix looking up at the webcam and waving to fans watching across the globe.

“It was really fun having the webcam there,” Dix recalls. “I used to be one of those fans, still am. I know that some fans would watch every little thing just for a clue, out of focus or not, as to what is in store. It was also a great feeling to get to be the one showing the world that C-3PO is going to be gold by pulling the metal out of a case and working on it.”

This Article was Originally posted 2022-09-27 16:35:57.