Yoda carefully built—with small motors and rotors to open his eyes, wiggle his ears, and pull back his cheeks—but also he was brilliantly performed by Oz, with a team of two and sometimes three other puppeteers in support. The moment filming began with Oz and Yoda in early August, it was clear the character was going to work spectacularly well. Oz was so convincing in his performance, in fact, that Kershner often found himself offering direction straight to Yoda rather than addressing his comments to Oz, crouched uncomfortably out of sight just below the set. Even Lucas could get caught up in
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