Just in time for the release of Rogue One, animator Phil Tippett dished on what it was like to work on the set of Return of the Jedi. In an interview with Vice, Tippett – who won an Oscar for his work on the movie in 1984 – shared that much of his creativity on set was a result of LSD.

At one point or another, he actually ended up taking too much. He recalls,

“I took LSD when I was working on Return of the Jedi. I could communicate with my cat Brian, and Brian took me on a journey. I crawled into this cupboard with Brian the cat and we went to the centre of the Earth for like three billion years and I was just in this world of molecules. It was fine, it was very calming.”

Tippett was also employed to work on Star Wars: episode VII – The Force Awakens. A respected individual in his field, he also did VFX for Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, RoboCop, and Willow. Remembering the experience on LSD, he said:

“I decided to go back to work and I was at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and I walked into the blue screen stage and it’s huge – everything’s just super illuminated bright blue – and it was just like ‘Aaaah, I took like way too much.’’

As The Independent points out, a number of brilliant minds have admitted to experimenting with hallucinogenic substances. Some, like Steve Jobs, have even credited drugs like LSD with much of their success. Francis Crick who discovered DNA said he made the monumental discovery while taking psychedelic drugs.

This insight from Tippett could offer a lot to those who are studying the potential benefits of taking hallucinogenic substances. Magic mushrooms (psilocybin) like LSD are illegal but have been found to effectively treat depression in patients during trials (read more about that here).

It’s common knowledge that LSD and other hallucinogenic substances enhance creativity, but what other effects might they offer? Please comment your thoughts below and share this news!

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