--- description: Meeting R2-D2 was "something I'll never forget," says photographer Marco Grob title: Behind the Scenes of TIME's Star Wars Photo Shoot image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd21a90ac05f12bb/69887356cd1bba2f5c6fe52f/marco-grob-1920.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Behind the Scenes of TIME's _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ Photo Shoot by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 3, 2015 12:30 PM CUT  by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 3, 2015 12:30 PM CUT “The moment you meet BB-8, you build up some form of weird human connection,” says Marco Grob, who photographed the new _Star Wars_ character for this week’s TIME cover. “It has one eye that has this really cute way of looking at you. It’s just incredible.” “For me, _Star Wars_ is much more than only a film,” Grob says. “_Star Wars_ is hundreds of people who try to push the envelope. People who take enormous risks in creative and in technical aspects. They try to do things we’ve never seen before in a way nobody would have imagined to ever see before. And for me, it’s incredible.” [**Vote Now: Which Star Wars Cover Is Your Favorite?**](http://time.com/4131635/star-wars-the-force-awakens-behind-the-scenes/ "undefined") Grob says he didn’t get to see _The Force Awakens_ before his sessions with the new members of the cast. In fact, he didn’t even watch the film’s popular trailers. “Sometimes it’s good not to know too much,” he says. “I wanted to have a feel on its own, to kind of do my own thing \[instead of\] being influenced by anything I would have seen.”  R2-D2 and BB-8 on the cover of the Dec. 14, 2015 issue of TIME. Marco Grob for TIME But when it came to Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, the situation was, of course, different. “I grew up with them,” he says. The same goes for R2-D2\. “You get almost star-struck when you meet R2-D2\. It’s incredible when you see it getting unwrapped. It was certainly one for the books. Something I’ll never forget.” After the two-week shoot in four cities across three countries, Grob will see _The Force Awakens_ like the rest of us, when it’s released in theaters in two weeks—but that fine by him. “\[I’ll be\] like some kid with a bag of popcorn,” he says, “sitting there and enjoying it.” ### Meet the Cast of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'  Daisy Ridley photographed for TIME in London, Oct. 29, 2015. Marco Grob for TIME  John Boyega photographed for TIME on October 26, 2015 in Los Angeles. Marco Grob for TIME  Harrison Ford photographed for TIME on October 16, 2015 in Los Angeles. Marco Grob for TIME  Carrie Fisher photographed for TIME on October 27, 2015 in Los Angeles. Marco Grob for TIME  R2D2 photographed for TIME on October 29, 2015 in London. Marco Grob for TIME  BB-8 photographed for TIME on October 29, 2015 in London. Marco Grob for TIME  Mark Hamill photographed for TIME on October 27, 2015 in Los Angeles. Marco Grob for TIME  Gwendoline Christie photographed for TIME on October 29, 2015 in London. Marco Grob for TIME  Adam Driver photographed for TIME on October 25, 2015 in New York. Marco Grob for TIME  Lupita Nyong'o photographed for TIME on November 10, 2015 in New York. Marco Grob for TIME  Oscar Isaac photographed for TIME on October 31, 2015 in Spain. Marco Grob for TIME  JJ Abrams photographed for TIME on October 26, 2015 in Los Angeles. Marco Grob for TIME  Kathleen Kennedy photographed for TIME on October 29, 2015 in London. Marco Grob for TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4131635/star-wars-the-force-awakens-behind-the-scenes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4131635/star-wars-the-force-awakens-behind-the-scenes/"},"headline":"Behind the Scenes of TIME's Star Wars: The Force Awakens Photo Shoot","datePublished":"2015-12-03T12:30:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:02.060Z","description":"'You get almost star-struck when you meet R2-D2'","url":"https://time.com/4131635/star-wars-the-force-awakens-behind-the-scenes/","keywords":["LightBox","Star Wars topic","photography","Disney","Behind the scenes","star wars: the force awakens","Marco Grob","time video"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd21a90ac05f12bb/69887356cd1bba2f5c6fe52f/marco-grob-1920.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd21a90ac05f12bb/69887356cd1bba2f5c6fe52f/marco-grob-1920.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"marco grob 1920","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4131635/star-wars-the-force-awakens-behind-the-scenes/","name":"Behind the Scenes of TIME's Star Wars: The Force Awakens Photo Shoot"}}]}] ```