Medford, Ore. — It’s no secret that “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is hitting theaters on Friday.
In fact, it’s 41 years after the first star wars movie came out.
But one fact you probably didn’t know, is that some sound from local jet engines are featured in the movie.
“It’s really an honor to have at least some little tidbit in a movie,” Bob Maddox said.
Born and raised in Medford, Bob Maddox has been fascinated with pulse jet engines ever since he can remember.
“The entire engine just radiates sound off of it everywhere,” Maddox said.
Now known as “The Rocket Man” with a YouTube channel and an appearance on MythBusters, Maddox was given quite the opportunity after taking a call from a Star Wars producer last fall.
“I get a call from a producer and he says ‘my name is Tim Nielsen and I’m from Skywalker Ranch down in California. I’m working on the next Star Wars movie, and I saw you on MythBusters and thought your engine sounded really cool… so I was wondering if I could come up and record one in your shop,'” Maddox explained.
Blown away with the first Star Wars movie at the age of 16…
“I remember thinking ‘boy, this is… this is going to change the world,” Maddox said.
Maddox has always been a loyal fan and was thrilled to be a part of the latest film.
He says he met the Star Wars crew at Cedarville Dry Lake Bed in Northeastern California to show off his engines.
“Anything that made a noise, they absolutely loved it. I had a misfire and it went ‘KAWHOOM’ -made a weird noise – and they were like ‘oh, wow, wow… Can we do that again?” Maddox said.
Maddox says the sounds can be heard from nine miles away.
And since the Star Wars franchise only uses organic sounds for it’s effects, the pulse jet engines were apparently a perfect fit.
“At the beginning of the movie there’s a big car chase scene. And he said the sound of those cars they used the deep lower pitch from my engine’s processed into that sound,” Maddox said.
Maddox says he hasn’t seen the movie yet, but he plans to see it in theaters as soon as the lines calm down.
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