George Lucas' Favorite 'Star Wars' Character is a Controversial Choice

The Star Wars Celebration took place this weekend and a panel was held to celebrate the upcoming 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace.

While the film is one of the most controversial in the the Star Wars saga, director George Lucas taped a video message saying how it’s one of his favorite ones. He also revealed that his favorite character from the franchise came from that film!

“Thank you for coming to the Celebration,” Lucas said in a pre-taped video (via IndieWire). “[The Phantom Menace] is one of my favorite movies and of course Jar Jar is my favorite character. Ahmed [Best], you did a fantastic job. It was very, very hard.”

“Also for John Knoll and all the guys at ILM, I made it impossible for them. We broke a lot of ground,” he added. “We were using test equipment but it was the beginning of digital, even though we didn’t get to shoot the whole thing digitally, we got to shoot part of it so it was really one of the first digital features and I’m very proud of that. The fans are always such a big part of these films and obviously those of you who are here are the fans of Episode 1 and I love each and every one of you.”