One of the most logistically complex location shoots ever organized by Lucasfilm came in 2018, during production of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The Wadi Rum region of Jordan stood in as the desert world of Pasaana, where an ancient festival brought hundreds of alien creatures together on a massive scale. To film the sequence, the production crew enlisted the Jordanian army for support, building roads and infrastructure in the blistering heat. For Scottish-born supervising location manager Duncan Broadfoot, this was his introduction to Lucasfilm, and seemed just the sort of experience required for a similar role on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
“I grew up watching Indy,” Broadfoot recalls. “As soon as he donned that leather jacket, hat, and whip, he become something other than a professor. This adventurer was very appealing to me as a young boy. I have vivid memories of watching the movies.” Growing up loving movies in general, Broadfoot became inspired as an adolescent when he watched behind-the-scenes documentaries about The Lord of the Rings. They “opened up a world of possibilities” about the many types of jobs one could pursue in the film industry.
By early adulthood, Broadfoot had started his career as a runner working across various departments. His aspirations soon focused on one specific element of film production. “I’ve always been an avid photographer as a hobby,” Broadfoot explains, “so location work paired my hobby with my career. I also loved traveling, and slowly but surely, this felt like the right fit.”