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ILM’s Janet Lewin reflects on more than three decades with the studio

March 7, 2026
Janet Lewin at Star Wars Celebration Japan (Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images for Disney)

Her early VFX producer roles including Pearl Harbor and Hulk, the development of StageCraft, and more.

Welcome to the second episode in a special series with Industrial Light & Magic — to celebrate the release of my book, Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation.

Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation – now available at Amazon.

In this ep, we chat to Janet Lewin, who is senior vice president, general manager and head of ILM. As you’ll hear, Janet has been at ILM for more than 30 years, with experience as a VFX producer on some of my favourite films such as Pearl Harbor and Hulk. Janet also talks about the innovations in VFX she has helped oversee, including StageCraft developed for The Mandalorian. This is a fun chat about the history of ILM, new innovations and the culture of the studio.

Listen in, above.

This podcast is sponsored by RE:Vision Effects.

Here’s a quick quiz: Name the company that made VFX for these movies?

E.T., Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Abyss, Terminator 2,, Forest Gump, The Mask, Twister, Mission Impossible, Spawn, Speed II, Saving Private Ryan, The Perfect Storm, AI, Minority Report, Cowboys and Aliens, Lucy, Kong: Skull Island, The Revenant, The Batman, Alien: Romulus and Running Man?

Thanks for inspiring us, ILM. A message from revisionfx.com.

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Issue #65: The visual effects of The Electric State.
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Issue #63: The visual effects of 28 Years Later.

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