CELEBRATING AN “EMPIRE” AT THE MEMORABILLIA SHOW- MARCH 2010
By Ian Trussler
I had the pleasure of going to the UK MEMORABILLIA event at Birmingham on the 27th March 2010- they had a pretty good array of SW guests, all of whom I spoke to- some I had met before but some I hadn't.
Here's a run down of info and news I gathered...
RICHARD BONEHILL (NUMEROUS SUPPORT PARTS-REBELS, IMPERIALS AND ALIENS- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI)
Richard was 30 when he worked on EMPIRE (of which he did 3 weeks on, and 6 weeks on JEDI (he never worked on the first movie)). All his work was studio stuff, and he didn't go on location for either film. He got the job on EMPIRE simply by virtue of being of average height and weight and able to fit multiple costumes. An added bonus was that he didn't have a problem doing masked/helmeted roles which some extras couldn't handle because of either the heat or claustrophobia. As well as playing a Snowtrooper, he was a Rebel Base soldier in the Hoth Base. He recalled an amusing story of how because he mentioned he had worked with horses before, he was asked to be a Tauntaun handler in one scene, as they felt his horse experience would help, bearing in mind that the Taun was not a real animal but a static prop- exactly how would his experience help??!! Richard had two fairly well known BTS photo's of himself in his Hoth Rebel outfit, taken outside the soundstage at ELSTREE and of him in his Snowtrooper outfit holding the helmet at his side, taken inside a dressing room at the studio. At the time, with high security, he knew that if he was caught taking the pics or later found out, it was a sackable offence, so he was always worried he would be found out. After working on EMPIRE, he then already knew some of the assistant directors on JEDI and that was how he managed to get asked back, he did an array of roles in the final Classic Trilogy film: Ree Yees most prominently, Stormtrooper, Nien Numb in the Rebel Briefing room and Mosep. He has previously attended a CELEBRATION event but as yet has not been asked to attend C5. He tries not to do too many shows as he feels it becomes boring for the fans when the same old faces constantly show up, so he is quite selective on when he appears.
NORMAN CHANCER (REBEL DECK OFFICER AT ECHO BASE- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK)
This was Norman’s second ever show following his first ever, two weeks ago in Germany. Normanis originally from up state New York and still retains his American accent. In 1962 he met and subsequently married a British actress and moved permanently to the UK. He spent just 6 days working on EMPIRE and admitted he was amazed he stayed that long. He said his scene with Harrisoncould basically have been done in a couple of hours but got dragged out. He commented on how Irvin Kershner saw him on set one day and quipped to him, "Are you still here?" thinking he was all done with that scene. Despite his American accent he was still dubbed in the movie. He only found this out when attending a UKpress screening and when his scene came on, his children turned to him and said "That's not your voice!" His own voice is very deep and the dubbed voice is of a much higher pitch so he wondered if that was why it got changed. He did not have any other scenes that didn't make the movie. He has not really kept up with all things STAR WARS over the last 30 years and is amazed at the detail the fans know on the movies.
ADDITIONAL INFO FROM THE EVENT
Promoting his new book, including the creation of the classic Vader helmet, British film and television artist/sculptor Brian Muir was there and we chatted for quite a while, mainly about his involvement as a witness for the prosecution in the LUCASFILM / Ainsworth case over copyright infringement on the Stormtrooper costumes. He said that Ainsworth did work on the movie but only in a capacity of vacum molder. Basically casting the costumes from the already created molds. The case sounds very interesting. Ainsworth allegedly has not only claimed he did Brian’s work but also that John Mollo was a liar and didn't do the costume sketches and designs. His story allegedly keeps changing between court hearings and it seems amazing that he kind of won his case under UKlaw. Brian said LUCASFILM were not even aware that he had done the Stormtrooper armour and it was only by a chance comment made to Steve Sansweet by someone that he then got contacted and asked about the case. I looked at Brian’s book which may well be a good read on all his film work but be aware that it has few photos and only one STAR WARS pic which is a screen grab from a 1997 SKY MOVIES documentary about the Classic Trilogy’s return to the big screen. Brian says he was filmed more when working on the movie but LUCASFILM seem reluctant to release the footage.
Alan Harris (Bossk-EMPIRE) told me that he has been asked to attend C5, the only person at the show who had been asked (at that time), and he hoped to attend but has some health problems. He recently pulled out of an OFFICIAL PIX show in the USas he has a DVT which obviously means he can't fly. He has some other issues which he is going into hospital for shortly and will hopefully get the all clear later this year. He was very shaky when I spoke with him and it seemed a struggle to sign stuff. He was really nice though.
Chris Munke (STAR WARS- Imperial Commander Khurgee) was great, very friendly and remembered me from FAN DAYS III last year and Coventry a couple of years back. He wants to go to C5 and is waiting to hear, same goes for Ian Liston (Rebel pilot Wes Janson from EMPIRE).
Warwick Davis (JEDI's Wicket the Ewok) gave a talk, mainly to plug his upcoming autobiography, which sounds really good and has 130 odd pics in it, many previously unseen from the Lucas archives. He has a signing in April at the UK’s FORBIDDEN PLANET. I asked him a couple of questions about the Return of the Ewok film but unfortunately he couldn't remember exactly what I wanted.
MAIN IMAGE: TOP TO BOTTOM - Ian with Warwick Davis, Norman Chancer, Richard Bonehill, Ian Liston, and Brian Muir. Thanks to Chris Baker for the image composition.
