LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON 1st and 2nd SEPTEMBER 2007   Compiled by Scott Weller     With thanks to Ian Trussler for additional information   Intriguing new information has come to light on the making of the STAR WARS films, and we thought we’d share it with you-please feel to pass it on to people (but do let ‘em know about STAR WARS AFICIONADO as well!!)-as no one at the OFFICIAL STAR WARS MAGAZINE, published by TITAN MAGAZINES in the UK, could obviously be bothered to get out of bed on either days to attend the convention and interview the guests-many of whom were first time attendees to conventions and signings!! We thought we’d do TITAN’s job for them!!! And we’re not even licensed, or even being paid, to do it!!   This info is for all STAR WARS FANS-Enjoy!!     GUESTS NOTES   GARY KURTZ (PRODUCER-STAR WARS AND THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK)   The Producer revealed that, as well as his Second Unit work on the Blockade Runner for STAR WARS at ELSTREE, he also directed shots of Imperial officer/Stormtroopers on alert during the DEATH STAR attack and recalls filming the scenes where one of the gun emplacements blows up from Rebel fire. He may also have directed the scene where the TIE pilots rush to their fighter bays, but he can’t confirm for sure.   He re-confirmed that, due to lighting, film and technical difficulties, the JABBA THE HUTT/ DOCKING BAY 94 scene, despite no problems with the actor’s performances, was scrapped shortly after filming, and after three attempts to shoot the footage had been done with Ford, Mayhew and Declan Mulholland. This confirmation tells us that Lucas never planned to go back and have a stop motion puppet added on after filming. The footage had already been scrapped and the important plot info about the relationship between Han and Jabba passed on to Greedo in Post Production. Kurtz does not like that scene put back in the SPECIAL EDITON, finding it irrelevant.   Kurtz thought that the recent JW Rinzler MAKING OF STAR WARS book was okay for an “official” book-was surprised by some of the photo choices, however. He also revealed that at least half of the original on set photography negatives for the film shoot, including his and John Jay’s work, went missing/were lost, and that many of the photos we see in the magazines even today were first printed from the surviving high quality proof sheets!! The stolen duplicate transparencies from the STAR WARS offices in April 1977 were also never recovered.   For the re-mastering of STAR WARS for the SPECIAL EDITION, Kurtz recalls that scenes on the negative were so badly scratched that they had to use the best quality material possible from the remaining worldwide theatrical prints used in cinemas twenty years earlier. It was a difficult job finding good quality prints and Kurtz was heavily involved in this work-even loaning LUCASFILM his own personal print of the movie for one scene which was heavily damaged on the original.   Before RETURN OF THE JEDI, Kurtz had looked at the idea of the spacecraft visual effects for STAR WARS being done with early computer rendering, but in the mid 70’s, it just wasn’t possible and there wasn’t enough memory storage space in those early machines. Additionally, Kurtz cannot recall any experiments with Japanese Bunraku puppetry-something that has previously been mentioned in STAR WARS lore by Richard Edlund- but the process was used, against blue screen, for a couple of shots involving puppets in LABYRINTH.   Some of the end cast credits for the film are incomplete due to mistakes via the film’s original UK production office in 1976, which is why some actors aren’t mentioned (like who the actor was that portrayed Red Ten) and why some actors have incorrect spellings.   Backing up some of what George Roubicek revealed at CELEBRATION IV US, Kurtz confirmed that more incidental material on the Blockade Runner, for the beginning of STAR WARS, was shot during the Imperial attack than what appeared in the final film. What exactly that all was he can’t remember but more material was shot.   Kurtz is currently working on a new character drama set during WORLD WAR II, which he is very excited about and which should start filming next year. He’s also working on a new STAR WARS project, concerning the unsung heroes behind the scenes who worked on the first film, including John Barry, ILM and other people who haven’t received the credit they should have for the success of the original film. This will not be available commercially, but will be available to fans (probably as a DVD) at some point in the next few years. A book of Gary Kurtz’s on set photographs for STAR WARS and EMPIRE hasn’t been ruled out, though this is not a priority to Kurtz at the moment.     The REVENGE OF THE JEDI original storyline was a several page outline born from events that had been created from Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay for EMPIRE. It was never more than outline before he and Lucas had their falling out over the ROLLERCOASTER ADVENTURE movie that Lucas wanted the finale film to be, and which he perceived audiences would want to see, rather than the bitter sweet ending that Kurtz had originally planned for with Lucas. Kurtz also didn’t like the fact that the film was starting to be a giant toy movie/promotion.   PAUL JERRICHO (IMPERIAL AT-AT PILOT-EMPIRE)   The actor confirmed that he played the part for four days at ELSTREE on a full 360 degrees built set. As ever, the Stormtrooper costume was extremely hot and heavy to wear. And, as ever, the actors reacted to nothing on the view screen. His scenes were directed by Kershner.     CHRISTOPHER MALCOLM (ZEV-REBEL SNOWSPEEDER PILOT-EMPIRE)   A really nice guy, at his first convention, the actor revealed that the replacement camera used for Snowspeeder cockpit blue screen filming had previously been used on GONE WITH THE WIND- such was the film’s status that people on set would often come by just to touch the legendary camera that had filmed the landmark movie!! As previously mentioned in STAR WARS AFICONADO, it took a long time to film scenes in the cockpit due to blue screen lighting problems. Malcolm also confirmed that actor Eugene Lipinsky did indeed play a Rebel Snowspeeder pilot whose scenes were cut from the film, but that’s all he could remember on that score (any one out there got any ideas as to who he would have played?). Malcolm may also have had a scene showing how he got his facial injury before being felled by a Walker, but, again, he can’t recall for sure anymore.   DEEP ROY (WALKING YODA-EMPIRE, NUMEROUS ALIENS-JEDI)   Not much info apart from the fact that he just loved working on EMPIRE and RETURN OF THE JEDI and had a great time with everybody. Adored working with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on WILLY WONKA, which was one of the most demanding parts he’s ever played and also liked working with Gillian Anderson on THE X-FILES.   AL LAMPERT (COMMANDER JIR-STAR WARS)   Another really nice guy. When asked why it’s taken so long to attend a convention, he replied that he had never been asked!!! As far as he was aware, all of his scenes filmed were in the final movie and nothing was cut. His part in STAR WARS was just after he had competed work on SPACE:1999. Lampert was aware of the time pressure to try and finish the movie, recalled the slightly flimsy Blockade Runner corridor set, and remembered when George Lucas had to pull the plug on the shoot when they run out of off money. Even at that time, the film had certainly not been finished in Lucas’s eyes.   VASS ANDERSON (REBEL TECHNICIAN-STAR WARS)   Only appeared as a Rebel technician in STAR WARS, he did not appear on EMPIRE. Was on set for a week’s filming.   SYD WRAGG (IMPERIAL OFFICER-STAR WARS)   Playing the officer who talked to Tarkin briefly before Princess Leia is brought into the war room, Wragg revealed that he did have a line of dialogue that he said to Peter Cushing before being motioned away. The line was something like “All Imperial ships are ready” he recalled. Wragg, having greatly enjoyed working with Ford, Fisher, Hamill and Peter Cushing, would also go on to work on several James Bond films, including the epic THE SPY WHO LOVED ME-released in 1977- and SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (playing one of the Kryptonian elders, and recalling how Marlon Brando always used to read his dialogue off cue cards!!). Having taking up Karate, he also taught Gareth Hunt how to fight as Mike Gambit in THE NEW AVENGERS, as well as Joanna Lumley as Purdey (Wragg recalled that, being her first major TV role, Lumley was very shy at first). He also worked on THE SWEENEY teaching fighting moves to Dennis Waterman, who would later go on to MINDER, with George Cole, as well) and THE PROFESSIONALS TV series, again teaching the leads how to do Karate.   Wragg is also seen walking the corridors of the DEATH STAR in some scenes, like where Han and Luke escort Chewie, whilst disguised as Stormtroopers.   RALPH BROWN (RIC OLIE-EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE)   Unaware that his friend, Ray Winstone, had also auditioned for the part of Ric Olie and was considered for the pilot by Robin Gurland after previously thinking of him for several insect like creatures (??) for EPISODE ONE. Though he liked the filming experience (especially being in the fighter cockpit for the space battle scenes), and working with Jake Lloyd, who he thought was fun, Brown was not a fan of the finished movie or of the experience of working with George Lucas.   Prior to the release of THE PHANTOM MENACE, Brown, who had a film premiering at the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL, when asked by a journalist about working on STAR WARS told reporters that Lucas was “a man lacking in human decency.” When this quote ended up in the NEW YORK TIMES, Lucas and LUCASFILM were immensely unhappy with Brown, who would not be invited to the film’s London premiere.   QUENTIN PIERRE (NUMEROUS ROLES –STAR WARS, EMPIRE AND JEDI)   Having previously worked at PINEWOOD on both seasons of SPACE: 1999, which he found boring to work on, Pierre would be hired for STAR WARS by Stunt Co-Ordinator Peter Diamond, and would also be Billy Dee Williams stand in on EMPIRE (as well as playing a Bespin security guard (one of the two who escorts the carbonised Han Solo to SLAVE ONE)). For STAR WARS, Pierre would do a lot of stunt work as a Stormtrooper (there was, at first, some film scheduling problems with the SPACE: 1999 production office, but eventually things were sorted out). Pierre was also hired specifically by LUCASFILM for JEDI, and was also one of the Royal Guards for the film (he was one of them for the deleted scene in JEDI with Vader Force-choking Moff Jerjerrod as well). The Emperor’s Royal Guard costume was difficult to walk in and all the actors in the red robes had to make certain that there was enough spacing between them as they walked so that they didn’t fall over each other. Pierre also hinted that with his likeness on one of the action figure cards that there was a bit of a stink over the use of his image- it looks like he or his agent may have tried to get extra money for the use of his face.   MAROLYN TURK (BEEDO-RETURN OF THE JEDI)   A former double for actress Glen Close on British filmed movies including the two 101 DALMATIONS movies and HAMLET, and with 300 feature film credits to her name as a background artist, Marolyn, playing the Rodian Beedo, would strike up firm friendships with the majority of other actors in the masked costumes on the Jabba’s Palace set and would go on over the years to correspond with many of them regularly. Sadly, one close friend of Turks, who had worked on JEDI, sadly died.   The Rodian costumes, and several others, were originally built for men but the size 10 frame better suited the female form. To avoid claustrophobia, Turk would often push the eyes of her mask. Both Turk and the numerous other actors in the monster make ups got on extremely well with the main cast and, in between takes, Turk, with Mark Hamill, would come up with mind games to ease the boredom of setups.   STEPHEN SPEIRS (CAPTAIN TARPALS-EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE).   Impressed with his work in the London National Theatre’s production of GUYS AND DOLLS, Speirs filming duties as Captain Tarpals were very lengthy and in a manner not unlike the process that was used to film Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks on set (in those dark days before CGI characters had been firmly cemented on screen). Additionally, the voice over/adr work for the character also went on for a lengthy period, with new lines of dialogue and other character ideas for the character coming up. Steven enjoyed working with George Lucas.   WILLIAM HOYLAND (IMPERIAL COMMANDER IGAR-ENDOR GARRISON AT-AT-RETURN OF THE JEDI)   Hoyland recalls that he and Mark Hamill, in costume, got stuck for three hours in the specially built elevator in the studio soundstage to take the actors/crew to the walkway/gantry next to the AT-AT. The scene where Luke has handed himself over to the Imperials, with Hoyland presenting his lightsaber to Vader, was filmed by Richard Marquand. Due to the delay with the lift, however, the days filming was in serious danger of going over schedule, resulting in Marquand being a bit sharp with some of the other actors on the scene in the rush to get things completed. Hoyland recalls that Mark Hamill was extremely nice to work with.   JIM DOWDALL (STORMTROOPER IN STAR WARS, BESPIN GUARD IN EMPIRE STRIKES BACK).   Dowdall, whose work includes numerous JAMES BOND films, A BRIDGE TOO FAR (made after his STAR WARS filming at ELSTREE), HANOVER STREET/FORCE TEN TO NAVARONE (both working with Harrison Ford), and DOCTOR WHO, the stuntman/actor remembers how uncomfortable the Stormtrooper outfits were. Braving the rain on the 1977 Saturday morning of the UK cast and crew screening of the movie, Dowdall, almost reluctant at going, travels there on his new Harley Davidson and is soon amazed by the film, recalling that, with the opening shot, all of the cast and crew got up and applauded the incredible sequence. Unfortunately, he could not recall any of the possible scenes of Stormtroopers taking away/ killing the Bespin residents when they evacuate in EMPIRE.   ROBERT ENGLUND (WILLIE IN “V THE SERIES” AND FREDDY IN THE “NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET” FILMS)     As seen in a photograph in the MAKING OF STAR WARS book, Robert Englund visited the ILM team in San Fernando Valley, and was a friend of effects man Dennis Irving, the brother of Amy Irving-who would later marry, and divorce, Steven Spielberg. Englund would bring food over to the ILM team during their hard work at the Thanksgiving holidays, and was also a friend of Hamill- Englund and his girlfriend would let the young actor stay over at their apartment from time to time as Hamill’s was in such a bad state.   Englund, auditioning for the part of the surfer character in APOCALYPSE NOW, turned up unshaven and wearing a tight military shirt, where, though passed on for APOCALYPSE with Francis Ford Coppola, was recommended to Lucas to try out for the Han Solo role as the actor looked quite tough.   JOHN FORGEHAM (THE OFFICER AT THE BEGINNING OF STAR WARS WHO, SEEING THE ESCAPE POD, SAYS: “THERE GOES ANOTHER ONE”)   Forgeham, whose career as an actor spans nearly forty years, got the part of the Imperial gun officer when his agent called him saying that there was a small part on STAR WARS. Knowing it was only a days work, and living in nearby Borehamwood at that time, Forgeham takes on the part arriving on the specially built set and reacting to blue screen, The scene, which was shot with another actor (whom Forgeham thinks he knew from working on the UK soap opera CROSSROADS (someone named David?)) was not shot by Lucas-Forgeham thinks it was Second Unit (probably the Monday after the July filming of STAR WARS was halted). After the filming, Forgeham was happy to frequent the well stocked ELSTREE STUDIOS bar!!!   Forgeham also confirmed that his friend Ken Hutchison was indeed in the movie-playing one of the Imperial officers in the conference room scene with Vader and Tarkin. Hutchison is also listed, according to Pablo Hidalgo as being present on the call sheets for the Blockade Runner filming-could he have played the same Imperial Officer in one of the cut scenes? As happened with other actors on the filming of STAR WARS, he may have been on the call sheet for that filming but might not have appeared that day (which was several months after the Cushing filming), replaced with another actor (could Al Lampert have replace the actor listed for the Blockade Runner filming-Constantin De Gregory?)   At the convention, Forgeham went over to meet and shake hands with Gary Kurtz and was amazed by the worldwide STAR WARS fans in attendance to see him.   TRACEY EDDON (STUNT WOMAN-RETURN OF THE JEDI)   As well as being Leia and Threepio’s stunt double as Yuma, Eddon also unhappily played an Imperial Stormtrooper for one of the Endor battle scenes filmed at the Redwoods. She was coerced into doing it as they had run out of stunt men to occupy the suits, and, when putting it on, said she looked ridiculous.   Tracy Eddon’s father was the late Ed Eddon, who appeared in the Blockade Runner scenes in STAR WARS-Ed (Eddie) Eddon was the silver haired Rebel trooper with blue eyes who had two close ups before he was killed by Stormtroopers. Tracy’s mother is Sadie Edon, also a stunt woman, who was in STAR WARS, playing the cantina alien Reegesk.   Eddon, still a working stunt actress, enjoyed being on JEDI, working with the cast, and was impressed with the specially built Sail Barge set on location. She doesn’t recall playing an Endor Rebel Commando when I asked her-it may well have been Wendy Leech in the posed group photo taken on the DEATH STAR set with Mark Hamill.   Colin Skeaping played Luke for the scene where he and Eddon, as Leia, swing over to the Sand Skiff.   SADIE EDON (REEGESK-THE CANTINA ALIEN-IN STAR WARS)   Sadie, whose surname is spelt Edon, previously a regular stunt woman on the JAMES BOND films, remembers that the filming of her scenes on STAR WARS were one day only on the cantina set. None of the regular background artists wanted to wear the suit and Edon braved the extremely hot costume (she really couldn’t wait to get out of it by the end of the filming). She also recalled, however, that she was paid a good sum of money at the time for wearing the costume.   Sadie, now retired, thinks Harrison Ford is gorgeous!!

INFORMATION FROM CELEBRATION EUROPE 2007   Compiled by Scott Weller (with thanks to Ian Trussler for additional info)     John Mollo started his work as Costume Designer on STAR WARS in December 1975 and finished in May 1976. Of the two films he worked on, EMPIRE was the hardest for him, due to the challenge of having to top the first film and also due to the fact that George Lucas wasn't around for a lot of the crucial costuming decisions-Mollo had greatly enjoyed working with Lucas on STAR WARS and the relationship wasn't the same with Irvin Kershner on EMPIRE. British Darth Vader mask sculptor Brian Muir remembers being involved in the detailing and construction of Threepio's hands for one scene, recalling Anthony Daniels coming into the ELSTREE workshop one lunch time during filming so that moulds could be done of the actor’s hands for the creation of the metal ones. Mark Hamill revealed that both he and Harrison Ford were very protective of he characters they played during the making of the films. On EMPIRE, Harrison wasn't happy with the news that the MILLENNIUM FALCON had previously been owned by somebody else. Robert Watts recalled that the huge stage at Shepperton Studios for the Award Ceremony and X-wing hangar had previously been used for the epic early British sci-fi movie THINGS TO COME. Joe Viskocil's favourite explosion amongst the many that he created for the first film is the destruction of the last TIE fighter during the sentry ships attack on the FALCON. Viskocil would also work on the pyrotechnic explosion scenes of the Walkers for EMPIRE. Re-confirming what Julian Glover has previously indicated, the ramming of Hobbie's Snowspeeder into Veer's Walker was never filmed. Only the explosion for the head of the Walker, which became another Imperial Walker destroyed by Luke Skywalker, rather than Veers, was shot. Michael Culver's scenes as Captain Needa were shot in a week-just another part for the jobbing actor. Angus McInnes, Gold Leader in STAR WARS, confirmed that all his scenes shot for the movie were in the finished picture-there was nothing cut. On WITNESS he actually performed the dangerous stunt in which Harrison Ford traps his corrupt cop character in the grain tank-having pretty much been told that he no other choice but to do it by the director/production people!! John Scoleri and his people behind the beautiful Ralph McQuarrie book are now in negotiations to do something linked to Joe Johnston's work for ILM. Warwick Davis revealed that, when he was cast as the then un-named Wicket, all the Ewoks had already been found for the London ELSTREE studios filming and that they had not planned on having any others. Patricia Carr, assistant to Robert Watts (who can be seen in the REVENGE OF THE EWOK film), however, saw talent in Warwick and hired him. Though J.W. Rinzler is not aware of any good archive material within LUCASFILM on the creation of the Darth Vader costume in 1976 (from a conversation AFICIONADO had with him at CELEBRATION IV), documentary film footage DOES exists, previously used in a SKY TV 1999 UK documentary on STAR WARS, of the face and half body casts of Dave Prowse with the costume being worked around them. Vader sculptor Brian Muir, and his enthusiastic wife, re-confirmed that this footage still exists. Due to some incorrect/lack of information in the recently published MAKING OF STAR WARS book, a retraction regarding Brian Muir's work will appear in any future re-print/new editions of the book. For the scene in STAR WARS, shot in Tunisia, where Artoo follows Threepio into the Lars Homestead igloo, it was originally filmed that Artoo would follow behind Threepio, but when the robot controlled droid constantly kept ramming into Anthony Daniels posterior whilst in costume, the scene was eventually filmed with Threepio side by side with the little droid as they came to the end of the location exterior set.  Jay Laga’aia revealed that, for EPISODE III, Lucas was apparently quite insistent that he be available for filming on certain dates but this proved difficult for the actor due to his stage commitments to THE LION KING musical that he was also in at the time in Australia. Eventually, a compromise was reached but by the time of the film’s release, pretty much all of his footage shot for the movie never made the final cut!! By the way, did anyone speak to David Ankrum, the original voice of Wedge for STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE? Anyone got any info on him?

IN CONVERSATION WITH J.W. RINZLER   Compiled by Scott Weller   (with thanks to Ian Trussler and Chris Baker for additional info)   The STAR WARS AFICIONADO MAGAZINE team got the chance to talk to J.W. RINZLER in the FAN CLUB lounge at CELEBRATION IV. Impressed with his recently released MAKING OF STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, we managed to ask him some burning questions that we thought needed to be covered, and glean some additional information that we think you might find interesting:     1. That no photos or information exists in the LUCASFILM ARCHIVES on the creation of the Vader mask/main costume. Very few behind the scenes shots available in the LUCASFILM ARCHIVES of Dave Prowse as Darth Vader from A NEW HOPE.   2. Of all the photos taken for the films, A NEW HOPE is the one that is the least represented in the archives with few discs of images compared to the two sequels that followed it and the Prequels.   3. Very little was documented of the pre-production build up to filming. With the film being green lit for filming so late in the day by FOX, no one was thinking properly about creating any visual documentation. Additionally, so much documented information from that period is not in the archives (either lost, destroyed or in private collections).   4. There were also very few images of behind the scenes production personnel in the LUCASFILM ARCHIVES, with Rinzler having particular trouble finding good images of British Special Effects Technician John Stears (we at AFICIONADO can attest to this-we had great trouble finding images for our MAKING OF STAR WARS issue as well!!)   5. According to Rinzler’s information, the on set photographer (we assume he means John Jay) was not present for every day’s filming- apparently only handling a certain batch of days a week. For some sections of the book where filming of certain scenes was not apparently covered, Rinzler had no choice but to use screen grabs (kindly supplied to him by his friend John Knoll-some of which were from the SPECIAL EDITION and had been used in Knoll’s own 365 DAYS book). From information AFICIONADO has, however, we believe that Jay was present throughout the location and ELSTREE/SHEPPERTON filming. There were other photographer so the set as well, like David Steen and Terry O’Neill, who may not have been around for the full filming (often handling the posed studio pictures), so I’m wondering if there is some understandable confusion there on Mister Rinzler’s part.   6. A longer, full length transcript version of Alan Arnold’s ONCE UPON A GALAXY: THE MAKING OF EMPIRE STRIKES BACK book exists, which is a possibility to be used when Rinzler ultimately begins work on his own MAKING OF EMPIRE edition (something that looks very likely, after he has completed work on his INDIANA JONES book, as sales of the MAKING OF A NEW HOPE book have been very encouraging, alongside several very positive reviews).   7. In some instances, the best behind the scenes information came from Lucas and his lawyer (who kept very precise notes on the creation of the first film, and the director’s relationship with TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX).   8. A full cast list for A NEW HOPE exists in the LUCASFILM ARCHIVES but there is no pressure for them to release the information.   9. The Midichlorians reference in the character notes of the hardback edition was not added on to ease pressure on Prequel criticisms. Rinzler confirms that this was in Lucas’s original reference material/commentaries given to Carol Titelman in 1977/78 (of which Threepio’s original origin, as having come from the planet Affa, would later be confirmed by Anthony Daniels to Presenter Chris Kelly in the UK 1980 edition of the Children’s film-making television programme CLAPPERBOARD.   10. For reasons unknown, possibly timing (as he was not present for all the filming-traveling to and from the States), Charles Lippincott did not interview the enigma that was Sir Alec Guinness, or Peter Cushing (who was only on set filming for a select period of days in early May). Additionally, other actors, such as Dave Prowse, weren’t either. In some cases, Rinzler had to use quotes from other sources, from 1976/77, for Alec Guinness, and later 1990’s quotes for Peter Cushing.   11. The full script for REVENGE OF THE JEDI (RETURN OF THE JEDI) exists in the archives. There are no plans to release it at this time.   12. As far as Rinzler is aware, the LOST CUT that was featured in David West Reynolds STAR WARS INSIDER article back in 1998/99 is the FIRST ROUGH CUT and was never apparently intended as a real version of the film (we don’t know what to make of this info-John Jympson, who was hired, and later fired, for his work on the FIRST ROUGH CUT was an acclaimed film editor at that time-why would Lucas hire someone so prestigious to work on a ROUGH CUT?)   I offered Mister Rinzler, who kindly gave an excellent talk and was an extremely nice guy, a copy of the MAKING OF STAR WARS AFICIONADO special issue (which contains behind the scenes information not in his book which I thought might help fill in some of the information gaps in the LUCASFILM ARCHIVES) but, for understandable legal reasons, he was not able to accept it.

NEW STAR WARS-CUT SCENES INFORMATION   By SCOTT WELLER   Ever on the hunt for more information on the missing scenes of the STAR WARS SAGA, STAR WARS AFICIONADO managed to discover some fascinating new gems at CELEBRATION IV that we thought people would REALLY want to know about….   GEORGE ROUBICEK (COMMANDER PRAJI)   Playing Commander Praji in A NEW HOPE (the Imperial character who tells Vader of the escape pod jettisoning down to Tatooine), the veteran British film and television actor, in only his second convention appearance, revealed that he had worked on the film for three days in total (of which one day was spent waiting in his dressing room and not being used at all!!). He also recalled that the filming of his scenes was very fast and that the crew were under great pressure to get it all done, with the white corridor wall set behind him, whilst talking to Vader and actor Al Lampart, being so delicate that you couldn’t get too near it or lean against it in case it fell down!! Additionally, due to time factors, no stills photographs of his character were taken on set (the reason why his autograph picture is from a high quality screen grab). The big news, however, was his revelation that he had additional sequences to the one seen on screen, including a death scene on the Blockade Runner which was filmed!!! Our good friend Skot at STARWARSHOLIDAYSPECIAL.COM confirmed to me at the convention that he had previously seen storyboards on the Blockade Runner in which a hidden Rebel soldier/s pops out of hiding and guns down an Imperial Stormtrooper/s. Could this scene have been filmed and involved Commander Praji? It seems the most likely explanation. A shot was recently unearthed in STAR WARS INSIDER which showed Vader watching three captured Rebels (one injured and being supported by his colleagues) being escorted away by Stormtroopers-could this have been part of that scene-could a small hidden group of Rebel soldiers carried on the fight before the Blockade Runner was totaled by the Imperials?   Asking Roubicek if he played one of the officers who watched the escape pod blasting away from the Blockade Runner, the actor replied that he wasn’t in this scene with the now revealed John Forgeham, so that means there is one unidentified actor, whose face isn’t seen, in that sequence.   ANTHONY FORREST/GARRICK HAGON   One of the main highlights of the convention was meeting Anthony Forrest, who played both Fixer (during filming at Tunisia and Elstree) and an Imperial Stormtrooper (at Djerba for the scene where they stop Luke and his party in the Landspeeder).   Now a film producer, Forrest’s recollections of the STAR WARS filming were impressive and highly detailed and he was an excellent convention guest. On the cut scenes side, Forrest revealed that, for the scene where Fixer, Camie and Biggs follow Luke outside Toshi station and check out the sky, where Biggs debunks Luke’s theories of an overhead space battle, that the sequence continued on inside the Toshi power station afterwards and that it didn’t just end with Camie casually throwing the binoculars back to an offended Luke.   Of the previous introduction sequence, in which Luke is re-united with Biggs, Garrick Hagon would also reveal that the sequence wasn’t just filmed in wide shot-that there were also filmed insert shots of Biggs, Deak and Windy playing the intergalactic pool game as well!!!   Of the Stormtrooper scene shot in Djerba, Forrest revealed exclusively at CELEBRATION that he played the lead Stormtrooper who is given the Jedi mind trick by Ben Kenobi. Basically, his playing the part was a last minute thing as Guinness decided that he wanted to act opposite another actor in the Stormtrooper costume rather than a Tunisian extra. In a quick piece of thinking, Lucas asked a sun bathing Anthony Forrest at the hotel if he would don the Stormtrooper costume as a favour to him and Sir Alec Guinness. Forrest was only too happy to oblige for the scene. The only problem being that the Stormtrooper costumes shoulder and shoulder pad sections were extremely heavy, weighing down on his sun burnt shoulders inside the costume. Forrest also recalls how raw and uncomfortable the Stormtrooper costumes were then, with very rough inside edges (Robert Watts, also at CELEBRATION IV, would later go on to state that the Stormtrooper costumes built by people like the 501 LEGION were much better than anything built for the actual STAR WARS films!!)   COLIN HIGGINS-THE ORIGINAL WEDGE ANTILLES   As AFICIONADO first revealed way back in 2004, long before Pablo Hidalgo unearthed the information on STARWARS.COM, British actor Colin Higgins played Wedge first and was later replaced by Denis Lawson. This has now been fully confirmed with Higgins first US convention appearance at CELEBRATION IV. He also revealed that, through his own fault, he was fired from the STAR WARS set back in 1976. Being a tv actor, the young actor was inexperienced and unused to both the process of feature film-making and the language of American film scripts (and especially a script with the nature of STAR WARS, with all its technical jargon and fantasy universe descriptions), finding himself very insecure (at one point throwing up through nerves at all the problems of filming). Not correctly saying a part of his dialogue scenes with Mark Hamill (of which the actor, who had more lines than was seen in the finished movie, was unused to American parts of the dialogue), requiring several re-takes, Higgins, who was not able to speed up his line delivery for the filming (a problem that also apparently affected Alex McCrindle when playing his scenes as General Dodonna), would un-knowingly cause the film-makers a valuable loss of time and money on re-shooting, leading them to make the decision of not recalling him back to the July filming of his characters scenes in the X-Wing fighter cockpit, and replacing him with Denis Lawson instead.   Despite his enjoying the sets and costumes and the overall epic sense of the production, as well as liking the company of Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, Higgins would also cause further accidental upset when, being one of the speaking part actors, was incorrectly thought to be a background artist when he entered the actors food line during lunch break. With the angry extras, who had their own separate food line, thinking he was a background artist as well (who shouldn’t be in the same food line as the speaking part actors), the situation would also cause further friction between them, Higgins, and certain members of the production team.   Seeing the completed film at a London cast and crew preview screening in 1977, Higgins would be thrilled at how good the film was, but decidedly upset at the problems he had encountered during the 1976 filming-a situation which prevented him from making appearances at STAR WARS events until very recently.   THE JOHN KNOLL PRESENTATION   With his immense work on the STAR WARS Prequels, the STAR WARS AFICIONADO team were looking forward to seeing what intriguing photos and clips the effects producer would reveal in his presentation. And he certainly didn’t disappoint in that respect-the main presentation being of the photos he had taken during the Prequel filming, of which several shots were cut scenes. Notable highlights Mace’s office from ATTACK OF THE CLONES, an intriguing action shot of Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting over head battle droids magnetized to the ceiling on the bridge of the Invisible Hand for REVENGE OF THE SITH, and a shot of Padme wearing her famous deleted white head covering on Tatooine before departing for Geonosis, and wearing the same head gear for her arrival within the Genosian Plaza with Anakin (in the originally filmed sequence before the Droid conveyor belt action scene replaced it).

STAR WARS AT MEMORABILLIA, BIRMINGHAM-29/29TH MARCH-2009   Ian Trussler attended this weekend’s MEMORABILLIA collectors fair at Birmingham this weekend and talked to several Original Trilogy people about their experiences working on the films.   Here’s what they had to say:   SHANE RIMMER-INCOM T-65 ENGINEER-YAVIN BASE-STAR WARS   Beloved throughout the world by THUNDERBIRDS fans as the voice of Scott Tracy, Rimmer spent two days on SW filming his one and only scene. He was working simultaneously on two other movies (presumably THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and A BRIDGE TOO FAR-Editor) during this period. He had no other scenes or deleted stuff but over the two days they did vary his dialogue from take to take before what we ended up with in the film. He never actually spoke to George but remembers that during his scene, Lucas was totally pre-occupied with the R2 unit and getting that right.   LAURIE GOODE-STORMTROOPER-STAR WARS   One of Darth Vader's masked Imperial Stormtroopers in SW he recalled that Mark Hamill was very friendly to him and to all the actors in the cantina creature costumes, always asking if they were too hot and wanted a drink. He said Harrison was very aloof and always seemed to be talking with either Lucas or Kurtz. Goode spent most of his career in the music business as a bass guitar player so didn't pursue acting that much.   Thanks for the info, Ian.   Opposite image: Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker about to get into his T-65 X-wing fighter, watched by a Incom engineer (Shane Rimmer), in a scene filmed at SHEPPERTON STUDIOS-1976.

JEDI-CON 2008     NOTES FROM THE EVENT RELATING TO THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF STAR WARS   Compiled by Scott Weller   STEVE SANSWEET   He’s tried on one of the surviving Darth Vader costumes at LUCASFILM-one of the originals first worn by Dave Prowse.   With regards to some of the props sold recently in auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christies, Sansweet and LUCASFILM are very dubious as to whether the items being sold, especially from the first STAR WARS are genuine. For a start, a lot of the items sold, if they are real, were stolen from the STAR WARS film set, whilst things like the recent Obi-Wan cloak may be fake-Sansweet revealed that the stitching of the cloth in the cloak that they have at LUCASFILM is different to the one sold in auction. LUCASFILM do check the items and warn the auction houses about selling possible fakes but beyond that there isn’t much they can do about it. Prop buyers beware!!   Despite it’s thirtieth anniversary, the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL DVD will never, ever be released on DVD or any format, according to Sansweet. It’s just too awful-Sansweet hasn’t seen it for a while. Lucas apparently tried to watch it recently but gave up-he said it was just too awful to watch as well.   Asked by me whether we’ll ever see any Original Trilogy cut scenes on DVD, Sansweet replied that they are working on them at the moment-an archivist is finding them, cataloging them, and they are being restored for an eventual release (they are waiting to see what happens with BLUE-RAY and other advances in technology before they make any future decisions on STAR WARS DVD releases). Sansweet says that there are cut scenes that even he wasn’t aware of.   The upcoming CLONE WARS animated movie is indeed the first three episodes put together-though there is a special beginning section newly created to launch the story-originally it was planned that you would start in the TV series in the middle of an adventure (a la STAR WARS) but this was changed by Lucas for the theatrical versions. As well as standalone episodes, there will be two and three part episodes. There will not be future CLONE WARS animated films as far as Sansweet is aware-it is a one off to help launch the 22 episode series. They are currently projecting three seasons of the animated show, of which work has already begun on three to four episodes of Series Two already.The current projection for the live action series is still 100 episodes, of which it is hoped the third series of the CLONE WARS will be airing at around the same time.   There will eventually be complete soundtracks for EPISODES II and III. Basically, when the original CD albums were released, Williams specially selected the tracks that he wanted on them to represent the film. LUCASFILM have to wait a period and then they'll hopefully be able to quietly persuade him to givbe permission to have the whole lot released. The same with the INDY scores as well, as LUCASFILM would also like to see them released.   JEREMY BULLOCH   Though the original armour was heavy on set for filming, his shoe wear was very soft, allowing him to move/glide along the floor quite easily whilst playing the part.   Some time ago he visited LUCASFILM to see his original Boba Fett costume (which, though created for EMPIRE, was later given a new paint job for his appearance in RETURN OF THE JEDI).   BARRIE HOLLAND   Holland, got his part in JEDI after having worked with Richard Marquand on a scene that was eventually altered cut from the director’s previous film, EYE OF THE NEEDLE (Holland liked Marquand very much). Filming the “You Rebel Scum” scene, Holland also enjoyed working with David Tomblin, the First Assistant Director, who helped to choreograph with him the way that his character’s stood and how he held his gun towards Han and Leia. Holland also found Ford and Fisher to be very nice off set. Originally, the seven Stormtroopers alongside him (though only six are seen on screen) took out a black Rebel sentry by the main door, but the scene was cut-the finished film just shows them running into the small Bunker command room. Holland’s line of dialogue is apparently him speaking-he says he wasn’t dubbed, and saw the British sound editor at ELSTREE manipulating his voice recording. It took two days to film the now classic “You Rebel Scum” scene, with Holland having to specially rehearse his body movements and the way he held/moved his gun for the moment where he captures Leia and Han. He is also in the line up of officers when Vader arrives at the DEATH STAR for the first time.   According to Holland, British support artist Michael Leader played the Stormtrooper who banged his head in A NEW HOPE.   He also appeared in the Obi-Wan Night Club scenes at the beginning of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, playing one of the party guests. His scenes were sadly cut, though his foot can be seen on screen-he’s the one that kicks the vial away from Kate Capshaw on the dance floor, just as she is about to get hold of it. The scene had to be carefully choreographed so that Kate didn’t get hurt on set.   OFFICIAL PIX   The company now has access to 2,000 new images from the STAR WARS movies, of which they select the images directly from the LUCASFILM vaults- a vast majority of these new images being black and white, which they will be making available very soon. More black and white behind the scenes image portfolios ARE planned, including the special MEN BEHIND THE MASK set, with very rare images (including two main tasters I saw involving Prowse and Bulloch behind the scenes un-helmeted at ELSTREE, and a shot of Chris Parson in his protocol Droid costume on the Rebel Command Centre set for EMPIRE)- from what we’ve seen as a little taster, this set is going to be very cool indeed, and Jeremy Bulloch is most looking forward to signing for these new pics at the Denver convention (where, we believe, he’ll also be wearing THE DENTED HELMET’s specially built new Fett at the event.).The future for purchasing STAR WARS photos is starting to look even rosier....   Apparently, there is less black and white photography on JEDI than the others films. Ben Stevens reckons that there were about 8 to 9 photographers on STAR WARS, around 5 on EMPIRE, and 2 on JEDI (the information on JEDI is incorrect; at least four were present- we know that Frank Connor, Ralph Nelson Jr. and Keith Hamshere took pics).   OFFICIALPIX have the license for CLONE WARS ANIMATED SERIES and the LIVE ACTION SERIES, as well as trusty old INDY.   ROBERT WATTS   In Pre-Production for STAR WARS, Watts visited the Van Nuys warehouse to see John Dykstra about the upcoming visual effects. When an excited Dykstra, explaining the technology involved, had finished speaking he was perplexed by the lack of excitement shown by Watts. When Dykstra asked why he wasn’t excited, Watts replied that he didn’t know what he had been talking about!! Such was the then complexity of the motion control set-up!!   On all of the three STAR WARS films he worked on, Robert Watts’s kids often visited the sets and filming on certain days. When they were 11, 9 and 6 they visited the STAR WARS Cantina Set and saw some of the filming.   For EMPIRE, it was Watts who initiated the critical decision of getting Harrison Ford to Finse. Originally, it was planned to shoot the blizzard scene at ELSTREE, but with a real blizzard taking place at the Finse location, and knowing that it will be difficult to make a believable blizzard work in a studio, Watts makes new arrangements. The picture opposite shows Watts on location in Finse in 1979 with the vicious Wampa hand, created by Stuart Freeborn and his workshop, besides him.   The lost interior scene in JEDI of Luke building his lightsaber was never filmed, according to Robert Watt’s knowledge.   The filming in the restrictive Sail Barge interior was so hot, it was warmer than any filming in Yuma.   The scene of him and Richard Marquand playing officers in the Imperial Scout Walker in RETURN OF THE JEDI was an insert filmed at ILM, and took about an hour to shoot. It was a very enjoyable experience for them. The Ben Burtt scene of him as an Imperial Officer in the Bunker was also shot and added onto the film as an insert in the US.   At the end of filming, Watts was given an original Ralph McQuarrie painting of Vader, Luke and Imperial Dignitaries in the DEATH STAR Docking bay. In real terms today, according to Steve Sansweet, if sold it would probably fetch $100,000.   Of the six films that he worked on for Lucas, Watts favourite filming experience was on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. He loved the whole adrenaline rush of getting the movie done and that energy is clearly visible on screen. Having not worked with Spielberg previously, Watts was originally shocked when the director had him half the shooting day allocation (as Spielberg didn’t want to over-run on filming as he ha done on his flop movie 1941)-a surprised Watts asked Lucas if this was all okay and Lucas said fine-to let Spielberg have free rein.     MIKE EDMONDS   The Ugnaught masks were quite interchangeable, so Mike Edmonds is not always the same character during the ELSTREE filming of the Bespin scenes. The actor found operating Jabba’s tail on JEDI to be an enjoyable experience and didn’t feel restricted in the costume at all-he thought there was plenty of space to operate in.   TIM DRY   The original costume for the Whiphid creature for film testing was also worn by Dry on a very cold January day in 1982, at 6am in the morning. Adjustments to the face mask were later made by the creature shop to the creature we saw in the final film.   In all, Dry was on the film on and off for four weeks, with four days on the Sail Barge interior set and about 2 weeks on the Jabba Throne Room set. Though it’s a well known fact that the actor is bored of people asking him if it was hot in the costume, Dry was the first to tell this writer that it was hot in the costume whilst filming!! A victim of his own paradox!! A part of the eighties group TIK ‘N TOCK, he and music partner Sean Crawford, also one of the Puppet actors in the Throne Room/Sail Barge interior scenes, would practice movements and rehearse music in between breaks. In the ELSTREE dressing room they would also play practical jokes on fellow cast and crew mates.     GUS LOPEZ PROPS TALK   Early weapons for use in STAR WARS, that weren’t actually adapted real weapons (bought in from the Baptize armourers company in the UK (of which sixteen props were discovered un-catalogued several years back at the company in their original condition), were made from Resin moulds, like the Rebel blasters seen in the opening sequence on the Blockade Runner.   General Madine’s beard, worn by Dermot Crowley in JEDI, was fake and, having been sold off by Stuart Freeborn previously, currently exists in private hands.   Darth Vader’s decapitated hand and lightsaber from JEDI currently resides in the vast prop collection of American film fan Bob Burns, a friend of Lucas’s since the 1970’s. Lopez owns the original ILM built/McQuarie detail painted DEATH STAR model used in the first STAR WARS.      MARK DERMUL HOTH TALK   In Finse, a stuntman was injured when he fell from the grappling hook lifted by a helicopter representing the moment where Luke leaps up into the belly of the Walker. The injured stuntmen recovered quickly enough to do the stunt a successful second time.

STAR WARS CAST MEMORIES AND NOTES FROM THE MEMORABILLIA SHOW AT THE NEC BIRMINGHAM-MARCH 29TH 2008 Compiled by Scott Weller and Ian Trussler       JACK KLAFF   Respected stage and screen actor Klaff played the fight pilot John D. (as in John Doe) for two days of filming in July 1976. According to the script, the pilot he played was a veteran of many fighter missions. They (Lucas/the technicians) asked him beforehand if he was okay about being blown up in the fighter cockpit and after it happened they gave him a wet towel to put on his face to help him acclimatize whilst getting out of the set. He recalls a modest Lucas quietly thanking him for his work. Klaff was then asked by LUCASFILM to come back for some extra filming a short time later, but, at the time, he was in numerous Shakespearean theatre acting roles and wasn’t available.   The actor is very keen to go to CELEBRATION JAPAN so if anyone out there wants to book him….   CATHERINE MUNROE   Yes, the actress who played the legendary Zuckuss-she’s alive-she exists-she’s real!!!   Coming straight out of acting school, EMPIRE was one of her first film jobs and she was the best fit for the costume of Bounty Hunter Zuckuss. The mask was very heavy and attached on her almost like one of those ancient diving helmets, which was clasped onto a neck section (like her fellow alien, Bossk’s, as worn by Alan Harris). In the heavy costume, and being the only female actress to inhabit one on the set, she had a personal helper who would assist her in sitting down on a chair between takes (as can be seen in the classic black and white image). After completing her four weeks at ELSTREE (most of the time spent on the Star Destroyer Bridge-it took a long period to set up each part of her filming with the other Bounty Hunters for that brief scene), she was asked to come back for two weeks for some additional Bespin shooting and played a female Mrs. Snaggletooth (the actor playing Mister Snaggletooth is unknown to us), wearing a blue outfit, who can apparently be seen very briefly in the final film.   She became very good friends with Chris Parsons as they were roughly the same age and both very young, "we were only kids really" was her phrase. She is still in contact with Chris Parsons and they remain friends. She recalled how tight the security was on the EMPIRE set and that, although she has some personal Polaroid shots of herself and some of the other background artists as aliens on one of the Bespin Cloud City corridors, nobody was allowed to take pictures of themselves on the actual sets.   She had done a little TV work before doing EMPIRE (including a part in the 1979 DOCTOR WHO story THE HORNS OF NIMON, playing a sacrificial victim alongside BLUE PETER presenter to be Janet Ellis). Sadly, unlike Chris Parsons, she didn’t get a chance to play any parts in RETURN OF THE JEDI.   When asked why she has been rarely seen at fan events/conventions (she has appeared at one Japanese event (which she thoroughly enjoyed and was overwhelmed by the friendliness and emotions of the fans there), and at least two signings in the UK), she explained that fans have had difficulty finding her due to her name Catherine Munroe having changed to Katy Jarrett.

RARE STAR WARS/INDIANA JONES FILMING INFORMATION FROM LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON   EARLS COURT, LONDON-SATURDAY 19TH AND SUNDAY 20TH JULY 2008   COMPILED BY SCOTT WELLER   Another great event that AFICIONADO attended-with a nice INDIANA JONES flavour on Saturday. It was great to meet all the stars, all of whom were extremely friendly and enthusiastic.   Here’s some info I managed to find out that you guys and gals might like. On a less positive note, one thing I would like to say is shame on you TITAN/STAR WARS INSIDER-once again another great event with first time STAR WARS signees that you could have interviewed in detail if you’d bothered to show up!! The chance may not come again-you blew it!!!   JENNY CRESSWELL (KNOWN AS JENNY-THE CANTINA WOMAN WHO KISSED HAN SOLO IN THE FIRST STAR WARS’S DELETED SCENES) Now living in the Isle of Wight, Jenny made her first convention appearance at LFCC and was thrilled to be invited. She recalled being on the set of the first film for several weeks, found the filming conditions in the cantina horrible as there was a lot of smoke even when they started early at 5am in the morning. Before STAR WARS, she appeared regularly as a hostess on the SALE OF THE CENTURY quiz show for several years before being asked to meet Lucas for a role in STAR WARS.   Her costume was a brown suede jacket and she had brown boots. Though she can’t remember costume reference photos being shot, they may well have been and she’s sure that other photos of her on set do exist-she did the film, as far as she is aware, before her stint during pretty much the whole run of the second season of SPACE:1999 in which she played a Moonbase Alpha Command Centre member-at the end of the season, when it looked like it would go to a third, creator/producer Gerry Anderson offered Jenny a full time lead part in the show but then a short time later the series was unexpectedly cancelled!! Asked if Harrison was a good kisser she couldn’t remember, though he was pleasant enough-not yet a big star. Mark Hamill was lovely and when Sir Alec Guinness came on set everyone was quiet. She recalled he had such a wonderful presence and was a very nice man to go with it.   One episode of SPACE she found particularly memorable as the alien shapeshifter character Maya (played by Catherine Schell) had to transform into her, so she also had to play another version of her regular role-in a scene which led to the character going crazy, which she found a challenge to film. She had a terrific time working on SPACE: 1999 and enjoyed the variety of the episodes and all the different stories and designs and new things that had to be done on a weekly series-she was disappointed when the second series moved away from it’s adult/family mid evening Saturday time slot to a dreadful kiddie Sunday afternoon slot. She still has the security photo badge her character worn on her top during season two.     ANNETTE JONES (MOSEP THE CANTINA AND MOS EISLEY STREET ALIEN-STAR WARS) Another really nice, bubbly lady bursting with enthusiasm and thoroughly enjoying her first STAR WARS signing. She was in her twenties when she worked on the first film, and was contacted for a part through the agency she was contracted with at the time-THE CENTRAL CASTING AGENCY in London. Did two costume fittings for the character-she was the creature that had the red beard whilst another actor (presumably Erica Simmons) played the one with the white hair who can be seen walking about in the Mos Eisley street scenes. At the time she was making STAR WARS she went out with one of the film crew and had a great time. The costume took about an hour to put on and she recalls posing in the costume with the Freeborn family for a group monster image. She doesn’t recall ever taking the costume off whilst she was filming her scenes (which were over a week on both the Mos Eisley street and in the Cantina) and may have eaten food and had drinks whilst still wearing it. In the Cantina she sat next to a friend of hers who played a crocodile-like creature.   Sadly she didn’t really get to the meet the main actors-it wasn’t really encouraged-if they talked to you it was fine but not really vice versa.   KHAN BONFILS (SAESEE TIIN-EPISODE ONE) His first convention, Khan was a very friendly, quietly spoken man. His make-up for the character of Saesee Tiin for EPISODE ONE only, took four to five hours at LEVEASDEN and normally took a couple of hours to take off at the end of a days filming. There were other generic scenes of the Jedi Council shot that never made the final cut.. The actor was on set for a week in total. He sat next to Yoda which he thought was very cool. At the moment, as well as auditioning for other roles, Khan has taken up a music career as well..     HASSANI SHAPI (EETH KOTH-EPISODE ONE ONLY) A very friendly, enthusiastic man who had driven down to the event just as he was completing filming in Birmingham for a new drama. He recalls being on the EPISODE ONE set for three weeks filming his scenes in the Jedi Council at LEAVESDEN. They filmed lots of generic footage of the council members-close-ups, long shots, them with Neeson and McGregor, and of course, Yoda. He liked McGregor and had some drinks with him-Ewan was very gregarious and a party animal. Hassani liked very much working with him.   JAY BENEDICT (DEAK IN THE LOST ANCHORHEAD SCENES OF STAR WARS, AND NEWT’S FATHER IN THE DELETED SCENES OF ALIENS). A refined looking man with the face you’ve seen on TV a lot but can never quite work out in what, Benedict worked on the first STAR WARS film for 2-3 days. Originally offered a day’s work on the film by his agent who told him it was some kind of unusual space movie that he’d be working on. He went out for lunch when filming began with Mark Hamill whom he liked a great deal, and recalled that all through the lunch they had, all Hamill could talk about was the film he’d recently seen ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEXT and about how great Jack Nicholson was in it-that was all Hamill talked about throughout the whole lunch, which Benedict enjoyed. He also recalled being on set, playing some on some sort of electronic type pool table, meeting Koo Stark before she became linked to Royalty, and being paid £75 for his work. He is still friends with Garrick Hagon and has worked with him and his wife, Lisa on other projects.   TERRY RICHARDS (THE ICONIC SWORDSMAN FROM RAIDERS, PLAYED THE WAMPA IN EMPIRE’S DELETED ACTION SCENE AT ELSTREE) Recalling his Tunisian action stint as the swordsman, Terry recalls that in the film world that shot, THE ORIIGNAL PLAN FOR Indy versus the Swordsman, was considered a “luxury” shot-one that could be improvised and played around with-the script simply said of their confrontation-“they fight”, though Richards thought the amount of stunt fighting that could be done with a whip against a sword was quite limiting at the time.   Needham only worked on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. In 1979, Richards had the distinction of playing the Wampa snow monster for interior action sequences of the Hoth Rebel base filmed at ELSTREE STUDIOS. As Des Webb, the original actor who played the creature in the Finse filming, was not a very strong man, it was decided that Richards would don the creature costume for the scene where it bursts through a secluded cave corridor and attacks Rebel officers. Richards recalled that the suit was a nightmare-that he wore the stills previously by Webb in Norway and that the interior of the mask was constructed almost like a scaffold with the actors jaw rigged to mechanics that moved the creature jaw outside. The sequence saw him having to throw Rebel soldiers around the set and at one point, the Wampa costume was set on fire-Richard recalls the Rebels using a flame thrower like weapon at the creature. Sadly, the resulting footage, shot over a week and supervised by David Tomblin, never made the final cut of the film as the creatures head was seen to bobble too much when moving in the dailies. It just didn’t look convincing enough and had to go..   In other stunt work, in the world of James Bond look out for him in TOMORROW NEVER DIES-he’s the bald guy that beats up Pierce Brosnan in Elliot Carver’s studio at the beginning of the film. SONNY CALDINEZ (MEAN MONGOLIAN ASSOCIATE TO TOHT IN RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (SHOT FROM BEHIND BY MARION), AN ICE WARRIOR IN NUMEROUS EARLY DOCTOR WHO TV SERIES EPISODES) The actor, primarily known in science fiction circles for his work on DOCTOR WHO, playing numerous Ice Warrior monsters across nearly nine years, and working with three doctors-Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker), Caldinez, who also played a mean Mongolian in the Ravenwood bar action scene in RAIDERS, recalled that he originally went up for an interview to play Darth Vader for STAR WARS in 1975-on the very same day that Dave Prowse had his in London. They were both together in the corridor, and both had interviews with Lucas, but in the end Prowse won the gig because he was taller. Caldinez has no regrets about Prowse winning the part and thought he did a very good job. Caldinez recalls he had an enjoyable time working on DOCTOR WHO over that lengthy period from the mid sixties to the mid seventies-the fibre glass Ice Warrior costume he inhabited in numerous stories was very uncomfortable and he sweated buckets, but he enjoyed working with everybody-particularly citing out Jon Pertwee as his favourite actor to play the Time Lord-for a such a physical, active man who lived life to the full, Caldinez is still shocked that a man as fit and vibrant as Pertwee died back in the mid nineties.   On his stint on RAIDERS, Caldinez recalls that though Harrison Ford works with snakes, he doesn’t like them as much as we would believe and didn’t enjoy working on the Well of Souls set. In fact, the crew apparently played a practical joke on Ford involving a box/crate of snakes during filming which apparently had the actor hurrying off the set uncomfortably!!   MALCOLM WEAVER (MONGOLIAN BADDY WITH TOHT IN RAIDERS (THE SMALLEST OF THE GROUP), STORMTROOPER IN RETURN OF THE JEDI, QUEEN ALIEN IN ALIENS. Unless he has lost his memory, Weaver, contrary to fan reports, revealed to me that he didn’t take part in any of the RETURN OF THE JEDI Yuma action sequences (he jokingly thought that he might have upset the stunt co-ordinator and that’s why he never went out there with the rest of them!!), though be did play a Stormtrooper for the movie-which he found very uncomfortable and not enjoyable to work in at all. Sadly, due to the passage of time, there was very little else about his work on the film that he could recall (and at one point he mentioned a car accident that he had), and he couldn’t actually remember when he filmed his scenes, though he did recall being one of the operators inside the giant ALIEN QUEEN puppet built for live action filming at Pinewood for James Cameron’s ALIENS (which he spent six weeks on). He was body casted for that scene so that the part of the suit he was operating in fitted him properly..   WOLF KAHLER (DIETRICH IN RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) A very straightforward person, at his first signing event, he recalled that he spent three months filming on RAIDERS. He only remembers one cut scene with his character-that of his having an argument with Gruber. Of the kind of work he does now, he’s very happy with what he does and loves playing German characters of all kinds, especially fun nobility parts-especially the 1980’s SHERLOCK HOLMES episode he did -THE SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA- working with Jeremy Brett as Holmes and the lovely Gayle Hunnicut as Irene Adler-Kahler enjoyed working on it and found the late Jeremy Brett, who many feel to be the definitive actor to have played the part, to eb a vert dedicated and gracious man on set.   NICK GILLARD (STAR WARS PREQUELS STUNT CO-ORDINATOR, A GERMAN IN INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, THE ALIEN QUEEN IN ALIENS, CIN DRALLIG IN REVENGE OF THE SITH) A thoroughly nice man, highly talkative and happily signing and posing for photos with fans, he recalled that the original length of the Anakin/ Obi-Wan duel filmed was fifteen minutes long, of which the original version of the fight with stunt actors rehearsing the moves also still exists on tape. The fight was heavily re-edited in the final version and not all of it made the final version, sadly-a shame as he though the original version was one of the proudest moments of his stunt career. He recently worked on the Angelina Jolie adventure film WANTED (which he found a tough and thoroughly demanding film to work on, and he hasn’t seen a full theatrical version of it, yet, either!!), and is currently back to doing stunts on TV-he is going to be working on the new re-make of the highly popular British ITV series MINDER. He was indeed asked by Mark Hamill, whom he had facial and physical similarities to at the time, to be his double for RETURN OF THE JEDI. Though he was on set in 1982, union regulations prevented him from doing this, despite Hamill’s request, and Colin Skeaping stayed on as Hamill’s film/stunt double.   Regarding future projects, Gillard film directing debut as an action director has not yet happened. Hayden Christensen has sadly pulled out of the film he was to have done with both Gillard and Sam Jackson (though Jackson is still keen to be involved with Gillard on the project if it materializes).   Gillard also recalled his time operating the mammoth ALIEN QUEEN prop for ALIENS-he was at the front end of the operation of the creature, whilst Malcolm Weaver was handling another part of it..   DEEP ROY (YODA IN ONE SCENE FOR EMPIRE, NUMEROUS ALIEN PARTS IN RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE OOMPA LUMPA IN TIM BURTON’S WILLY WONKA REMAKE) His most recent acting job has been spending nearly six weeks on the set of the new JJ Abraham’s top secret STAR TREK movie re-vamp. He very much enjoyed working on it and was very impressed with how it looked visually. Sadly, he couldn’t reveal much about the plot but said that he is playing a goodie-an alien engineering assistant to Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (being played by SPACED’s Simon Pegg).   Deep Roy confirmed that he did indeed play Artoo for a couple of scenes at ELSTREE, but he couldn’t remember if it was for EMPIRE or JEDI (or both). He jokingly recalled that he only did it at times when Kenny Baker had been drinking too much in the ELSTREE BAR (which is fast becoming a legend in AFICIONADO circles with the amount of people who enjoyed being in it over the years!!). Deep always reluctantly did those extra Artoo scenes as he didn’t like robbing his friend Baker of the work..   BILL WESTON (IMPERIAL STORMTROOPER- STAR WARS, SOLDIER IN RAIDERS, STUNTMAN ON NUMEROUS JAMES BONDS) A terrific guy, with a very good memory of the films he worked on, the stuntman recalls that he played a Stormtrooper towards the end of shooting of the original film (presumably he was referring to the Blockade Runner scenes)-and that the first film was the only one he ended up working on. The Stormtrooper outfit he wore was way too small and he only just fitted in it.   Bill was involved in one of my all time favourite fight scenes in the James Bond 1987 film THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS-where he plays an agent who inadvertently walks into one of the villains, Necros (as played by Andreas Wisnewski) who has infiltrated a British safe house and has a brutal fight with him in a kitchen. I complimented Weston on that-it’s a terrific sequence, and he recalled that he was pretty much instrumental in working out the choreography of that sequence on set, shot after much of the film’s beginning in Germany was in the can, and in the way the burn make-ups would be done when the agent’s face is half scorched on a cooker.   Additionally, the actor playing Necros was worried about injuring Weston so the stunt man had to time the fight moves carefully to make sure that the actor looked superior to him when filmed. Weston also has another classic fight sequence in ea early episode of the BBC-1 1970’s/80’s series BLAKE’S 7 (series one, episode two-SPACEFALL), in which he fights actor Paul Darrow playing Avon. Weston was amused to hear from me that the fight from that episode has sadly been cut over the years on it’s VHS release by the BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CENSORS because there were several dangerous blows in the fight that they were worried could be copied.     Weston also appeared in RAIDERS, during the Tunisia filming and was the guy in the bike that went over into the pond during the truck chase. He also recalls that the compliment of soldiers getting into the truck at the beginning of the sequence doesn’t match the amount eventually seen clambering on its exterior to get Harrison Ford later in the action sequence!!!   As a working stuntman on TITANIC, Weston was very surprised that, with all the physical difficulties imposed on both the main cast and crew, that no one ever shot James Cameron for being so demanding and perfectionist, and aggressive, about everything..   LYNNE HAZELDEN (X-WING PILOT-RETURN OF THE JEDI, ALSO APPEARED AS A BACKGROUND ARTIST IN SEVERAL BONDS, AND SUPERMAN III) A friend of Richard Bonehill, who played numerous parts in two of the STAR WARS films, the charming, bouncy and enthusiastic actress humorously recalled that  a lot of extras that worked on films during her time as a background artist on many big films, were actually criminals-not in a  modern gangster kind of way but more like shady Del Boy/ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES types trying to sell stolen watches!!!   She was recalled back to the JEDI filming for an insert scene showing her in her pilots gear (orange for X-wing) dancing with an Ewok for the finale celebrations-sadly the footage never got used, but a still photograph of that scene exists-an off duty moment of the actress with the little person playing the Ewok.   According to Lynne, there were more female background extras on JEDI because the UK film/TV unions lobbied the STAR WARS team for more women to be used in the movies. She didn’t do any cockpit scenes for the movie-she has been mistaken by fans for another actress who did them-it was just the scene in the briefing room.   That scene was a challenge to film because you had to be very careful with eyelines for filming, keeping in continuity and in the right positioning. There were many takes done-she doesn’t remember if it was Marquand or David Tomblin who directed her scenes.   The actress also played a fighter pilot for the scene in the Rebel Hangar Bay, towards the end of JEDI’s UK filming, where she accidentally got into trouble when she unintentionally walked over a line she wasn’t supposed to when they were filming a scene that had some tricky photography-it had taken a while to set the shooting of the scene up and Harrison Ford gave the actress a bit of a grumpy look when it happened.   She got the role because she was told to go there and take part in it by her agents/casting people-it was as simple as that-sometimes she would be working back to back on films.   Her other appearances would include SUPERMAN III, the James Bond film OCTOPUSSY (she was one of the circus audience members) and DIE ANOTHER DAY (where she was part of a group attending the outdoor launch of the villains space satellite in the arctic). On OCTOPUSSY, the actress was thrilled when a still in costume Christopher Reeve popped in one lunch time to visit the filming on the Bond set.   Lynne no longer does background artist work- she runs her own organization called PLANTING SEEDS & THE KIND FOUNDATION at www.planting-seeds.com More info on the actress can be found at: www.markdermul.be    CARRIE HENN (NEWT IN ALIENS) The ex actress/co-star of ALIENS was very polite, and revealed that she worked on the film for a staggering nine months total (from filming to post-production). Her family was living in England at the time the film was being made, as her father was a military man stationed there. Sadly, she hasn’t seen much of Sigourney Weaver in a while (though she did sit next to her at the ALIEN III premiere in the US). As far as the aliens went, they weren’t really scary to work with-they were just men in suits to her when she was little!! KAREN ALLEN (MARION RAVENWOOD IN RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, AND INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL) What can I say..I always wanted to meet her. And she is Marion Ravenwood- the moment she gave me that smile-that warm, cheeky smile that comes naturally to her. Karen was a real crowd pleaser-chatted and talked to people and signing hundreds of autographs. I asked her, when she got the script for CRYSTAL SKULL, if she had to make any changes or revisions in case there were any moments that were out of character for Marion. She said there weren’t any and it was pretty much as we saw in the film. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get to meet John Hurt or get his autograph, but Karen’s will do for me!!   Check out the FAN AND CONVENTION AREA on this site for selected pictures from the event.

GRUNDY PARK SCI-FI COLLECTORS FAIR - 31.08.08   By Ian Trussler     Grundy Park Leisure Centre in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire is home to a once very busy and regular Sci-Fi collectors fair, now in somewhat of a decline it does still attract some good guest signers.   The most recent event had four Star Wars guests, most of them rare and infrequent signers, those being Pam Rose, Stephanie English, Phil Herbert and Paul Bannon.   Sadly the event was very poorly supported this time but that gave me a chance to chat freely with the guests.   Pam Rose   Pam played the role of Jeesub Sivin, known simply as "Weird Girl" during production, in the Cantina sequence of Star Wars. She can be seen very briefly on screen, most easily during Luke and Bens conversation with Han and Chewie when hiring the Falcon. She is behind Alec Guiness' right shoulder, standing in profile talking to another cantina patron.   Pam was aged 30 when she filmed the role in 1976 and enjoyed her time on set. She got the role via her agent and the normal audition process. She had started as a model in the 1960's and then moved into film work.   She spent 5 days from a Monday to a Friday filming the sequence. The days were long as she was required to be at Elstree for about 6am to then spend two hours in make up, having the prosthetic head applied together with the facial make up and then getting into costume (image of her in character opposite).   Pam’s make up and prosthetic was applied by Stuart Freeborn and had to be treated very carefully as there was only one actual head piece, the only thing that was renewed on a daily basis was the skin/membrane that attached and covered the join between the head piece and Pam’s forehead. Thankfully it only took an hour each day to remove the make up.   Prior to filming Pam attended Stuart Freeborn’s workshop to have a life cast taken of her head, an experience she likened to being buried alive, very unpleasant. Stuart kindly gave Pam her head cast after she completed her role, and she has kept it all these years and had it with her at the show on display.   Pam’s costume consisted of having to wear a black leotard with black riding boots, over the top of which she wore a silver tunic style dress. The outfit was reasonably comfortable to wear and the head piece was very light, so that wasn't a problem either.   She recalls George Lucas being extremely quiet on set and nobody really took any notice of him as they didn't know who he was, despite his success with American Graffiti. Pam recalls briefly meeting Harrison Ford but told me how her then friend, Jenny Creswell, who played Han Solo’s girlfriend in the film, found kissing Harrison Ford to be most unpleasant, something I'm sure many people around the world would find hard to believe.   Pam said that all the extras were treated very well on the film and well paid for the work, unlike today where you are poorly paid and treated like cattle much of the time. Pam is still quite active in the world of extra work her most recent film being the Frances McDormand movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day". Pam’s other work includes a recurring role in Space:1999 and Superman 1, 2 and 4 (she adored Christopher Reeve, saying he was lovely to all the cast, although he had a huge problem with sweating, which often delayed filming) among many other productions.   This event was only Pam’s third appearance at a convention, although she would very much like to do more, especially abroad, but it seems that she is rarely asked to attend, and like all the guest’s told me it seems the correct convention protocol is to wait to be asked, never to approach a promoter yourself. She is a little disappointed that her character hasn't been made into an action figure yet as she would really like that happen sometime.   Although still involved in the film business, Pam spends most of her time running her Fun Casino business for parties and events. She was a delight to chat to, very much a rough diamond, very down to earth and full of stories from the many productions she has worked on. It would be great to see her at a Star Wars Celebration one day.   Stephanie English   Stephanie played the part of a Rebel Controller in the Hoth Rebel Base Command Centre sequence of The Empire Strikes Back. She can be seen on screen with the likes of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Bruce Boa.   She got the part just by being sent up for the audition by her agent, she really didn't know what it was she was getting involved with. Despite the already huge success of Star Wars she didn't really have much knowledge of it. This was just another job for her.   She spent a week on set at Elstree and doesn't have a huge amount of memories of the time but did meet Harrison briefly during one of their scenes together and also recalls being told off by Anthony Daniels for smoking in between takes one day.   Although they were not really allowed to take photos on set, many people did and Stephanie told me she has several photos of her behind the scenes on Empire. Sadly she didn't bring them to the show as she didn't think people would be interested. I told her how wrong she was and that fans love to see rare pictures, so she vowed to bring them to the next event she does.   Again, Stephanie has done very few conventions due to not being asked and has only recently started appearing after the son of a friend of hers returned from a Celebration event and told her about all the autograph guests, upon which she piped up with "I worked on The Empire Strikes Back" and then started to make enquires about getting involved in the convention circuit.   She is still involved in film and television work, and recalled to me that her favourite star she met was Donald Sutherland, but she didn't care for Kiefer Sutherland much when she worked with him on Chicago Joe and the Showgirl.   A very nice and friendly lady, still amazed at work popular Star Wars is, hopefully we will see more of her and those rare pics at future conventions.   Paul Bannon   Paul Bannon is still very much a working actor and has the pleasure of being in the first episode of each of the Star Wars trilogies, those being the original Star Wars (as a stormtrooper) andThe Phantom Menace (as a pod racer).   Paul worked for three weeks on the original movie at Elstree and Shepperton, where he played a Stormtrooper on the Death Star and also a Rebel Guard during the Medal Ceremony. He is one of the green dressed rebels standing behind Leia and General Dodonna. Paul was asked to stay on and work for a further few weeks on Star Wars but decided to move on as he'd had enough of the very uncomfortable Stormtrooper costume. The scene that he particularly recalls working on is the Death Star docking bay when the Falcon has just been captured. He remembers going up and down on the docking bay lift quite a bit as well as having to stand in line with the other troops. Aside from that he doesn't recall exactly what other trooper scenes he is in as it all sort of merged in to one after a while.   Like others have said, nobody took any notice of George Lucas on set, he was very quiet and Paul noticed how George never argued with anyone, even if they disagreed with him, saying George would just quietly say "well, we'll talk about it later".   Paul enjoyed his time at Leavesden working on The Phantom Menace as he had previously worked there on the James Bond movie Goldeneye. He only worked on the studio based Pod Race scenes as he didn't go on location to Tunisia.   Paul is still very busy as he has a recurring role as a stand in for one of the regular actors in the Harry Potter movies and has also just wrapped work on Star Wars luminary Joe Johnston’s remake of The Wolfman, starring Benecio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins among many other stars.   Phil Herbert   Phil played Hermi Odle in Return of the Jedi and I had spoken with him before and didn't gain any new information regarding Jedi, so see my previous blog from Collectormania Milton Keynes for background info.   Phil was in a much brighter mood this time though and talked of how he wants to get more involved in the convention scene, again lamenting the situation of not being asked very often.   We spoke about how he felt disappointed that so much of his work on Jedi was cut out but he accepts that is the nature of the business. He was in fact very upset recently that his role in the Clive Owen movie Children of Men was completely cut. He was invited to and attended the London premiere fully expecting to see himself on screen, only to be asked by his friends after "where were you?": no one had told him he'd been cut.   He has just got back from a weekend spent with old friend Julian Clary at Noel Coward’s old house in Kent, which Julian has recently purchased and moved into.   Phil has just filmed a public service anti smoking commercial, playing a pub landlord up to his knees in giant cigarette butts. Ironic given that Phil himself is a smoker.   It was great to see and chat with him again.   CHECK OUT THE FAN AND CONVENTION AREA OF THIS SITE FOR IAN'S PICS FROM THE EVENT AT: http://www.starwarsaficionado.com/grundypark.html

STAR WARS BEHIND THE SCENES/ ACTOR INFORMATION FROM UK COLLECTORMANIA SHOW, MIDLANDS- 18TH AND 19TH APRIL 2009   By Ian Trussler     BARBARA FRANKLAND (ALSO KNOWN AS BARBARA DENHAM)-ONE OF THE SAURIN CREATURES OF THE CANTINA-STAR WARS   She got the role through Central Casting in London and spent about a week on set. Interestingly she mentioned her character had dialogue which was ultimately dubbed over with a creature voice/noise- she seemed a bit disappointed on this. She can't remember very much about the filming, though she mentioned also knowing other background artists Annette Jones and Mark Kirby from the film.     This was her first ever convention but she had been asked before and declined. She asked me how long conventions had been going and was surprised when I said decades. She said she was confused about the name Saurin, as that what the organizers had told her to sign as. I informed her she probably knew the character as "Crocker" on set and she instantly recognized that and wrote it down, and said she would sign her pics with that name as that what’s she knew. I explained Saurin was a name given many years later after the film was released. She said she never actually met Stuart Freeborn or rather didn't remember. She was very pleasant and said she intended to do more shows now.     MICHAEL LEADER-THE STORMTROOPER WHO BUMPS HIS HEAD-STAR WARS   I asked him right off if he was the trooper who bangs his head and he said he was. I asked if anyone on set said anything at the time and he said he was expecting them to say do another take but was surprised when no one did. He didn't want to bring attention to it as he was very conscious of the costs and tight budget on the movie and was frightened he would get fired if they knew he had messed up the shot. He spent several weeks on the film, mainly running around the Death Star. He actually hated working on the film and really wanted to get off it but again didn't want to get a bad name for himself by walking out, so stuck it out. He didn't like the costume finding it both uncomfortable and claustrophobic in the helmet, likening it to a diving helmet. He said he knew Barrie Holland when I mentioned him and was very complimentary about him, saying Barrie had always been very good to him. He doesn't do many shows (he was very popular at this one and had a bigger line than Mr. Prowse) and now that he has a regular part on EastEnders he is unlikely to get much time to do more in the near future.   Opposite image: an unknown background artist (left) and Barbara Frankland (right, hand in mouth) as the two Saurin creatures in the Cantina for STAR WARS. Picture from KURTZ/JOINER ARCHIVE.