AFICIONADO CLASSIC BEHIND THE SCENES INFO - PART THIRTEEN

Top: Ian Trussler meets Malcolm Tierney and Rusty Goffe.  Image composition: Chris Baker.

“STAR WARS” BEHIND THE SCENES INFORMATION GATHERED FROM AUTOGRAPHICA SHOW-13^TH SEPTEMBER 2009

By Ian Trussler

MALCOLM TIERNEY (STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE-DEATH STAR DETENTION BLOCK COMMANDER (known in the EXPANDED UNIVERSE as Lt. Shann Childsen)

He got the role without auditioning, he never met George Lucas or anyone prior to filming. He was cast after his agent submitted his details to the production. He spent just two days filming his only scene in the detention block set. He enjoyed his time on the film and remembers well that Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were both very friendly to him and joked about with him over his delivery of his famous "Where are you taking this...thing?" line.

RUSTY GOFFE (STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE-VARIOUS ALIENS)

I clarified Rusty's roles in the movie and asked about the whole Barry Gnome/Kabe mystery. Rusty played three different roles in the first STAR WARS. First of all, he recalled playing a Jawa in the film (in the Cantina scenes in London, not on Tunisia location (the latter being confirmed by producer Gary Kurtz) and how the thick costume was made worse in the heat by having to have the black face plate, which housed the lights and electronics for the eyes, taped to his face. The trailing wires were also taped to his cheeks to keep them in place and from disconnecting from the battery packs that powered the eyes. He was also the "Gonk" droid inside the Sandcrawler interior set. Then he recounted how he ended up playing Kabe in the Cantina sequence. Apparently the role of Kabe was never played by Barry Gnome, someone Rusty knew before he died. Barry Gnome did not ever work on the film and it seems that this has become some sort of urban myth from way back. The role of Kabe was originally played by the late Gilda Cohen. On her first day on set in costume she basically had some sort of panic attack and couldn't handle the heat and claustrophobia inside the costume and mask. Rusty was called upon at the last minute to step in and play the part so production was not delayed.