BEHIND THE SCENES: AT THE HOMESTEAD

On Tatooine, the Lars Homestead is visited by a Jawa Sandcrawler.

Unaware that he is about to enter the adventure of a lifetime, young farmboy Luke Skywalker assists his grouchy Uncle Owen in bartering with the newly arrived Jawas at their used droid assemblage, in a now classic scene from the original STAR WARS, one of the first to be shot for the movie, on location in Tunisia during March 1976.

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Costume continuity reference Polaroid of Mark Hamill. Image: Ann Skinner/BFI.

From the BFI Special Collections, here is Script Supervisor Ann Skinner's handwritten costume character continuity notes for Owen Lars (Phil Brown), Beru Lars (Shelagh Fraser) and the Chief Jawa (Jack Purvis).

The Chief Jawa (Jack Purvis) and Owen Lars (Phil Brown).

Rehearsing the droid sale scene, watched by Lucas.

Owen Lars: Short beard, khaki-high neck shirt, beigey/green cotton jacket- closed not seeing the buttons. Black belt, navy trousers inside high brown boots. Cord type full jacket with hood hanging down at the back.

Beru: Brown tunic dress to the ground, pink shirt, blue jacket-pink collar outside the jacket. Carrying metal box thing in right hand (for outdoor scene with (power) droid).

Chief Jawa: Pouch (like an arrow pouch), bandolier (without bullets) with handled knife in it.

Additionally, in her early 1976 typed character notes for Owen, based on a pre-shooting script, Skinner writes:"Mid 50's Luke's Uncle. Limp shuffle."

A picturesque shot of the Homestead and a portion of the Jawa Sandcrawler scaffold. Polaroid by Ann Skinner/BFI.

Only one Ann Skinner Polaroid image from the filming of this sequence didn't make the BFI STAR WARS exhibition of 2014: a single full-length colour costume reference shot showing Jack Purvis in his Jawa costume. An additional Polaroid shot of Miss Skinner at the location with an unknown Tunisian also exists unpublished at the BFI.

Cinematographer Gil Taylor checks the steps of the Homestead "Igloo".  Polaroid by Ann Skinner/BFI.

In other Skinner handwritten reference notes, the malfunctioning R5 (also known as "Red") was originally to have had a brown top shell, and R2-D2 had "a red light" in his tower eye.

With thanks to Ann Skinner and the BFI Special Collections.