Working in and around the immense scaffold that is the Jawa Sandcrawler, Anthony Daniels (believed to be the first actor cast for the film in 1975) makes for an impressive and surreal sight on the salt flats of Nefta, as location filming begins on THE STAR WARS from Monday 22nd March, 1976. Having a tough time on his first day of filming, inside a totally uncomfortable costume only briefly inspected/tested and worn fully in England before flying out to Tunisia, Daniels asks Script Supervisor Ann Skinner to specifically take a full-length polaroid at the location, so as to help him acclimatise to the look of the full costume and work out where to go with the character.
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| Ann Skinner goes through her continuity script with Daniels on the first day of filming. |
Skinner's continuity Polaroid picture is very interesting, not just showing Threepio in his gleaming splendour, but also for who is behind him - an unknown crew member or local Tunisian helper wearing a back-up of the golden chest plate of the droid. Why he is wearing it is unknown, though he may perhaps have been a filming standby for Daniels - what with the first day having been difficult and uncomfortable for the actor. This unknown person (possibly location stand-in for Daniels (and Mark Hamill), Eric Duchaux?) may even have been the same one on location who later doubled Threepio (Daniels) for the scene where he fell off the cliff during the Sandpeople attack.
If anyone out there has any more info, please get in touch.
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| More of Daniels as Threepio at the Homestead and Sandcrawler location site. |
With thanks to Ann Skinner and the BFI.
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