Their dingy plight in the Jawa Sandcrawler was surely unpleasant, but there may now be light at the end of the tunnel for our hero droids Threepio and Artoo as the vehicle stops at an unknown destination, in this scene from the original Star Wars. Note that Anthony Daniels only wears the top half of his Threepio costume in order to sit down, with clever onscreen placement of junk in front of the camera during filming on 6th July, 1976. (By the middle of studio filming onwards, the crew would do everything they can, at Daniels request, to not have the actor fully in the uncomfortable metal suit unless absolutely required.) According to the call sheet of the day's filming, Kenny Baker was ultimately not called to the studio that PM for this scene, so it is unknown who operated the two-legged version here.
The Chief Jawa for the scene was Rusty Goffe, whilst others in attendance on the set as the tiny scrap merchants included Peter Diamond's two children, Frazer (as the Jawa holding the restraining gun) and Warwick. Jack Purvis, in a filming scene change/swap with Goffe, would play the famous Gonk droid instead of a Jawa.
With thanks to Frazer Diamond for supplying key behind the scenes information.
Some corrections for you: Rusty Goffe played the Chief Jawa in this sequence, and Jackie was actually inside a Gonk droid - they swapped their allocated roles, come the shoot. How do I know? Well, that’s because it’s me - Frazer Diamond - wielding the restraining gun in this snap - it’s a much-treasured photo! Also, the business with Anthony Brown is incorrect. He has no connection to the saga at all, and never attended Elstree with us. Unfortunately, he spun a ruse in the press whilst promoting a gig, a few years back… anyways, cheers for your splendid web site - I visit here often!
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