Now trapped and relocated to the fearsome Death Star space station, the reckless but noble Luke Skywalker convinces a doubting but greedy Han Solo and Chewbacca to walk into the Lion's Den and rescue the captured and vitally needed to their cause Rebel Princess Leia Organa, in a now classic set-piece scene that has become the stuff of pop culture legend, even referenced in an episode of the popular US mystery adventure produced by J.J. Abrams, Lost.
 |
| "I can't see a thing in this helmet!" |
 |
| Hamill shares a joke with Assistant Director Anthony Waye. |
 |
| Lucas and the Elstree team prepare for filming. |
In a new edition of Doctor Who Magazine (June issue 578, 2022), Anthony Waye recalled that his second unit directing job on the original Star Wars came about because of an urgent request call from the film's then UK Production Supervisor, Bruce Sharman, who asked him to work on the film literally a week before shooting began in Tunisia. Waye found the location a horrible place to film in, hating the overall location, its lousy weather, the inadequate hotels and the awful food. He found producer Gary Kurtz to be totally inexperienced in movie-making at that point and that Waye, alongside many of the UK behind the scenes team, openly thought the film was total rubbish (a well known fact).
 |
| During chaotic location filming alongside Lucas in Tunisia - March, 1976. |
Though Waye was impressed with the finished film at the London cast and crew screening a year later, he still feels that Star Wars as a film is overall still "rubbishey". Why is this writer not surprised, with those opinions, that Waye was never asked back to work as one of the key UK talents on the subsequent The Empire Strikes Back?! Regardless, it doesn't stop the now aging former producer of some of the latter (and some weaker) James Bond films from happily making money (and boosting his eventual retirement pension) from signing Kurtz/Joiner Archive behind the scenes images of himself on the Star Wars sets at UK conventions/events!
No comments:
Post a Comment