Showing posts with label JACK PURVIS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JACK PURVIS. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 November 2023

CLASSIC IMAGE: 'WE'VE STOPPED!'


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. 

Monday, 26 November 2018

BEHIND THE SCENES: A SPELLBINDING UNIVERSE TAKES SHAPE...

George Lucas makes notes during a scene break in Tunisia. 

AFICIONADO's Fortieth Anniversary celebrations of the full UK theatrical release of the original Star Wars during 1978 comes to a close with this collection of rare and magical behind the scenes images. Enjoy!


Alternate image of the classic 'Binary Sunset' sequence.

A different posed photo take of Luke with his father's lightsaber. 

Early costume shape mould option for Threepio.

Anthony Daniels Threepio costume starts to take shape at Elstree.

On location for Luke's scenes at the Hotel Sidi Driss - Spring 1976.

Friends on a new adventure: Kenny Baker and Jack Purvis.

Filming the iconic opening scene of the film.

A lovely shot of the Artoo shell in Star Wars Canyon in Tunisia- March 1976.

The never used original title crawl.

Ann Skinner and Anthony Daniels watch Sir Alec Guinness confer with Lucas. 

Turning on the light saber for the first time!

Escaping the Imperials in art by Alex Tavoulais.

To capture a Princess!

A bright light in the sky!

Friends together in the Jawa Sandcrawler.

Alternate BTS shot from the moment where Leia encounters Vader.

The Tusken Raiders enjoy their work!
Stormtroopers and Rebels clash with lazer swords!

Bringing Artoo to life the hard way!

The Blockade Runner takes a critical hit, filmed at ILM.

A different outtake of the classic filming image.

The droid seeks escape in this Alex Tavoularis storyboard.
Catching up with a wayward droid.
Slightly different outtake shot of our four friends having fun on set- Summer 1976.

Thursday, 21 December 2017

'STAR WARS' AT 40: FAMILIAR LITTLE PEOPLE!

Tiffany Kurtz and Jawa colleague inspect Anthony Daniels as Threepio, on location in Nefta for the original Star Wars.

To go on holiday with your parents and watch them working on a cinematic endeavour that will soon become legendary must have been exciting enough for Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz's two daughters Melissa and Tiffany, as well as mixing with old and new greats like Mark Hamill and Sir Alec Guinness, but then to actually appear in the film playing such iconic alien characters as the scruffy Jawas must have been a total blast for them back in March/April 1976, most notably during the shooting of the Jawa Sandcrawler sale start of filming at the Salt Flats of Nefta, and also as background extras in the streets of Mos Eisley (in reality, the small Tunisian Djerba fishing village) a sort time later.

Playing the Chief Jawa, Jack Purvis gives acting advice to Melissa and Tiffany Kurtz at the location.

Behind the scenes with mum Meredith Kurtz.

Gary Kurtz helps make an adjustment to one of his daughter's (presumably Tiffany) Jawa costumes, as Anthony Daniels is unmasked (background).

The sisters on location.

Tiffany with Mark Hamill and Sir Alec and Lady Merula Guinness in a filming break.

Youtube interview with Gary and Meredith Kurtz, with Tiffany in Jawa costume:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZAYE_ROc9o

Tuesday, 7 March 2017

'STAR WARS' AT 40: OUR INCONSPICUOUS HEROES!


So far avoiding Stormtroopers since escaping the Trash Compactor, and trying not to capture the attention of other Imperial officers, our heroes have made their way to a section of corridor above the Death Star hangar bay housing the captured Falcon, where Princess Leia delivers her finest insult yet to the ship's captain!

A similar BW image to the above shot has surfaced in magazines recently, but not this colour shot, which originally appeared on a 1977 TOPPS card. If anyone has this in better quality, please get in touch.

Also shot in this corridor was a deleted comedy moment where our dirty and dishevelled heroes (including an armed wookiee) try not to bring attention to themselves. The tail end of one of the takes made it into the finished film.

Jamie Harcourt with the clapperboard, as Jack Purvis plays the power droid.



The tail end of the scene, as it appears in the movie.

The comedy moment was also filmed on another Death Star corridor set, whose footage became part of an early assemblage cut (mid to late 1976) that would eventually be revealed to fans in the late nineties.



STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: DELETED SCENE: REBELS? WHAT REBELS?


Friday, 3 February 2017

CLASSIC IMAGE: OUT OF HIS SHELL!


With his friend and showbusiness partner Kenny Baker inside the slow moving shell of Artoo, that other member of the distinctive The Mini-Tones comedy entertainment duo, the ever-lively and consistently amusing Jack Purvis, was equally busy on STAR WARS right across its duration during filming at Tunisia and in London, playing a wide variety of roles that his smaller height made him the perfect fit for- from being the crafty Chief of the Jawas to inhabiting a wide variety of different shaped and sized background droids on Tatooine and the Death Star. Much liked by the cast and crew for his amiability in the face of often uncomfortable conditions, Purvis' contribution in helping create a believable filmic fantasy universe shouldn't be underestimated.

Mark Hamill's affectionate anecdote about Purvis (from around the six minute mark onwards): 'Star Wars': The Line Mark Hamill "Begged" George Lucas To Remove | Hollywood Reporter

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

IT WAS FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY...


Droids, humans and Jawas gather together in the desert heat of Tunisia, a location masquerading as the binary sun orbiting world of Tatooine- as the first complex, bizarre and incredible day's filming on THE STAR WARS begins, against an immense Jawa Sandcrawler prop scaffold. Today, 22nd March, 2016, its the 40th Anniversary! And see where we are now...

More on this incredible day in film history:

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: LAUNCHING THE LEGEND. PIC ONE: 'STAR WARS' 1976

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: BEHIND THE SCENES: AT THE HOMESTEAD

Tuesday, 7 July 2015

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.

Star Wars: Mark Hamill shares photo from first day filming

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.