AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: SKYWALKER TAKES DOWN A WALKER!

 

Luke Skywalker's explosive charge thrown into the belly of the Walker causes fiery damage, as seen in this behind the scenes filming at ILM, with pyrotechnics handled by industry legend Joe Viskocil.

Top effects explosive expert Joe Viskocil (right) and colleague prepare for pyrotechnic work inside the model.

Jon Berg and Steve Gawley maneuver the about to collapse Walker with wire and pole.

Putting out the pyrotechnics on the model.

The also filmed Walker death involving General Veers was cut but the model footage of the exploded head (achieved on film via optical effect overlay) and collapse was instead added to Luke's unique 'kill' during later post production editing.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: THE NEW 'ILM' ASSEMBLES!

Richard Edlund operates the new Empireflex motion control camera system, for what eventually be The Empire Strikes Back's opening shot, featuring a probe droid-launching Star Destroyer. 

Deciding to rebuild the ILM facility from scratch, now located away from Hollywood to the more personally accessible and friendlier realms of his home base in San Francisco, George Lucas is determined to see his special effects company expand on, improve and innovate even more the art of breathtaking special effects with the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. George Lucas's prior relationship with his former Star Wars effects whizz John Dykstra was now over, the latter having set up his own effects company in Apogee and staying in Los Angeles. A good half of the original and youthful ILM team, seeing the better working conditions and the chance to do more ambitious things with more money to play with, will also make the move to SF for the new ILM, with effects veteran and Star Wars talent Richard Edlund in overall charge, joined with a new UK talent in Brian Johnson, fresh from his acclaimed work on the hit Gerry Anderson series Space:1999 and Ridley Scott's then upcoming sci-fi chiller, Alien. Johnson would be also involved in the practical effects work with his team at Elstree Studios, working alongside fellow Brit, Nick Allder.

Joe Johnston, Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren with Irvin Kershner go through effects storyboards

Brian Johnson, preparing to blast out an Artoo Detoo prop.

Model making veteran Lorne Peterson at work on the teeth of the space slug.

Ken Ralston prepares to film one of Dagobah's flying creatures.

George Lucas shares a laugh with Joe Johnston and Richard Edlund.

Phil Tippet and Ken Ralston at work in stop motion for Han on his Tauntaun.

Joe Johsnton in the ILM model shop, helping on an Imperial Walker.

Phil Tippett at work 'animating' the Walkers' movements.

Veteran pyrotechnics technician Joe Viskocil plants an explosive charge in a Snowspeeder model.

Ralph McQuarrie at work on an ultimately unused matte painting for the Rebel base exterior. 

Harrison Ellenshaw at work on the impressive Slave One vehicle matte painting.

Muren and Tippett with all-new matte painting talent Michael Pangrazio, who'd contribute incredible and realistic snow realm vistas for the Hoth exterior sequences.

Lucas goes through some storyboard questions with Ellenshaw and Johnson at ILM.

One of Ken Ralston's fun art pieces for the new ILM building and filming of Empire.

With incredible action sequences to be realized, including the ground battle between the Imperial and Rebel forces, an immense asteroid field chase, and the environs/creatures of new planets Hoth, Dagobah and Bespin, the all-new ILM team would work long hours, fight the elements, and fatigue, to deliver incredible results for George Lucas's supreme saga, and its important first sequel... 

'STAR WARS' AT 40: INTO THE TARGET SIGHTS!

The final sentry TIE fighter comes in for its attack run on the Falcon, and finally in Han Solo's dogged targeting sights, in the classic finale scene to the fast-paced space battle, topped by a spectacular final explosion courtesy of pyrotechnics whizz Joe Viskocil.

The lone TIE fighter being shot at ILM.

The separately filmed explosion added to the final cut.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: GOODBYE, JOE VISKOCIL...

GOODBYE, JOE VISKOCIL...

Pyrotechnics wizard Joe Viskocil in 1976/77, with the Blockade Runner model from the original STAR WARS.

Another of the all-time great STAR WARS visual effects wizards has passed into the Force, with last night's sad news that the always in demand freelance pyrotechnics supervisor, and all-round nice guy, Joe Viskocil has died at the young age of 63. A fan of visual effects since childhood, and a particular enthusiast growing up on the exciting, colourful and always spectacularly explosive Gerry Anderson UK Supermarionation puppet action/adventure series of the mid to late sixties, Viskocil would vigorously enter the seventies quickly rising up the small but building new US behind the scenes SPFX ladder, journeying to the forefront of modern day pyrotechnics use in visual and practical effects filming, not just in blockbuster space epics but all other types of drama and entertainment that required his unique services. Going into the eighties and nineties he helped see-in the return of Batman with Tim Burton, and engineer world destruction in Independence Day, and beyond, as the man with the fingers on the explosive detonator! But it will be the first two Classic Trilogy STAR WARS movies for which he'll always be remembered by fans, assisting John Dykstra and the newly formed ILM from around 1975 to 1980. Any classic miniature explosion, large or small, the bigger the better, from the later re-titled A New Hope and its superb first sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, notably the first Death Star battle and the Imperial Walkers attack on Hoth, were realised to the highest standards by Viskocil - a talent whose like will be much missed in Hollywood and the entertainment industry at large...

Viskocil, helped by Joe Johnston, prepares to plant an explosive inside a doomed model X-wing, for STAR WARS.

A bearded Viskocil and a colleague prepare a charge inside an AT-AT, for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Another great image of Viskocil planning destruction on an impressive Walker model.

Some of Viskocil's exemplary work for the classic TIE fighter sentry attack on the Falcon, from A New Hope: STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE - TIE Fighter Attack - YouTube

Viskocil's favourite explosion: the final TIE fighter sentry is destroyed, from the original STAR WARS.

AFICIONADO CLASSIC BEHIND THE SCENES INFO PART TEN

A costume design interpretation of Chewie by John Mollo for EMPIRE.

INFORMATION FROM CELEBRATION EUROPE - 2007

Compiled by Scott Weller (with thanks to Ian Trussler for additional info)

John Mollo started his work as Costume Designer on STAR WARS in December 1975 and finished in May 1976. Of the two films he worked on, EMPIRE was the hardest for him, due to the challenge of having to top the first film and also due to the fact that George Lucas wasn't around for a lot of the crucial costuming decisions-Mollo had greatly enjoyed working with Lucas on STAR WARS and the relationship wasn't the same with Irvin Kershner on EMPIRE.


British Darth Vader mask sculptor Brian Muir remembers being involved in the detailing and construction of Threepio's hands for one scene, recalling Anthony Daniels coming into the ELSTREE workshop one lunch time during filming so that moulds could be done of the actor’s hands for the creation of the metal ones.



Mark Hamill revealed that both he and Harrison Ford were very protective of he characters they played during the making of the films. On EMPIRE, Harrison wasn't happy with the news that the Millennium Falcon had previously been owned by somebody else.



Robert Watts recalled that the huge stage at Shepperton Studios for the Award Ceremony and X-wing hangar had previously been used for the epic early British sci-fi movie THINGS TO COME.



Joe Viskocil's favourite explosion amongst the many that he created for the first film is the destruction of the last TIE fighter during the sentry ships attack on the FALCON. Viskocil would also work on the pyrotechnic explosion scenes of the Walkers for EMPIRE. Re-confirming what Julian Glover had previously indicated, the ramming of Hobbie's Snowspeeder into Veer's Walker was never filmed (2012 Note: Though an insert shot of the Walker command deck interior was indeed filmed without his prior knowledge- presumably with doubles-as seen on the 2011 Blu-ray). Only the explosion for the head of the Walker, which became another Imperial Walker destroyed by Luke Skywalker, rather than Veers, was shot by Viskocil at ILM.



Michael Culver's scenes as Captain Needa were filmed in a week:just another part for the jobbing actor.



Angus MacInnes, Gold Leader in STAR WARS, confirmed that all his scenes shot for the movie were in the finished picture-there was nothing cut. On WITNESS he actually performed the dangerous stunt in which Harrison Ford traps his corrupt cop character in the grain tank-having pretty much been told that he no other choice but to do it by the director/production people!!

John Scoleri and his people behind the beautiful Ralph McQuarrie book are now in negotiations to do something linked to Joe Johnston's work for ILM. (As of 2013, still no news on this worthy and deserving project.)



Warwick Davis revealed that, when he was cast as the then un-named Wicket, all the Ewoks had already been found for the London ELSTREE studios filming and that they had not planned on having any others. Patricia Carr, assistant to Robert Watts (who can be seen in the REVENGE OF THE EWOK film), however, saw talent in Warwick and hired him.



Though J.W. Rinzler is not aware of any good archive material within LUCASFILM on the creation of the Darth Vader costume in 1976 (from a conversation AFICIONADO had with him at CELEBRATION IV), documentary film footage DOES exists, previously used in a SKY TV 1999 UK documentary on STAR WARS, of the face and half body casts of Dave Prowse with the costume being worked around them. Vader sculptor Brian Muir, and his enthusiastic wife, re-confirmed that this footage still exists. Due to some incorrect/lack of information in the recently published MAKING OF STAR WARS book, a retraction regarding Brian Muir's work will appear in any future re-print/new editions of the book. (Something that never happened with the books paperback reprint.)

For the scene in STAR WARS, shot in Tunisia, where Artoo follows Threepio into the Lars Homestead igloo, it was originally filmed that Artoo would follow behind Threepio, but when the robot controlled droid constantly kept ramming into Anthony Daniels posterior whilst in costume, the scene was eventually filmed with Threepio side by side with the little droid as they came to the end of the location exterior set. 


Jay Laga’aia revealed that, for EPISODE III, Lucas was apparently quite insistent that he be available for filming on certain dates but this proved difficult for the actor due to his stage commitments to THE LION KING musical that he was also in at the time in Australia. Eventually, a compromise was reached but by the time of the film’s release, pretty much all of his footage shot for the movie never made the final cut!



By the way, did anyone speak to David Ankrum, the original voice of Wedge for STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE? Anyone got any info on him?

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: OUT OF CONTROL

Darth Vader's TIE fighter death squadron get a nasty surprise as they corner Luke Skywalker's X-wing fighter in the Death Star trench: Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon make a triumphant return to aid their friend in the crisis, as one fighter is destroyed, the other rams into the wing of Vader's personal ship (sending it spinning out of control and into the depths of space) then crashes at speed into the canyon wall.

Originally, Vader's craft was to have perished as well, but, quite late in the editing post production phase, and against the advice of some of his ILM colleagues who'd think the move was too sequel gimmicky, George Lucas instinctively decides to spare the Dark Lord (especially if a sequel, then potentially Splinter of the Mind's Eye, might be made) and have his damaged TIE relentlessly spin out into space, using newly shot model footage alongside existing outtake cockpit footage of Vader that is spun around to simulate his being inside the out-of-control fighter.

A superb and timeless effects sequence, and an exhilarating one for cinema audiences too, that shows the cinematic power of the film and the true talents of George Lucas, composer John Williams, the film editors and the ILM team (including pyrotechnics/explosives expert Joe Viskocil).