Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
Following the recent death of sword master Bob Anderson many BtSPotD readers requested a BTS dedicated to him. I’m more than happy to comply. While the prequel saber duels are epic at times I have to say Mr. Anderson put more character in a simple parry in Star Wars, Empire or Jedi than you see in the entire massively choreographed fights in the prequels.
Think of the way Vader calmly toys with Luke in Empire, so confident he mostly just uses one hand to deflect the young Jedi-in-training’s strikes. Watching it after the big revelation you see that Vader is almost play-fighting with his son. The reveal was telegraphed in this very simple, very subtle way.
In Return of the Jedi the whole climactic fight scene is nothing but raw emotion. In The Princess Bride there’s a playful elegance to every movement. In Lord of the Rings there’s a more real world feel… the swords have weight, their use requires real exertion.
The man had a hand in everything from Bond to Barry Lyndon, but he will probably be most remembered for his Star Wars work. This series was the first since probably Errol Flynn’s heyday that made kids want to swordfight instead of play guns. Much of that is due to Mr. Anderson.
So today I have two Bob Anderson Star Wars images for you guys thanks to reader Robert Luke. First is from Empire, second Jedi. Not quite sure who he’s fencing with in the Jedi pic, but it’s pretty obvious who he’s crossing sabers with in the first pic.
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Tomorrow’s behind the scenes pic shows you man’s origins.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page One
Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page Two
