Anyone who’s followed STAR WARS even slightly over the years is likely familiar with Biggs Darklighter.
Played by Garrick Hagon, Biggs was to be spun as Luke Skywalker’s best friend back in the original STAR WARS movie (1977 version) - who leaves to go off to fight for the Rebellion against the Empire before Luke Skywalker eventually enters the same fold. Luke and Biggs would then reunite for the Rebellion’s attack on the Death Star.
While a few Biggs scenes did end up in the original theatrical version of STAR WARS, much of his material was cut. A small portion of this excised material was ultimately re-incorporated into what became known as ‘A NEW HOPE’ - although much of the Luke/Biggs material was never actually utilized. Effectively shaping Biggs into an almost mythological entity in the STAR WARS verse - someone whose picture we grew up with in various STAR WARS publications and product, but whose importance to the SW mythos was only passingly understood.
Finally, after many years, the bulk of the deleted Biggs material worked its way into the light - revealing the close nature of his relationship with Luke, and more roundly positioning Luke as a Rebel-in-waiting. Here’s a rough cut of the sequences in question. The girl who plays Camie - Koo Stark - is super hot here, by the way…
Is it just me, or does Hagon have a Bruce Campbell thing going on in those scenes?
Even though we now have a far clearer sense of who Biggs was and what he was all about, there’s still more to this story - namely the interesting journey of the man who portrayed the character.
Filmmaker Jamie Benning has interviewed Garrick Hagon and assembled a brief but informative documentary chronicling his perspective on being cast in the original SW movie, his time on-set with George Lucas, Mark Hamill and company, his reaction to being largely deleted from the 1977 cut of this film, and his sense of the movie itself despite the reduced role. Hagon sounds like a very genial and fascinating fellow. Here’s what he has to say…
[via GeekTyrant]
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Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
