Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the new This Week In Star Wars. We are covering the important events that happened in the world of Star Wars between June 22nd and June 28th.
One of my favorite things about this column is getting to jump around from small moments to big, be they birthdays, important scenes being shot, casting announcements, giant rumors that have panned out and those that haven't, etc.
This week isn't hugely packed, but we do a lot of jumping around, from the set of Star Wars to Episode 1 and we also celebrate the birth of one of the galaxy's most iconic characters. Let's get started, shall we?
June 28th, 1940 - Richard Chew is born. Richard is pictured above holding his Oscar with Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch and presenter Farrah Fawcett after winning for editing Star Wars. Paul Hirsch is a legend and much has been made of Marcia Lucas' involvement, but I feel like sometimes Richard Chew isn't given his due credit for what he did to help shape the first movie.
Hirsch came in a little late in the game, but undoubtedly wove his magic (and stayed on to edit Empire) and the final Death Star attack, trench run included, wouldn't have been the same without Marcia Lucas's involvement, but Chew was the consistent editing voice on that first film.
Before Star Wars Chew cut Coppola's The Conversation, one of my favorite movies of all time, and after he went on to edit Real Genius, Risky Business and Singles. The Conversation alone is a masterpiece of editing (and sound design and cinematography and performance and direction and everything else).
So, thanks for your contribution to Star Wars and cinema on the whole, Mr. Chew and happy birthday!
June 24th, 1976 - Harrison Ford wraps on Star Wars. In his final days he shot the trash compactor scene and in the “disused” hallway immediately after.
Ford made $750 a week on this movie. That was his salary. Seriously. What a bargain Lucas got! Ford's swagger as Han Solo set an archetype that has been copied in every adventure film since. As much as he has fought it for years, there's no question that without Han Solo we never would have gotten Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, John Book or Allie Fox.
June 28th, 1976 - Peter Mayhew wraps on Star Wars. Chewbacca outlasted Han Solo by a couple days. I couldn't dig up what his final scene/shot was, but since this was only days after the garbage compactor and hallway scenes I'd guess he still had some Death Star set stuff to shoot. The next week of shooting all involved cockpit shots (mostly X-Wing), so Death Star is a good bet.
June 28th, 1978 - Ben Burtt shows 20 minutes test film of Boba Fett to Lucas. This is the first time Lucas saw (and made notes on) the Boba Fett costume, which was originally designed to be a “Super Stormtrooper” or “Supertrooper,” hence the all white look.
Assistant Film Editor Duwayne Dunham modeled the costume and even caught fire when demonstrating the wrist-mounted flame thrower. Because of this error that aspect of the character was ruled out.
It wasn't long before the Super Stormtrooper concept was scrapped and the design was repainted and folded into the bounty hunter we know and love. For extra added Fett coolness, here's Joe Johnston's early design for him:
Pretty badass, no?
June 26th, 1997 - Day One of Principal Photography on Star Wars Episode 1. First shot was Maul and Sidious on the Coruscant balcony and later in the day there was a scene between Palpatine and Queen Amidala in Palpy's quarters, both sets built at Leavesden Studios.
Interesting first scene to schedule. Makes me wonder if Lucas wanted to try out Maul's on-camera look early on so he could make alterations. Even die-hard anti-prequel folks still dig Darth Maul so that one turned out alright.
I also gotta appreciate that on the first day of Lucas' new trilogy he did scenes with both Palpatine and his Sith Lord alter ego.
And that's This Week In Star Wars. Come on back next week for more Galactic Nerdiness!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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