Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the new This Week In Star Wars.
The danger of doing a weekly column marking important dates in Star Wars history is that some weeks will be busier than others. For instance, next week is going to be massive, with almost 2 dozen events covering the OT, prequel trilogy, video games and some fun rumors that never panned out.
By contrast this week is super light. Like nothing but birthdays and a McQuarrie art piece light. So, prepare yourselves. I'm not skimping out, just couldn't dig up much that happened precisely between July 6th and July 12th.
July 10th, 1930 - Bruce Boa (General Rieekan) born. Boa was another one of those great character actors that pop up for a brief stint in Star Wars. While he was Canadian born, Boa was a fixture in the British film and TV community starting in the late '50s.
General Rieekan was the first time I noticed him, but he was also quite memorable in Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET (“We are here to help the Vietnamese because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.”
Boa also popped up on Fawlty Towers and even on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. So, happy birthday, sir!
July 9th, 1955 - Jimmy Smits was born. Smits was one of the more head-scratching casting announcements for the prequels, but I think he did well with the small amount of time he was given.
Bail Organa wasn't very fleshed out in the movies, however he did get some time to shine in the extended universe stuff, like The Clone Wars toons and The Force Unleashed games. Happy birthday, Jimmy!
July 10th, 1972 - Peter Serafinowicz was born. We wrap up this week's birthdays with a nod to Peter Serafinowicz, whose contribution to Star Wars is tiny, but hugely noteworthy. Darth Maul had all of two lines in The Phantom Menace, but Serafinowicz's growled them out in a way that perfectly complimented the striking makeup which led to one of the brightest points of the entire prequel trilogy.
We all know that Serafinowicz has done great comedic work in the time since, so I won't list off all his movies from Shaun of the Dead to Guardians of the Galaxy. Good work, sir, and Happy Birthday!
July 12th, 1978 – Ralph McQuarrie finishes his production art painting “Falcon into Crater.” In the gear up towards what would turn into a stressful, over-budget and over-schedule shoot Ralph McQuarrie was busy with his concept paintings. At this point Lawrence Kasdan's draft of the screenplay was underway, but not completed, so McQuarrie was going off of big moments that Lucas knew would fit into the story.
In the case of “Falcon into Crater” they needed a quiet moment during Han, Leia and Chewie's escape. The reprieve existed in Leigh Brackett's draft and would come together as we know it in Kasdan's pass.
McQuarrie's art served as a tonal and visual blueprint for ILM and would lead to one of the best scenes in the best Star Wars movie.
That's it for this week. Next week is a doozy, covering damn near every aspect of Star Wars fandom, from production on the OT, the release of a popular Star Wars video game and one of my favorite ridiculous prequel rumors. See ya' then.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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