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Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Captain Kelsten

By Captain Kelsten
in Film, TV & Radio

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Darren

Darren

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I gather Gary Kurtz' recollections of earlier versions of the Star Wars films are at best hazy; Star Wars was originally released without the Episode IV tag, and I don't think there was ever a version of the Jedi script (or story) that was darker, or had Leia as queen / wookies instead of ewoks / Han's death. Kurtz and Kershner's contributions to Empire were invaluable, and were part of the reason why it's a darker, more emotionally satisfying film than Star Wars (basically, because they made it in Europe without Lucas' oversight, but with access to his chequebook), but of late he seems to be carving out a career telling Star Wars fans a fairy tale about the brilliant version of RotJ that they almost could have had.

Fair enough. I did think it was interesting that the longer of those two interviews was from just after The Phantom Menace came out, and pretty much all of his criticisms of that, and the OT special editions a couple of years earlier, were absolutely spot on. And whether it's true or not, his contention that Raiders radically changed Lucas' outlook and philosophy is an interesting one.

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The Grand Pursuivant

The Grand Pursuivant

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Did you get to chat to him, what was he like? Obvs not asking about the film, just the legendary old duffer, I love that guy.

I did, but only briefly. When I found out we were going to be on set together I was really excited as I am a huge fan. Unfortunately, were doing night shoots, and he would be driven on to set to play his part and then driven away again just as quickly. He didn't hang around, because most of the time it was 2am/3am when he was done and you can tell that old age is taking it's toll. I was worried I might not get to meet him so I asked his wife, who was with him every day, if I could have a minute to talk to him before he left on his last day of shooting. He said yes, so I got to talk to him for a few minutes which was absolutely immense.

He was awesome. Incredibly composed and friendly, and happy to chat to a nobody like me, although he mentioned that he always likes to meet young people who have seen his old films. I asked him a couple of questions, mainly about what it was like to work with Bergman. He said that Bergman was the best director he'd ever worked with, and that he is incredibly proud of all the films they made together. I asked him if he had a favourite and he said he didn't want to pick one. I also asked him why he had decided to do Star Wars, and apparently he was approached to play a role in the prequels but had other commitments, and so when he was asked to do this one he couldn't say no, even though he doesn't really do live action stuff anymore. He couldn't remember which prequel it was or which character he was approached to play though. I suspect it was Palpatine or Dooku, but he genuinely had no idea. He also said some other stuff but it's spoilerific so I can't talk about it until the film is out. Then he excused himself so he could go back to his hotel and get some sleep before he flew back to Sweden the next day.

I don't feel like I've really done him justice. It's hard to communicate his mannerisms and expressions. Let's just say that the man is a legend for good reason.

I had a lot of incredible experiences on set, but meeting him was definitely one of the highlights. It's hard writing stuff like this because there is a lot more to tell, and I need to be very careful with my wording. When the NDA expires I'll gladly tell anyone who cares to read it everything I know, though.

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Delargey

Delargey

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I was crew. Had you been an extra on SW instead of GoT, I probably would have been one of the people to come looking for you when we needed more extras on set after you'd spent hours waiting around and doing nothing.

Can I be an extra on Star Wars?

When it comes to pretending to drink in the background I'm one of the best in the business.

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NEG

NEG

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I did, but only briefly. When I found out we were going to be on set together I was really excited as I am a huge fan. Unfortunately, were doing night shoots, and he would be driven on to set to play his part and then driven away again just as quickly. He didn't hang around, because most of the time it was 2am/3am when he was done and you can tell that old age is taking it's toll. I was worried I might not get to meet him so I asked his wife, who was with him every day, if I could have a minute to talk to him before he left on his last day of shooting. He said yes, so I got to talk to him for a few minutes which was absolutely immense.

He was awesome. Incredibly composed and friendly, and happy to chat to a nobody like me, although he mentioned that he always likes to meet young people who have seen his old films. I asked him a couple of questions, mainly about what it was like to work with Bergman. He said that Bergman was the best director he'd ever worked with, and that he is incredibly proud of all the films they made together. I asked him if he had a favourite and he said he didn't want to pick one. I also asked him why he had decided to do Star Wars, and apparently he was approached to play a role in the prequels but had other commitments, and so when he was asked to do this one he couldn't say no, even though he doesn't really do live action stuff anymore. He couldn't remember which prequel it was or which character he was approached to play though. I suspect it was Palpatine or Dooku, but he genuinely had no idea. He also said some other stuff but it's spoilerific so I can't talk about it until the film is out. Then he excused himself so he could go back to his hotel and get some sleep before he flew back to Sweden the next day.

I don't feel like I've really done him justice. It's hard to communicate his mannerisms and expressions. Let's just say that the man is a legend for good reason.

I had a lot of incredible experiences on set, but meeting him was definitely one of the highlights. It's hard writing stuff like this because there is a lot more to tell, and I need to be very careful with my wording. When the NDA expires I'll gladly tell anyone who cares to read it everything I know, though.

Would you say the general plot is going to amaze us old fans, in a good way? :)

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Distinct muttering

Distinct muttering

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If he can be alive in the Legends EU...

If Lucas can say in the DVD commentaries that he gives his blessing to the notion...

If the rumours are true about his character having some sort of cybernetic component...

It would be pretty freaking cool if MVS is Boba. I know it's hypocritical to hate that Anakin built 3P0 and still want to see something like this happen...but I want to see this happen.

Utter pish, I will walk out if this is the case.

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makkuwata

makkuwata

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Utter pish, I will walk out if this is the case.

No you won't. Of course you won't. I've walked out of The Island and Tranformers 2 because they were the start of a longer night out and couldn't sit through more than about 20 minutes. In each case I went to grab a Chinese a few doors down and listened to my iPod for an hour and a half of whatever until my friends got out and they educated me on how I made the right decision. But you're not walking out of a Star Wars movie.

That character is 99.9999999999% not in the movie, but if it's JJ and MVS it's great. You still have prequel shellshock. And you didn't walk out of any of those, did you!

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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No you won't. Of course you won't. I've walked out of The Island and Tranformers 2 because they were the start of a longer night out and couldn't sit through more than about 20 minutes. In each case I went to grab a Chinese a few doors down and listened to my iPod for an hour and a half of whatever until my friends got out and they educated me on how I made the right decision. But you're not walking out of a Star Wars movie.

That character is 99.9999999999% not in the movie, but if it's JJ and MVS it's great. You still have prequel shellshock. And you didn't walk out of any of those, did you!

I very, very nearly walked out of Attack of the Clones. I think it was at the "Death Sticks" bit. I turned to my gf and said "This is shit, shall we just go?", but she persuaded me to stay.

I should have gone, in hindsight.

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makkuwata

makkuwata

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I really don't understand what's wrong with the speculation. Do people think the previous post is a thing that's happening? What the hell are these threads for if not talking about the day to day news and speculating on what it could mean.

No one who hasn't signed an NDA knows anything about the movies. Calm down.

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