Monday 23 March 2015

BEHIND THE SCENES: OUT OF THE TRASH COMPACTOR!


Having narrowly avoided a life-threatening tight-squeeze inside one of the Death Star's Trash Compactors, and now in an adjacent and dusty, seldom used sub-corridor/hallway, our Star Warriors Han Solo and Luke Skywalker abandon their stormtrooper disguises and get another taste of Princess Leia's fiery attitude, in a classic scene from the original STAR WARS.

Image:Ann Skinner/BFI.
Image: Ann Skinner/BFI.

Ann Skinner's continuity Polaroids for this scene show Princess Leia near the abandoned trooper costume frames, whilst another shows her with Luke changed back to his farmboy duds and putting on a stormtrooper equipment belt- we're not sure if its a behind the scenes moment or a deleted one (likely the former, though Carol Titelman's script translation for THE ART OF STAR WARS does describes our heroes changing their clothes and strapping on their blaster belts- the end of their changing seen in the movie). Two other B/W Polaroids Skinner taken, sadly not included in last year's BFI exhibition but within their Special Collection, show the barely seen in the movie distance end of the set leading from the open hatch into the Trash Compactor- not the actual original studio set itself but a background fake perspective recreation set-dressed with lots of foreground junk pieces (pipes, grabage and assembled crushed-together items). Originally, from the 19th April 1976 script, the Dia Noga creature was to have banged a searching tentacle against the hatch, but in the final movie a sound effect of the creature exemplified its displeasure instead.

With thanks to Ann Skinner and the BFI Special Collections.

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