This is a “where are they now?”-style feature that might have you asking “but where were they then?” The answer is behind various masks, helmets and prosthetics, all of which hid or partially obscured the performers’ faces. One of the actors profiled is in "Star Wars" for one shot. Another is in the same scene as two different characters, and yet another is entirely on the cutting room floor, his footage the stuff of legend until the advent of YouTube made it available for all to see. “Elstree 1976” also gives screen time to David Prowse, the man behind the most famous masked Star Wars character, Darth Vader.
The film’s title refers to the North London suburb that served as one of “Star Wars”’s filming locations. In 1976, George Lucas cast a number of Stormtroopers, X-Wing fighter pilots, security guards, friends of Luke and even a monster named Greedo, who clearly didn’t shoot first. Assigned to these roles were British character actors, all of whom had careers in the U.K. or Canada before getting the casting call for a galaxy far, far away. Some had been Shakespearean actors beforehand, while others had TV series roles, modeling careers or appearances as extras in other films. Before he was Lord Vader, the 6’7” tall Prowse had a memorable role in Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” and a bodybuilding career cut short by the judges’ hatred of his ugly feet. Another actor, X-Wing pilot Garrick Hagon, had previously worked on stage with Obi-Wan himself, Alec Guinness.
Everyone tells their Star Wars stories, and Spina uses footage from the film as supplements. We see Paul Blake’s Greedo get blown away by Han Solo and Anthony Forrest’s part in the aforementioned cutting room floor footage. Forrest is also revealed to be the Stormtrooper recipient of the Jedi Mind Trick. Pam Rose is shown in her cantina scene and Jeremy Bulloch shows up late in the film to discuss his role as Boba Fett. Even the gaffe of the Stormtrooper hitting his head in the Death Star gets highlighted here, with the actor underneath the mask telling us what happened.
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