There’s good news from Berlin today as Dominic Burns’ latest film Airborne has found UK distribution with Chelsea Films, part of the Curzon Artificial Eye Group.

The film marks the return to the big screen of Mark Hamill, and his name will undoubtedly draw an audience keen to see the Star Wars actor again and the cast is rounded off with a number of Burns’ regulars including Simon Phillips, Gemma Atkinson, Alan Ford and Billy Murray. If you’re a very keen Star Wars fan then you’ll be pleased to know that Julian Glover is also part of the cast.

We’ve been following production the film for a while, and if you’re interested in finding out more you can check Dave’s set visit report which includes a lengthy interview with Hamill and we hope to bring you more on the film as it comes in. Chelsea Films are keeping the 2012 release but have not specified a release date as of yet.

THR were sourcey.

Thanks to legendary actor, George Takei for posting this on his Facebook profile yesterday and to my friend Phil for the heads up!

This is what happens when Luke Skywalker gets a status update alerting him that he has a new family request!

LOVE!

Reviewing this box set when it is out in stores and in all probability snapped up by eager Star Wars fans seems a little unnecessary. The promise of a shiny high def transfer and the long awaited deleted scenes from the Original Trilogy conspire to tempt you to part with your cash once more, to enjoy the long time ago all over again.

But there’s a problem. A wave of negative reaction to some of the changes made by Lucas for this box set became clear a few weeks prior to the release as rumours of some important scenes ruined by needless additions and more handy work by the CG Replacement Bureau. Then video clips were uploaded to confirm the changes and boycotts were threatened and those unhappy with the Special Editions and 2004 DVD ‘improvements’ found new voice and dusted off their VHS copies and chided those who had their pre-orders booked.

So, who’s right? Are the changes too much for those who loved the originals, or is the HD transfer and wealth of extras enough to make the purchase worthwhile? As with many things, both are right, from a certain point of view.

We’ve already looked back over the films this past week in our Video Vault series, so if you’re looking to find out more about Episodes I to VI then click here to read them; there is an assumption that you’re not going in totally blind here. If you’ve never seen the films at all and can spare the cash then this box set is an instant recommendation – just make sure you watch them in the order they were made, don’t be tempted to start your journey to the dark side and out again with The Phantom Menace.

The more pertinent question is perhaps asked of those who already own the DVD set (and probably the VHS copies as well): Do I need to buy this set too?

The HD transfer is most obvious in Episodes IV to VI, and what I found strange were the additions for the 1997 Special Editions and how they showed their age. The advancement of computer technology is so rapid and is  noticeable when some of the visual effects which impressed in the late nineties now look very out of place. The additions to Mos Eisley are not as polished as the 1977 footage, with some very messy compositing of the newer elements over the old and some problems with the focus in certain shots. It surprised me as the original footage looks incredibly sharp for the most part, occasionally there is a very muddy shot in between the crystal clear original footage which itself isn’t completely free from problems.

Looking on the positive side there are moments when I saw things I had never seen before, and I’ve watched these films a lot. In truth I’ve never seen the sparks that fly off the colliding lightsabers in the duel between Vader and Kenobi. At first it looks a little like CGI sweat and it may have always been in there but this was new to me. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s new scream to scare off the Sandpeople is a strange addition to those of us who have known the original but isn’t a huge offence overall. It was a genuine thrill to see the detail and the dirt of the first film in particular, not least in contrast to the clinical green-screenery of the prequels; the forests on the moon of Endor look lush and verdant and the ice planet of Hoth is so sharp you could shave a Wookie with it. The occasional transfer quirks aside this is the most beautiful version of the films we’ve seen and when I first saw the discs at the Big Screen event I was sold.

The additions will irk some, and infuriate others. I’m sure a lot of people may not even notice the newly CGI Yoda in The Phantom Menace or question Vader’s new, and controversial, cry of ‘Noooooooo.’ just before he saves Luke from the Emperor’s final attack, but you’ll know which applies to you. In all honesty the films remain some of the most exciting science fiction films we have and they have never looked better. I’d question the need to buy this new set if you already have the DVDs and aren’t too fussed about the HD, but as we’ll see there is a reason to keep your old copies around even if you do.

The menu system on the main discs are simple and won’t blow your mind but they are a vast improvement over those found on the three discs of extras which invite you to select a film, then a location (Tattooine, Hoth, Bespin etc) and then to select a category (interviews, deleted scenes etc) and then a further click to play them. It’s not fun to navigate this menu every time you want to see a particular special feature. The interviews to introduce each film’s extras are short and drawn from cast and crew and are a nice addition. The deleted scenes are a lot of fun, with the early scenes of Luke and Biggs on Tattooine being the most substantial. The scene with Han and a female companion in the Cantina is here, as is an extended scene in the land speeder with Luke and C3PO searching for R2D2 and while most of these have been seen before on various multimedia releases it’s good to have them all in one place.

What I alluded to earlier about keeping the DVDs handy is one of the more puzzling elements of this collection as the deleted scenes for the Prequel Trilogy do not include those found on the DVD releases. This is a strange omission and a real shame, nice though it is to see a brief cameo by Dominic West as a Naboo guard pushing over a defeated Battle Droid there were some substantial scenes excised from the original cut that would have fitted alongside the new scenes perfectly. Maybe there’s a definitive box set coming our way – maybe when the 3D version are put out…

When I was a kid the only way you could have Star Wars in your own home was as part of the documentaries made and televised at the time of release of the Original Trilogy films. These are included on the final disc of extras and proved a highlight for me as I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. Also included, and perhaps the most intriguing extra, on the disc was The Masters – a discussion of the making of The Empire Strikes Back with the late Irvin Kershner proving a wonderful guide through the difficult second movie.

So in the end I was won over by the new transfer and the decent, if limited, set of extras. If you have the DVDs and are annoyed at the constant tinkering by Lucas then be warned – this won’t light your saber. If you’re a fan and want to see Star Wars in the best way possible then the choice is clear. The galaxy far, far away has never looked better.

This may be an exercise in futility, or at least an attempt to distill down a real wealth of material into a fairly artificial concept, however in honour of the Star Wars franchise finally making its way onto Blu-ray, here are my considered nominations for the best set pieces, one per film, of the whole blessed saga.

You may not (indeed most likely will not) agree with me, which is what the comments section below is for. Let me know what gets your vote, tell me if you think I’m missing an obvious highlight.

In the interests of kicking it a little old-skool, only those set pieces comprised in the original theatrical versions are eligible, so Han’s meeting with Jabba in the Special Edition of Episode IV is out (as if it were ever going to be in), as are any of the seemingly absurd tweaks rolled out for the Blu-ray editions. Okay, enough preamble, let’s do this, in numerical order.

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace – The Duel of the Fates

This is one of the easier choices, though the pod race runs it close. That set piece owes a real debt to Ben Hur and since the whole thing was essentially manufactured in a computer, I’m going to go with something that feels a little more real, albeit it obviously CG-augmented. There are a few really good lightsaber fights in the saga, but this is the daddy, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan at the absolute pinnacle of their powers (before Obi-Wan lost his recklessness and Qui-Gon lost his, well, livingness) and Maul wielding a never-before seen double-ended lightsaber. The surprise of that particular weapon was of course shamefully spoiled by the trailer, but it was still a great moment.

Ewan MacGregor’s penchant for destroying his aluminium prop lightsabers by smashing them too hard and forcing scenes to have to be re-filmed by making sound effects with his mouth while fighting have been well documented, but the sequence is simply brilliant, with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan working together and complementing each other seamlessly and Ray Park’s considerable martial arts ability adroitly deployed.  Although other lightsaber duels would have more narrative or emotional significance, none would match this for fight choreography or jaw-dropping vigour, with John Williams’ soaring choral and orchestral score bringing added resonance. Enjoy. Go on, treat yourself, you know you want to.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones – Little Green Bundle of Fury

That summer, my beloved wife got me tickets for a midnight screening of  Episode II, the first night of its release. As tired as we and everyone else around us were, there was plenty of anticipation. Episode I was by now widely acknowledged as a misfire, but word was this was a considerable improvement. It could hardly have been otherwise. In fact Episode II proved to be, much like the rest of the prequels, a film with some good sequences, frustratingly shackled to narrative imperatives that left in unable to stray into surprising or inventive territory. My selection for Episode II is perhaps the most shamelessly fan-pleasing moment of any of the films. As the film wore on into the small hours of the morning, Yoda shuffles into a cave, with both Obi-Wan and Anakin having been bested and rendered unconscious by Darth Tyranus himself, Count Dooku. Yoda and the Count exchange little blue lightning bolt things, before Dooku announces what we all wanted to hear, that lightsabers would settle this one.

Yoda uses the force to take his lightsaber in his hand, before transforming into a 900 year-old green version of the Tazmanian Devil, leaping, twisting, spinning, fighting, parrying. The entire cinema auditorium cheered. Although on reflection I feel a little sorry for Christopher Lee, already at that point well short of the athleticism needed to do the fight scene justice and reduced to swinging a metal pole at a tennis ball on a stick, the end result is so much fun, so satisfying, that I can think of no sequence in the film more deserving of its place on this most exclusive of lists. Though if it could have been Miss Piggy vs The Count from Sesame Street, that would have been something truly special.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Rise Lord Vader

So much of Episode III was a frustrating effort to fit a square peg into a round hole, to retro-fit the backstory so that it matched seamlessly with what must happen in Episode IV. Clumsy steps like getting Jimmy Smits to order the wiping of the droids’ memories, or Palpatine’s face symmetrically deforming and wrinkling when trying to zap Mace Windu sit alongside slightly more considered attempts to meld the loose edges. One element that worked pretty well was the destruction of Anakin’s body by Obi-Wan and therefore the necessity of the donning of the suit of suits for Vader. Although with one word (“Noooooooooo”) the entire character, perhaps the whole saga was undone, before that the fitting of the mask, the first rasped breaths, the click as mask, helmet and suit meet up was effectively and affectingly staged.

Obviously the entirety of the arc of the prequels was telling the story of how the boy Anakin became the peerless villain that is Lord Vader and suddenly here he was, that none-more-iconic metallic wheeze, that suit, James Earl Jones’ baritone delivery. As unsatisfying as the backstory with Amidala undoubtedly was, there was still an undeniably strong spine-tingle moment when we finally see Vader as we had always known him to be.

Episode IV: A New Hope – The Trench Run

An awful lot of the content of Star Wars has become iconic. The duel between Vader and Obi-Wan, the visit to the Mos Eisley Cantina, the rescue of Leia and the predicament of the rubbish compactor, Luke & Leia’s swing to freedom, that Stormtrooper who bangs his dead, Greedo definitely not shooting first. The list goes on. The trench run at the end though, as the Rebel Alliance seeks to exploit the weakness of the exhaust port on the newly constructed Death Star, trumps them all.

The initial dog fight between X-Wings and TIE-fighters, before our motley band of heroes hit the deck and try to get to the target before they get blown to smithereens, Han Solo returning to redeem himself, Vader getting in on the piloting action, Obi-Wan’s ghostly voice exhorting Luke to Use The Force, the “now you think about it I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on it before” worryingly Freudian subject of the none-more-phallic small X-Wings shooting into a small opening which in turn leads to the centre of the much larger, spherical object of everyone’s attention. Crikey.

Admittedly now that it is refracted through the prism of the current state of the art in effects, the model work for the surface of the Death Star shows a little wear and tear, but the thrill, the engagement, the emotional pay-off are undiminished. The trench run has become perhaps the most instantly recognisable set piece of the whole saga, second only to the lightsaber in iconic status. The opening credits of Naked Gun 33 1/3 threw the famous flashing lights into the canyon and we all recognised it immediately (try the below clip at 1:56). Watch the scene now, for the zillionth time and you will still find yourself on the edge of your seat. Is Luke going to make it? Will Vader get to him first? Will he hit the target without using his onboard computer? Of course he will, but you’ll still feel tense. And that is what makes the scene great.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back – AT-ATs att-attack Hoth

I’ve already cast my vote (as have most other right-thinking people) for Empire as the finest film of the saga. So what is the best of the best? A compelling case could be made for any of the duel between Vader and Luke at the end, Luke’s dream-like walk through the darkness on Dagobah, Lando’s treachery and Han’s trip to the cooler, but the appearance of the AT-ATs does, I would maintain, top them all.

With ILM providing yet more ground-breaking effects and model work, iconic designing and genuine excitement as rebel craft swoop in and out of the marching legs of the advancing AT-ATs, it begins the film at such a highpoint that it takes something as sensational as Vader’s shock declaration to Luke during the finale to return the film to that seemingly untouchable opening level.

To quote Forrest Gump, that’s about all I have to say about that. So I’ll leave you to enjoy it, before pressing on with Jedi.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – The Pit of Sarlacc

Jedi is a film absolutely packed full of incident. It is only because of the stratospheric quality of Episodes IV and V that it doesn’t get more kudos. Consider Jabba’s palace and the Rancor, the Sarlacc pit, speeder bike chases on Endor, the dogfight in and around the new Death Star, Luke/Vader/Palpatine – there is an awful lot going on and it is all coherently staged and edited, with underlying narrative cohesion to keep us engaged. If only that could be said for all large-scale sci-fi threequels (*cough* Dark of the Moon *cough*).

Choosing the best out of so impressive a bunch can feel a little unkind to what is left out, such is the embarassment of riches available for consideration. But choose I must, thems are the rules. And Sarlacc it must be.

Before Lucas got his hands on the film and decided to stick a Little Shop of Horrors mouth into it, the pit was truly terrifying, at least it was for me, seeing a Star Wars film for the first time at the Enfield ABC with my Dad and big brother. Teeth running down the sides out of sight, sentient tentacles reaching out for prey and the prospect of a millenium-long digestion. Added to that you have a bikini-clad princess throttling a morbidly obese slug/gangster, Boba Fett meeting his demise, Luke behaving like a properly cool Jedi ninja, Lando nearly buying the farm and lashings of explosions and lightsaber deaths.

It is thrilling stuff, operating as a brilliant set-piece, yet feeling like an organic part of the whole, as all the best set pieces should. There is a reason why they find themselves there and a logic to how the scene develops and concludes, showing up so many blockbuster set pieces these days which only serve to enable the director to say, “ooh, look what I can do”. It’s great. Really great.

Well, those are my choices. Other scenes are available. What do you think?

I guess like many people of my age Mark Hamill has been an almost mythical figure to me in that he played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, the film that virtually every boy I knew of my age wanted to see.

It was the film that saw my 12 year-old self in a queue outside London’s Dominion Theatre two days after opening and then again outside the Odeon Leicester Square in the freezing cold a few days later. I even once sat through three consecutive showings at Ilford Odeon back in the day when nobody came in to clean the cinema or eject loafers like me in between times. Those were heady, dreamy days when movies were just movies with no thought of them being huge commercial juggernauts and back then the significant impact of Star Wars on me was that it acted as a catalyst for adventure and excitement in my pre-teen imagination, rather than filling my bedroom with merchandise. I’ve long since lost count of the number of times I’ve watched it and even now I still get the same thrill, not necessarily from the film itself but by remembering how much that 12-year-old me enjoyed the pleasure and escapism it brought. I never for a moment dreamed that I’d some day meet Mark Hamill. Not for a moment.

Fast forward over three decades and during an otherwise mundane day in the office the phone rang and Dave, co-founder of HeyUGuys and former workmate, asked me if I want to go on a set visit to Dunsfold in Surrey to see the filming of new British movie Airborne, to take some photos and be the camera-wrangler for interviews. I was as happy as anything to go to Dunsfold as it’s the home of the Top Gear track, a significant location in my world, and I got to wander round the aircraft that they have parked on the tarmac and run the camera while Dave interviewed some fabulous British talent. Even better was the fact that Julian Glover, of Indiana Jones fame, was on set and I got the chance to see him doing his thing. It was utter bliss, if a cold and frosty nighttime bliss.

Julian Glover on the set of Airborne

During the evening a couple of mentions were made that they were hoping to secure some “big American talent” for a future part of the shoot but they were being very secretive about it. Dave and I speculated briefly about who it might be but nobody was giving clues away so our speculation remained just that. It didn’t entirely leave our minds though and later in the evening director Dominic Burns relented under Dave’s questions and, on promises of non-disclosure and pain of death, he said that they were trying to get Mark Hamill. Mark Hamill? On a movie that I’d visited the set of? Praise be! As we drove home from the set I was basking in the warm glow of the fact that my tenuous connection to the Skywalker had never been closer. It wouldn’t have been a vast exaggeration at that point to have said that I could die a happy man and when Dave asked me:

“If they ask us to go on the set with Mark Hamill are you interested?”
Of course my reaction was “Yes” but in my heart I was silently thinking
“And monkeys might fly out of my butt”.

You see, meeting my movie heroes isn’t the kind of thing that happens to me. It just doesn’t, and at that point I had over forty years of evidence to back up that theory. Sure I’d photographed movie stars on the BAFTA Red Carpet not long before for HeyUGuys but that’s not the same as really meeting them is it? In fact I was sure that I remembered a saying that specifically warns people not to meet their heroes as it will inevitably end in disappointment, so I put the possibility of a return trip to the Airborne set to the back of my mind and got on with life. Que sera sera and all that.

You know it wasn’t destined to end there though don’t you.

A couple of weeks later I got a phone call from Dave:
“It’s on. Are you in?”
“Absolutely yes” was my answer and the fact it was going to be in or near London was a bonus. I didn’t really think it was going to happen though. These things don’t happen to me.

After the speculation of which London airport the filming was going to be at the news came through late in the day that it was going to be in Leicester. Really?!?! Leicester!?!? Although my wife’s family originally came from near there I’d never even been to Leicester and couldn’t really think of a reason too except, apparently, to meet Mark Hamill. In my cossetted southern-softy mind Leicester was little more than a signpost on the M1 or a dark mark on the vast expanse of Google Earth and Luke Skywalker could have been talking about it when he said:
“If there’s a bright center to the universe, you’re on the planet [city?] that it’s farthest from”.

I groaned inwardly. Wasn’t my life complete enough with being happily married, having three children and knowing that I’d been on the set of a movie that Mark Hamill would, someday, act in without getting in a car and trolling round the M25 then up the M1 in the possibly vain hope of getting thirty seconds with someone who I’d once idolised instead of spending a precious Saturday with my family?

So was I going to drag my sorry ass up to Leicester to see Mark Hamill? Damn right I was. The 12 year-old me whooped in delight while adult-me tried to be realistic about the prospect. One thing was certain. Whether I got to meet Mark or not I was going to be going to Leicester.

After a fitful sleep on the Friday night Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. Actually I have no recollection at all of whether the weather was bright and clear but in my mind it was, in fact in couldn’t be anything else could it, and by the time Dave arrived at 9 o’clock I had checked and rechecked my gear, batteries, lenses, you name it. All checked several times over. Now it should be said at this point that Dave is one of the most chipper and optimistic people that I know but on this bright and clear morning even his cheery grin seemed wider than usual.

“We’re going to meet Luke Skywalker” he said, beaming.
“I know” I grinned back and we both laughed the laugh of crazy men.

The M25 was unusually kind to us and we sped around to the M1 where progress was frustratingly slower under the watchful yellow gaze of the average speed restriction cameras. Dave and I chatted incessantly about life, the universe and what it was going to be like to meet “Luke Skywalker” but eventually the need for breakfast overcame us and we pulled into a service station that Dave identified as potentially offering breakfast of the golden arches variety. Even though we were just minutes too late and they’d switched to their daytime menu Dave managed to procure some stomach filler from the breakfast menu from an understanding staff member to keep us going through whatever events were going to come our way. Looking around the bustling people crowding in and out of the services I felt that we were like unnoticed aliens in their midst.

“Just think. None of these people know we’re going to see Luke Skywalker” We couldn’t tell them either but a small part of me wanted to scream;
“Don’t you know what we’re here for? Don’t you know what we’re going to do?”

I didn’t. We ate. We left.

The set for this particular part of “Airborne” was at the National Space Centre, an impressive title for a modest facility tucked away in a suburban area of Leicester and next door to a steam museum exhibiting an extensive array of Victorian hi-tech. If saying the words “National Space Centre” brings to mind the massive and lush expanse of Cape Kennedy in Florida with its impressive platforms cradling immense spaceships then it’s not that. It certainly looks spacey enough for suburban Leicester though and it seemed quite busy on what had turned out to be a drizzly day in the midlands but I wasn’t there to compliment them on their fine facility. I was there to meet Mark Hamill.

When we arrived Mark was firmly ensconced in his trailer while the rest of the cast were preparing to film their scenes and the air was overpoweringly thick with paint fumes as the crew hurriedly spray-painted black the desert camo gear they’d been able to find at the last minute for the extras playing the role of the Black Ops special forces. As a result the atmosphere was heady for more than one reason and that regularly forced us out into the fresh air to recover but happily provided opportunities to chat with the various cast members when they popped out for a cigarette or to catch their breath. As a result I got to have a long chat with Sebastian Street (Jack Falls) and the fabulous Billy Murray, best known for his appearances on The Bill, plus various other cast and crew. I didn’t know Billy personally but when I had lived in Wimbledon some years previously The Bill had regularly filmed in my road, which made watching the TV series a slightly surreal experience.

Mark Hamill on the set of Airborne

We’d been there a while when it was time for Mark to arrive on set. The radio crackled with “The talent is on the move” and moments later Mark appeared, flanked by a suitably large and intimidating minder, and bustled through to the set in the main room. The pace seemed to pick up after that and there was a buzz in the air that had nothing to do with fumes of any kind. Stood out in the hallway there was little to do except to gauge their progress based on the number of times they had to reshoot a particular scene and chat with the extras who were trooping in and out of the control room.

After lunch Dave worked out that he could stand in one corner of the set and nobody seemed to mind so he grabbed me and we spent a happy couple of hours watching the cast, and particularly Mark at work. What impressed about Mark me was that he would do take after take with different intensities and deliver the same lines with emotions ranging from anger to menace in the search for the perfect delivery and I couldn’t help think about how he must have delivered his lines as Luke Skywalker in a dusty Tunisian location or some other Star Wars set all those years ago.

There was one problem though. The day was going slowly.

“Hurry up and wait”, was the description that “Close Encounters” actor Bob Balaban gave his experience of being on set and that seemed entirely appropriate for the pace of the day. The elephant in the room was that there was a cut-off limit of 5pm at the Space Centre, but lunch had been and gone and there wasn’t a huge amount of progress being made. I grabbed a copy of a script left on a nearby chair and judging from the scene they were currently on it was going to be a big ask to get it done by 5pm. Our chances of grabbing Mark in between scenes was now virtually none and our hopes of being home early were similarly dissipating, Dave being due to go out with his wife for the evening. “Do we leave now and give up on our hope or stick it out in the hope of getting hold of Mark later?” was the dilemma we were wrestling with. I stepped outside to think for a minute and my eyes were drawn to the happy families who were wandering into and out of the Space Centre blissfully unaware of who it was who was in the little building off to the side and that it was his likeness, in its Lego incarnation, that was being sold in the gift shop only yards away. “How could they know?” adult me reproved 12 year-old me “They’re not mind-readers!” I still wanted to shake them though.

It got even more uncomfortable as the clock rolled on towards 5pm and the security guard from the Space Centre had noticed the lack of packing and clearing up and was starting to probe as to what time the set was going to be torn down and reminding everyone within earshot what the time limit was. Everyone on set was diligently getting on with their job of racing through the remaining scenes while some token props and cables were packed into the waiting vans while the clock ticked ever onwards and the security guard got ever more twitchy.

A quirk of my upbringing means that I’m unable to walk away from uncomfortable situations without in some way trying to resolve them so I found myself engaging the security guard in conversation in the hope of temporarily distracting him from his task of evicting the crew while they got on with finishing their scenes. While we were chatting another van pulled up and began to unload a red carpet and lighting, not for the set but for the entrance to the now closed Space Centre.

“It’s for someone’s 50th birthday party” volunteered the security guard.
“That’s why they need you to be out”.

Over the weeks this escapade had been progressing the hand of fate, destiny or outrageous coincidence had been present all the way and now was to be no exception

“It’s a sci-fi themed party” said the guard

I choked.

“I wonder if they have any idea who’s in there?” I said, gesturing at the outbuilding.
“Not a clue” he replied expressionlessly.

Comic Book - The Movie

At the last minute the crew eventually managed to do a deal with the Space Centre which gave them enough time to finish filming and get their equipment packed away before the party was due to start. The last scene was wrapped and as Mark came out of the set I stuck out a hand and introduced myself.

“I’m Colin from HeyUGuys and I was wondering in ‘Comic Book the Movie’ how you managed to get Donna D’Errico (Baywatch) to say ‘work on my beaver’?”
“Oh she’s such a good sport” he replied, and we were off and talking about his 2004 movie based around comic book characters and ComicCon. We chatted about the film for the hundred yards back to his trailer and he disappeared inside with a brief wave to get changed. In that hundred yards I’d learned a lot about Hugh Hefner’s connection to Mark through his wife, Hugh’s talents as a comic artist and the fact that Mark could talk, I mean really talk. Even from those brief moments he’d come across with the air of someone who loved telling stories and having an audience to tell them to and boy was I ready to listen. Dave caught up with me a minute or two later and we settled in to wait for our interview slot as the sun went down on our cold patch of tarmac in Leicester.

Dave with Darth Vader outside Mark Hamill's trailer

We now found ourselves outside Mark’s trailer on a cold and dark evening with another online journo, someone from the film company doing interviews for the bonus features section of the DVD and a selection of the cast who were hanging around outside Mark’s trailer hoping to get a word. Happily I’d thought to deck myself out in all the thermal clothing that I owned otherwise this could have been potentially miserable and cold but still it was a bleak scene. Soon the guests started to arrive for the party in their sci-fi themed costumes and walked past the trailer where we were huddled on their way from the car park to the main building. There were lots of generic sparkly sci-fi outfits together with more identifiable Star Trek uniforms and inevitably the odd Jedi with lightsabre, the occasional Darth Vader and a handful of Stormtroopers. One lady spotted Billy Murray in our throng and came over to have her photo taken with him while cooing her undying affection to him and the attendant crowd.

“Good job they don’t know who’s actually in the trailer” Dave and I agreed.
The trail of sci-fi characters became so huge that we took to having our photos taken with the best of them whilst wondering at the surreality of the whole scene. “Sci-fi movie legend in a trailer doing interviews while sci-fi themed fancy dressers troop past oblivious to his presence” would have been an appropriate, if overlong, tabloid headline.

It wasn’t all looking good though. The deal that had been done to buy the film some extra time was that Mark had incredibly generously agreed to attend the party as a guest of honour but that meant that the clock was ticking on when he was due to attend.

“I don’t think we’re going to get in” said Dave as the time ticked away,
“It’ll be alright” I said, with more confidence than I felt.

We’d had a great day, I’d met some fabulous people and I’d got to see Mark at work plus meet him briefly so I was prepared to go home happy with the day I’d had and being at peace with the fact that some things just ‘are’.

“Can you come in and take some photos of Billy with Mark?” asked the PR as the door of the trailer suddenly swung open.
“Erm. Yes. Of course” I replied.

I grabbed my gear and in moments I was into the trailer with Billy Murray, Mark Hamill and a couple of others involved in financing the film. Instantly my camera lens steamed up. Mortified I realised that in going from the cold outside air to the inside of a humid trailer the predictable had happened so the camera wasn’t going to unsteam itself instantly as it just needed to acclimatise. Thinking quickly I grabbed my ‘point and shoot’ from my hip pocket, with its mercifully steam-free lens, and fired off a few shots, by which time my main camera had cleared up. I felt massive relief mingled with huge embarrassment but they seemed fine with it so I took a few more pictures while they posed and chatted at the same time.

Soon they filed out and an excited Dave was ushered in. I set up the video camera as best I could and Airborne director Dominic introduced Mark to Dave and HeyUGuys and instantly we were off. We were supposed to have five minutes but it turned into twenty as Mark chatted with us about everything from movies to comics to his son’s business and through the whole thing I snapped away, happy as the proverbial pig in muck to be in a room with the man who played Luke Skywalker. When the interview was done Mark kept talking and Dave posed for a couple of pics with him and then I handed the camera to Dave and jumped in to get a photo with as indisputable proof of the moment, a photo I still have on my desk at work. With photos taken we said our goodbyes and made our way out of the trailer and back into the freezing night.

We hadn’t talked about Star Wars for a moment. We didn’t need to. Just being there in that trailer with Mark Hamill was what we’d wanted and it was what we’d got. Once again we laughed the laugh of crazy men.

Feeling lighter than air Dave and I packed my gear in his car and we headed off through the suburban streets of Leicester back to the M1. Shortly after pulling onto the motorway we came across a service station and, being desperately in need of food, we pulled in and found somewhere that would dispense burgers to us for a reasonable fee. It was quite empty at that time on a Saturday evening so we picked a table and sat down, still giddy from the evening’s experience.

“You know what” I said to Dave, with the aura of a drunk attempting to dispense wisdom to a passing lamppost,
“Marriages can end and your body will eventually give up on you but you can’t ‘un-meet’ Luke Skywalker!”

I finally get to meet Mark Hamill!

We laughed again and as we continued our journey home I loaded up the photos I’d taken onto my laptop and scrolled through them as Dave craned his neck to see the best of them. We talked and talked as the miles went by and at some point a thought struck me that I felt compelled to express, albeit inappropriately.

“You know” I said, not for the first time that evening,
“The only thing that could take this memory from me is Alzheimers” and laughed again.
So should you meet your heroes? I can’t possibly say but if it’s Mark Hamill you’re talking about then the answers definitely “Yes”.
——-
See the exclusive HeyUGuys interview with Mark Hamill from the set of Airborne here

As Jon mentioned earlier, today was a rather exciting one in the life of HeyUGuys. Never in a million years did I ever think that I’d get to interview any celebrity let alone one that is of this stature! This morning, Colin (who took all these great photos) and I headed off to The National Space Centre in Leicester, England to interview the legendary Mark Hamill who you’ll all know from from his film, Comic Book the Movie and also some franchise you might have heard of called Star Wars where he played a certain Luke Skywalker!

We’ve been given the honour to debut the news that Mark Hamill is returning back to feature films after a five year gap starring as ‘Malcolm’ in the new British movie, Airborne directed by Dominic Burns. In the movie, he stars alongside Julian Glover, Alan Ford, Andrew Shim, Simon Phillips (interview here), Gemma Atkinson (interview here) and Sebastian Street. We got to visit the set of the movie when they were shooting in Surrey a few weeks ago and you can see our set report here.

Airborne tells the story of a group of passengers who board a plane in London bound for New York. The plane is also carrying some dangerous cargo in the hold, unknown to the passengers. Throughout the flight, various strange and unexplained occurrences being to happen on-board which begin to send the passengers mad. Not knowing who to blame, they start to blame each other with fatal consequences.

I was fortunate enough to spend all day on the set with the wonderful crew and cast which also now includes Billy Murray who came on late to the project and by his own admission couldn’t resit the temptation to work with former Luke Skywalker himself! We also spoke with Murray and I’ll post that interview at a later date.

I got to speak with Airborne’s director Dominic Burns who spoke to me about the movie:

When you work with people you’ve looked up to your whole life it’s a very nerve-racking experience because they might destroy your hopes and dreams of what they may be like. Mark is the complete opposite of that, he is everything you want him to be, and more. He’s one of the nicest guys, an incredible actor, he’s passionate about what he’s doing. He’s everything you hope he would be. For me, it’s a genuine dream come true to work with him, I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed working with him.

I also spoke to one of the Producers of Airborne, Patricia Rybarczyk who said:

Having Mark on board with the project is fantastic. He was on our wish list for quite some time and actually getting him on the movie has been a dream come true.

While I was waiting to interview Mark, something rather surreal happened which has to be posted here. As I mentioned before, filming took place at the National Space Centre in Leicester and that facility hires out their rooms for private parties. As we were waiting for Mark, a fancy dress party was about to kick off and we all watching in amazement as Darth Vader, multiple Princess Leia’s, a Wookie, Darth Maul and numerous Storm Troopers all began to walk past. I managed to get a photo with Darth Vader as you can see. Little did they know that the real Luke Skywalker was in the trailer that they were all walking past! Completely surreal! It really struck a cord and Colin and I discussed in detail, what would the world be like if Star Wars has never existed?! Fortunately, we’ll never know.

Anyway, enough of that, check out my interview with Mark Hamill below!

During the interview we discuss how he came to work on Airborne and where out updates from his own project, Black Pearl which we’ve not heard anything on in a while. The movie sounds like it could end up embroiled in some sort of a trilogy but it’s all a little up in the air at the moment and quite surprisingly that delay seems to have come because of the UK Government’s decision to scrap the UK Film Council (which provided funding most recently for the Oscar Winning Best Picture, The King’s Speech). The second film is written by Paul Tamasy (who is co-writing Black Peal with Mark) and would star Hamill as the villain in the movie. He also tells us about how he was worried when Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass came out that it might clash with their idea but after seeing the movie (and loving it) he wasn’t so worried!

Airborne is due for release November 2011 and we’ll be bringing you more from the production until it’s release.

Apologies about the quality of the video, we shot it in Mark’s trailer and the lighting wasn’t great and I’ve upped the brightness but hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it! I’ve left into the opening banter as it was such fun and just shows how much Mark loves his movies and has numerous stories to tell.

On the 13th November 2009, almost 32 years after the legendary Star Wars film was first released in the UK on 27th December 1977, A good friend (who shall remain anonymous) came to my house to watch the Original Holy Trilogy: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi for the first ever time.

He is the same age as me (31) and I’m sure he watched the same TV channels as me at Christmas in the 80′s and 90′s when Star Wars was played religiously each year and families crowded round the TV to watch them as they became a part of tradition.

He must have heard about Star Wars in the 80′s but for some reason he never sat down and watched them or even played with the Star Wars toys, which were probably found in almost every home back then.

I know some of his friends and they all have seen Star Wars and so he wasn’t influenced by peer pressure to see them, so what happened?

I personally can’t imagine my life without Star Wars, the good and the bad, and it’s Star Wars that brought me close to my friends when i was a kid. I’m still very close with these friends even today and we still talk about watching the films, the toys or of the times we had role playing Star Wars, I had a black dog when I was a kid who took on the role of Darth Vader that chased me (Han) and my friend Paul (Luke) around the house and garden and those are some of my favorite childhood memories.

How someone has gone their entire life without witnessing these films is quite a shocking thing to hear, he has however seen the travesty that was Episode 1 and i can understand why he didn’t see any Star Wars films from that point, but what happened previously.
He did say when he saw Episode 1 that he was going to watch them in sequence but I’m glad this has been brought to an end!

I thought i would look into what he did know about Star Wars so I asked him what he knows about it, he said just five things (even though he has seen episode 1 which can’t have registered that much)

Darth Vader
Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia
Millennium Falcon
X-Wing

Quite a predictable selection i suppose as peers or popular culture have referenced Star Wars in one way or another over the years and it’s actually impossible to avoid, Like in Friends, Family Guy, The Simpsons, used by comics, sampled in music, mocked in adverts, shown in magazines, heard from work colleagues, friends, friends of friends, family, it’s endless and a phenomenon that has never been matched and i presume everyone has heard of Star Wars in one way or another.

I told a few friends what i was doing with this friend and the similar response was WHAT, HE’S NEVER SEEN STAR WARS!!! and generally that will be the response of a majority of film fans, but my friend isn’t a film fan, he chooses other things in life which is fair enough and i fully respect that, but still, never seen Star Wars, it’s quite a statement.

But the revelations grew, he also shockingly revealed that he has also never seen any Indiana Jones films, None of them! these along with the Star Wars films are surely classic films that I, and almost everyone I’ve ever met in my life have seen, not necessary out of choice but because they are movies you see as a child, as a teenager, as an adult or as a parent.

I asked him why he hadn’t seen the classic Star Wars films in his life and he told me that he never felt the need to, his parents never encouraged him to watch them or offered to buy the toys, so admirably they refused to bow to the imaginable immense pressure to buy these toys for their children in the late 70′s to mid 80′s, he did however own transformers and He-Man toys so he wasn’t a kid who was without the joy of toys, maybe it’s just one of those things that passed him by.

So after over 6 hours of Light sabers, the force, Ewoks, rebel scum, blasters, Death Stars, Storm troopers, Tie Fighters, AT-AT Walkers, shooting first, John Williams genius and all other roll of the tongue Star Wars magic, we finished watching the classic trilogy, during it he showed no signs of real emotion or enjoyment but had quite a philosophical look in his face and the words he used to describe them all were, “brilliant”. He explained it was better than he thought it was going to be and it was fantastically made, especially for it’s time but he said he would never likely watch them again which is understandable, it’s not going to have an influence at his age as it did when seeing it as a kid, but he is glad he did it which is a great thing to hear and my purpose of this experience.

He said he hated Han Solo…..these words brought a gasp to the others in attendance, he said he was a horrible person, selfish and i suppose he is right, this is Han Solo’s character, but as kids we grew up with Han Solo being the coolest character, iconic and someone most boys wanted to be when we re-created Star Wars in the playground or with our Kenner replica’s and we didn’t see that side to him so to us “The Star Wars Generation” we looked through those flaws and just loved him, he flew the coolest ship every created, had the best lines in the film and was our hero and of our mothers really loved him.

He of course loved the sound and the music and of course who wouldn’t, it’s the perfect accompaniment to the film and without it would never have been as successful.

He really appreciated that Luke had to learn and train to become a Jedi and said films today tend to just let the main character have/find the powers and save the day without having to prove they are ready, he really appreciated the progression in Luke’s and all the other characters stories throughout the three films and really felt they all had a real depth which is a great point, It’s what separates Star Wars from other films, the characters are so perfectly brought to life and their story is the quintessential version of the tale of good vs Evil.

He also talked about his theory of the political side to Star Wars and interestingly kind of compared the characters to countries, Luke Skywalker is America and what America wants to be, the good guy of the universe and all that’s good and Darth Vader is the bad of the world. I don’t personally believe in this, but as a grown up seeing it for the first time i suppose you want to see beyond the meaning of the film and try to make political references or find the true meaning of what the story is trying to say. But for me it’s a simple story that that was inspired by George Lucas love of the genre and brought to the big screen in a truly devoted way that’s not been bettered since.

Another thing he pointed out was that Princess Leia was the only woman who made an appearance in the films and he is quite right, there were the odd roles like Mon Mothma and a few extras but Leia was the only woman to have a major role, in his opinion she’s not that attractive but due to her being the sole woman in a notable role in Star Wars he bet that she would have been top of most men/boys wish list, fair point but he did say that the slave outfit was one of the most sexiest things he had ever seen, SO SAY WE ALL!

So to round up it was a really interesting experience for all, I was fascinated that someone had never seen Star Wars and i wanted to know what their reaction to seeing it for the first time would be. Obviously there is no answer as to why, it’s a choice in life and one that seems so alien that it shocked me, so i felt the need to show them to him as it seemed the thing to do as it’s one of those things in life i feel you should be able to say you’ve done in life

Even today you make new friendships in life and it’s likely that the conversation will eventually lead to Star Wars, and now of course we were so spoiled with the three amazing original films that they were tainted a bit with the abomination of the new trilogy and so it gave another angle to discuss Star Wars but in the end it will always be known as one of the most popular and phenomenal success in film of all time, how many of you clicked on this post because it had the Star Wars Logo? it’s a magical, life shaping film.

And now some of the best of Star Wars comedy, It’s an endless source of enjoyment.

Clerks do the Death Star

Eddie Izzard does the Death Star Canteen

Kevin Spacey does Star Wars – Genius!

Dead Ringers – Obi Wan buys a car