As Andy Warhol famously once said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”—and in the case of anyone who appeared in Star Wars, will also have their likeness crafted into an action figure. Now a new crowdfunded documentary, Elstree 1976, named after the British film studio where most of Star Wars was filmed, shines a spotlight on these forgotten galactic heroes; the film premiered in London last Friday, where Rich Trenholm of CNET Magazine caught up with director Jon Spira.
The film catches up with the actors and actresses who portrayed the weak-minded Sandtrooper who let Obi-Wan and Luke pass without identification, Biggs Darklighter, and the Johnny Bravo of Stormtroopers—he got the part because he fit the suit—who hits his head on the Death Star doorway amongst others. (Sadly, Fake Wedge and Jek Porkins both passed away before the doc went into production.) The documentary features also tales of “the smell of Perspex sets melting in that summer’s heat wave, the Stormtroopers dodging work because the costumes were too hot, or the extra who didn’t recognize George Lucas and dispatched the American director to fetch him a coffee.” (It can be assumed that that extra who sent Lucas on an errand played the space werewolf in the Mos Eisley Cantina, as he was been completely excised from any cut of Star Wars post-1997.)
It is a fascinating thought, signing up to be an extra on some goofy American-produced sci-fi film that most of the cast thought would come and go, only to have even the smallest roles encourage spinoffs and fan fiction. “The truth is that they were on that set, they were at that moment in history, and there’s no denying that Star Wars is culturally significant and important,” says the director. “So any perspective is interesting. Star Wars is such well-covered territory in terms of the making of [and] the mythology of the film, [that] I think for a lot of fans to get into the DNA of it is really interesting.”
Elstree 1976 will be released in Australia next, with U.S. distribution being announced at a later date.