|
| Foocha! is a non-profit Web site. We do it for kicks, not for cash. If you're interested in writing for the site, click here |
|
 |
| Star Wars Interview - Part 2/2,
Jonathan Bresman, Lucasfilm |
|
 |
|
|
| |
| |
|
The coolest thing I ever got to do at Lucasfilm was being a stormtrooper in the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back. One day there was an e-mail sent out to all employees, asking if there was anyone around who had experience with stormtrooper armour and if they'd be willing to be in a shot in Empire. I immediately lied and said that of course I had experience as a stormtrooper and would love to be in Empire. Apparently, no one did the math, and thus it didn't occur to anyone that I was three years old when Star Wars came out and had absolutely no experience whatsoever with stormtrooper armour. So, when I got to the set at ILM and found myself in front of a large trunk filled with a zillion pieces of armour with ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to put it on, there was a bit of a problem.
At first I tried to make light of it - the first thing you put on is this full-body black body stocking. So, I put it on and jokingly pranced balletically about, claiming to be the "Swan Princess." I didn't realise just how close fitting the body stocking was and was quickly informed that if I would just glance down a bit, I would see that it was quite obvious that I was not a princess. After blushing a phenomenal shade of red, I resumed my attempt to puzzle together the armour. I soon found out that when wearing the rigid torso piece, it is rather difficult to bend over and snap closed the codpiece (which one does by reaching between one's legs). Not wanting to ask any of the other male stormtroopers to close my codpiece, I tried my luck with a few female crew members. This was not well-received. I soon ended up writhing on the floor, trying to stretch a hand down to my crotch. This did not look good. MUCH later, when I finally managed to put on the costume, I stood up and found that I was WAY too thin to wear the armour - everything pretty much slipped off and clattered to the ground. So, to keep the armour on, I had to flex every meagre muscle I had, awkwardly swing my hips to keep the leg pieces from falling, and had to generally carry myself like a zombie. To make matters worse, it turned out that I was stormtrooper #1 - the first stormtrooper on camera to follow behind Darth Vader as he leaves Cloud City for his shuttle.
So, as I strode across the stage, an uncomfortable silence fell across the set. Now, in theory, I was covered from head to toe. No one should recognise me. However, the silence was soon broken by a cry of: "Is that Jon Bresman in there? Who the hell let Bresman down here and why is he walking around like he's an undead girl?" Needless to say, the shot in the film turned out to be a long shot, I'm onscreen for only the briefest of moments and I was NOT offered the chance to be an extra in The Phantom Menace. Although, I WAS in the videomatics/animatics. Basically, a videomatic/animatic is a moving storyboard - a sort of "home movie" version of the film that we shot before production began so that everyone from the actors to the effects artists could get a sense for the film. One day, Koichi Kurisu and I were asked to play "the strapping Qui-Gon Jinn and the awkward, lanky and clumsy Jar Jar Binks." It soon became quite clear which character I was to play and I was asked to try to find an orange unitard. I was supposed to wear this unitard along with a Jar Jar mask the art department had created so as to look as "real" as possible. After failing to find said orange unitard in any dance shop, it was suggested that I check out some of the shops in the "gayer" neighbourhoods. Although I did manage to find many an item of skintight clothing, none of them were orange, and many of them were missing crotches or behinds. All I had for my efforts was several unwanted advances from various clerks, all of whom used variations of the same pick-up line, complimenting me on my (supposed) resemblance to John Lennon (it's all in the glasses).
Ultimately, I had to go with an orange sweat suit, which served me well as I ran blindly about, unable to see anything due to the mask, and all were thankful that I did not go with any crotchless items of clothing.
The weirdest thing I ever did for Lucasfilm was being the MC (or compere or whatever you guys call it) for the Leavesden wrap party. I had NO IDEA what I was getting into when I agreed to host the thing, and pretty much agreed to it when the production office asked me to ONLY because I had a total crush on basically every last girl working in the production office. As nervous as I was about doing it, things got really weird when I started hearing about the party on Virgin and Capital radio (you know, the DJ going on about how "the hot ticket this weekend is the Star Wars wrap party... loads of people are expected to attend....") Pretty soon, the production office gives me this sequinned, Las Vegas-style tuxedo to wear and starts telling me about the famous bands that I have to introduce (bands that I, unfortunately, being a stupid American, knew nothing about, like Ash and the James Taylor Quartet (quintet? I still don't know)).... In the nights leading up to the party I'm having total anxiety attacks and get no sleep. Before I know it, it's the night of the party and I'm whisked to the Theed hangar set, where I am to make my entrance through the hangar doors ( à la Darth Maul), only with cheesy fog from a smoke machine. Things are pretty surreal. I'm in a complete, sleep-deprived daze, but make my way to the stage.... Suddenly, all these people in the crowd pull out these masks OF MY OWN FACE, that the production office had made up. I get really disorientated and think I'm having a break-down. To make matters worse, one of the roadies for the band has no idea who I am, thinks I'm some drunk American, and is pulling on my microphone cord so as to get me off-stage. Later, when I'm finally off-stage and amongst the crowd, I find that those Brits who don't know me think that I must be some American celebrity who simply hasn't made it big overseas yet (why else would I be hosting this event?), and start insisting on taking photos with me, and asking for my autograph.... One of them asks if as a "comedian" I've ever been on Letterman, and I start wondering is he's seen me at Letterman's stage door..... it was all kind of nutty
Well, this is where we say cheerio to Jon Bresman, but remember you can check out the astonishing designs and pre-production sketches from The Phantom Menace in Jon’s book; The Art of Star Wars Episode I, available from our chums Amazon.co.uk. A thousand thanks to Jon for his generous contribution to Foocha, Thanks also to screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine for arranging the interview, and to Allan Kausch at Lucasfilm. We will all be keeping a keen eye out for Atomic Soda Pop, and suggest all followers of Foocha do the same!
Top Home |
|
|
|
|
