Star Wars, John Lennon and Warren Beatty

June 1st | Star Wars | Comment now »

What’s the connection?

For some, the story I am about to tell will seem so far fetched, that I can hear the skepticism. “What the hell has he been smoking?”

I have had numerous remarkable experiences in my life, but three in particular resonate as social history in the making.

Somewhere in the archives of a Montreal newspaper lies a photograph of John Lennon and yours truly in profile, seated on the edge of the peace bed next to him.

A beautiful French Canadian girl I liked at high school was given the only copy of the photograph I had, as a token of my affection. I am a hopeless romantic. But hey, the reason I was there in the first place was not about fame or fortune. It was the message.

It was May 27th 1969. I was 17 years old and sitting in a hotel room in Montreal, Canada with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, my high school buddy Bill Duquet and about a dozen press and photographers. How we got there and how it affected my life is an adventure. ‘The force was with me’, and I do mean that inexplicapble connection to what I can only descibe as the ’spiritual ether’ that exists all around us.

Peace. Five letters, one word. Ease to say, elusive to achieve.

I’m all for the idea of a world movement dedicated to achieving Peace on Earth through Love. Hippy yeah. Trippy yeah. But the fact is, John and Yoko’s peace campaign, was a glorious, courageous idea. Peace on Earth. Something mankind must never stop dreaming of and working towards.

Growing up in Montreal as an anglophone, I was aware of the cultural and religious differences that lay at the heart of the political and social landscape. Fights between English and French youth were not uncommon. English and French Canadian history had already created the Provinces’ dilema, the cultural divides that had embroiled England and France in wars for hundreds of years in Europe were still echoing in Quebec.

To be continued…



Why have you waited 30 years to participate in the Star Wars community

May 18th | Star Wars | Comment now »

I was waiting until my hair fell out. Honestly, I have been totally preoccupied with my wife, four children, writing, directing and editing, and when any time was left, composing music which is what I studied in college. I have been fortunate to have a wife and family that understands and copes with my appetite to keep creating. I guess I just can’t seem to shake the child within. This year the 30th anniversary is very special as it feels like things are coming full circle. You work on a project and then it goes out into the world to find a life of its own. For me part of the magic of Star Wars is that; a story steeped in mythology, has become mythology in its own right, touching the lives of so many around the world. The convenience of Celebration IV being in Los Angeles also helps and I’m happy to share some of my personal experiences of working on the film with its fans.



How did you get the part of Fixer and how did you feel when those scenes were edited out of the film? Did you know before the film came out that it was going to happen?

May 18th | Star Wars | 1 Comment »

George Lucas was in London casting when I was called in to meet him by the casting agent Irene Lamb. We met a few times at Twentith Century Fox’s offices in Soho Square and then my agent got the offer.

No, I had no idea the scenes had been cut until I saw the film at a crew and cast screening in London. Sure, I was disappointed, I’m human, I have my in securities. Actors can be insecure at the best of times, especially when its a major studio film. I look at this way, a motion picture goes through three stages. Script, shooting, and editing. Each stage having a separate life of its own. A character can go from important to nothing at any of those stages. Its the small roles that are the hardest, you’re a sound bite hoping to leave an impression. I suppose the irony is, those edited scenes with the success of the film have become of interest to a lot of hardcore Star Wars fans.

The original shooting screenplay was 142 pages. No matter how you look at it, something had to go. Editing film myself, I think George was right. Leaving those scenes in would have slowed up the film and being able to get into the meat of the story. Now that people know the film and whole story so well, it might be interesting some day to include the scenes as a Director’s alternative cut.

I was recently at a special screening of Star War IV(A New Hope) at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts, that was attended by George, Gary Kurtz, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and a lot of the brilliant film and post-production team. After seeing the film, it was interesting to hear George as the true artist say, he still saw things in the film he’d liked to fix. You can keep polishing a film forever. At some point you just have to say. “That’s my baby and its OK for it to have a life of its own, Daddy’s done everything he can.”



How did you get the part of the Stormtrooper victim of the Obi-Wan’s Jedi Mind Trick?

May 18th | Star Wars | Comment now »

I was at the hotel having arrived from London several days early for the filming of the scenes for my character Laze (The Fixer) Loneozner. I wasn’t scheduled to work until later in the week.

The crazy thing was; having lived in England for a number of years, the idea of getting some sun was way too attractive. The sun in Tunsia mixed with the wind means you can burn really fast and I did. So I was taking the opportunity to lick my wounds and stay in doors figuring I wouldn’t be filming for at least two more days. Wrong. The production manager shows up from the set looking for me. George wants to see you on the set. Okay. We drive out to the set and I go over to talk to George. He takes me aside and asks if I can do him a favor and put the uniform on and play the scene they had set up for with Mark and Alec Guinness, as there was a problem or something…

“No one will know, you’ll have this uniform on.”

In my mind I’m going, “Play a scene with Alec Guinness, yeah, are you kidding?”

I go, “Sure no problem.” So he hands me a script, shows me the scene and I look over the lines while they are fitting the uniform, which was made for a smaller guy, and is playing hell with my sun burn. Having trained in theater, the show must go on. When the costume was finally in place, I lumbered over to the land speeder; the Stormtrooper costume has to be one of the coolest to look at, but it was like wearing a suit of medieval armor and 82 degrees. Everything worked out, we got the scene in a few takes and whenever I would run into Alec Guinness years later in England working at the BBC or Ealing Studios, he would always stop and have a chat with me. For me, as an actor and man, he was a true Jedi.