Chewbacca Actor Shares Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Star Wars

[Cognimancer]

Chewbacca Actor Shares Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Star Wars

Star Wars fans just got a scrapbook's worth of new pictures, straight from the set of the original trilogy.

Just when you think you've seen everything about Star Wars, somebody goes and throws more fuel on the fire. In this case, that somebody is Peter Mayhew. You might not recognize his face, but you'd know his roar anywhere - he's the actor behind Chewbacca, and it turns out he snapped a few great photos when he wasn't tearing arms off. He recently tweeted a sizable collection of archived pictures, and any Star Wars fan can appreciate this peek behind the curtain. Even if it shatters a childhood memory or two (The banthas were elephants? Really?).

[gallery=2008]

If a picture's worth a thousand words, then Mayhew's collected a novel. One interesting photo shows a man covered in lights from head to toe, who Mayhew calls "the glow monster." Apparently the Jabba's Palace scene from Return of the Jedi was supposed to feature some kind of luminescent creature, and the alien's body would be superimposed over the glowsuit guy to get the lighting right. It didn't make the final cut - and without knowing what the screen version would have looked like, that's either very disappointing or very wise.

This nostalgia trip comes just a few months after A New Hope's lost blooper reel found its way to the internet [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129095-Long-Lost-Star-Wars-Blooper-Reel-Hits-YouTube]. You'd think that, after 36 years, we'd have collected all the backstage footage there is to collect - but hey, I'm not complaining.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars]

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[ZZoMBiE13]

Ah, princess Leia in a gold bikini. I just never get tired of seeing it.
Seriously, how boring would comic book conventions be without pretty girls walking around in Slave Leia gear?

 

[Endocrom]

Cool to see how they do the opening crawl. In fact, they are all pretty cool.

Nice Hawaiian shirt, Mark.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I really like the picture of the Dagobah set. Imagine how much work went into that. I do miss the days of creating full blown sets and filming on location.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I like how that all the pics with Harrison ford in, except the cockpit shot, look like it could just be Han Solo in his lighter moments.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Laughing Harrison Ford is awesome Harrison Ford. I liked the Dagobah set too.

 

[Icehearted]

Chewbacca's feet sticking out of the bottom of the cockpit like Fred Flintstone was priceless. Great pics.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I've been on a Star Wars bent lately so these all come at a great time. Lovely.

Though it should be noted that Peter Mayhew did not provide the roar of Chewbacca, he was just the actor in the suit. Like David Prowse or Kenny Baker. Well, I say "just" the actor in the suit. Obviously the visual performance is as important - if not more - to bringing the character to life as the sounds.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Actually that glow monster is kind of creepy even without anything superimposed on him. Its like if Slenderman dressed up for a Christmas party

 

[Zipa]

I've been on a Star Wars bent lately so these all come at a great time. Lovely.

Though it should be noted that Peter Mayhew did not provide the roar of Chewbacca, he was just the actor in the suit. Like David Prowse or Kenny Baker. Well, I say "just" the actor in the suit. Obviously the visual performance is as important - if not more - to bringing the character to life as the sounds.

Mayhew is responsible for all the subtle little bits of body language that work so well to convey Chewbacca though, he talked about it in a reddit AMA not so long ago.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ljlju/

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I've been on a Star Wars bent lately so these all come at a great time. Lovely.

Though it should be noted that Peter Mayhew did not provide the roar of Chewbacca, he was just the actor in the suit. Like David Prowse or Kenny Baker. Well, I say "just" the actor in the suit. Obviously the visual performance is as important - if not more - to bringing the character to life as the sounds.

Mayhew is responsible for all the subtle little bits of body language that work so well to convey Chewbacca though, he talked about it in a reddit AMA not so long ago.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ljlju/

THAT'S WHAT I SAAAAIIIDD

 

[kael013]

Always good to see behind-the-scenes stuff, it's always either informative or funny. Though I have to admit the Harrison Ford pictures are the best as they could be of Ford messing around or of Ford acting as Solo in his goofier moments.

 

[heroicbob]

i dont know why but that picture of luke and grand moff tarkin smiling at each other weirds me out

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

No. 6

"Have I ever told you the definition of caring about the odds?"

Love these though, it's so nice to see the actors being so involved with the movies.

Reminds us of the good ol' days.

 

[kailus13]

That one picture looks like an alternate universe where Vader kept his children.

"Uncle Tarkin, you're such a kidder!"

Mark Hamill in a hawaiin shirt is quite funny. "I would save you Leaia, but I'm on vacation."

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The pictures are all amazing. Those were some creative people. The elephant-Bantha, the guy in the Wampa costume, that Dagobah set, the text crawl... it all looked so genuine. Now everything looks like a Square Enix videogame Shame.

 

[EHKOS]

I love how Fisher still has to wear the slave outfit without anything covering it while Hamil is not only fully clothed, but is also wearing a hawaiian shirt.

These are some great pictures though, even though the Millennium Falcon one depressed me a bit.

 

[Quiotu]

That first shot of Ford laughing has a lot of controversy behind it. It looks like he's holding something cigarette-like in his right hand, but was removed from the picture. Kinda like how Walt Disney smoked heavily, but every shot of him holding one has the cigarette removed. People have the theory that due to the era Star Wars was made, a lot of the people on set were smoking something 'recreational' in between shots, and the evidence was removed from any photos so no one could get called out on it.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Chewbacca's feet sticking out of the bottom of the cockpit like Fred Flintstone was priceless. Great pics.

That's why you needed two people in the cockpit- just one person couldn't generate enough foot-power to get the Falcon into hyperspace.

 

[RandV80]

Cool to see how they do the opening crawl. In fact, they are all pretty cool.

Nice Hawaiian shirt, Mark.

I liked that as well, though it makes me wonder if for the prequels Lucas did the same thing for old times sake or made it CG.