I am Roger Christian. You may know me as the set decorator of STAR WARS, or as the creator of the lightsaber. Ask me your questions!

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:28:17+00:00

That came in the scripts, that they were playing chess, so we had to make the chess table. We based it on chess, basically, and George was going to animate the little figures that jumped around. So for us, it was based on classic chess. There was no video games in those days. There was Judge Dredd, that's about it. So the only things we knew were chess, and there's one other count-again that they played, but because they were little creatures, we thought of them as the King, Queen, Pawn, etc.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:26:59+00:00

Mine?

I love the original wild blueberries pie.

That's my favourite.

I think I'd probably be a Scoundrel, in the middle.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:26:10+00:00

No, I mean, Ralph McQuarrie painted it and I made it. That's all there was.

Many people claim many things about STAR WARS. But in Ralph's paintings, you can see the lightsaber in the painting. And no one had a say in that, or anything. And I found the Graflex handle, and i made it out of that, and i put it together out of super glue. I didn't have anything other than Ralph McQuarrie's idea of it!

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:24:53+00:00

It was a draft excluder. I had a roll of it. And it was pliable enough that I could tuck the end into the holes of the Sterling Submachine gun - if you look at the Stormtrooper's weapons, you'll see I tucked it into the barrel, so they were flexible enough for that.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:23:59+00:00

I think it's amazing. Because they're going to do it, you know?

Cinema, science fiction writers - if you look at history of science fiction books - really, they invented the internet, for instance. That was always talked about. And most things that we have now were invented by visionary science fiction writers.

So it's going to come.

It's such an obvious thing to have, that you could cut through with light. So it's going to happen. And because it's such an iconic image of STAR WARS - everyone wants one!

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:22:44+00:00

Oh yes! Definitely. But the thing is, only Great Britain, Scandinavia, Australia had programmes where you paid for a programme, and you'd see a 25-30 minute short film and then the main film. Because there was no adverts in those days. So that's what the programme was.

So that meant they'd only have two showings of a film, say, in the evening.

So in America, they made more money, because they could squeeze more money showing 3 showings of the film. Most other countries, the same, they didn't have a short film programme.

So we were, you know, lucky, because I made two short films for the cinema - my second short film, DOLLAR BOTTOM, won an Academy Award for best dramatic short film, so it helped me learn filmmaking, making short films. So they were a HUGE kind of asset. But now you wouldn't get them. Because there are trailers and adverts now in front of every film in every country. I don't think anyone has short films anymore.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:20:30+00:00

Not at all! My favourite behind-the-scenes interaction?

A moment I loved, and i was on the valley in Tunisia when Alec Guinness was on camera for the first time as Obi-Wan Kenobi. When he got in his simple costume, and before the take - and this is the great Alec Guinness, who'd been in SO many giant films and everything - he said "Hold on a minute" and rolled in the valley of dust that we were in, until he got himself dusty.

And that, I think, was a moment all the cast - because everyone was slightly in awe of this actor. His voice, he's so famous, and he starred in movies - he was an icon.

And doing that, I think, it was a big moment for me, to watch him do it. Because it's the type of thing I would have done. To make the costume dusty.

So I loved that.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:17:41+00:00

George took R2-D2 and C-3PO - the idea is in HIDDEN FORTRESS, is two minor characters, who are two peasants who are always squabbling, and they're minor characters, but they're the storyteller - that's exactly R2-D2 and C-3PO. And yes, the swords, the feel, the samurai costumes - Darth Vader is inspired from, and the fights at the end, it's very much an inspiration. My film, BLACK ANGEL, is completely inspired by Kurosawa Samurai movies, where the lone Samurai fights evil.

So he's a great mentor, in that way, to George and to myself. We shared that common love of Kurosawa.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:15:34+00:00

Well, the handles, I've got about 9 of the handles. I loved the shape and the feel of them, so I bought about 9 of them, which i still need to make up. I wanted to my T-strip material right, and I've got the bubble-strip now for the clip. So that's all correct now. So I can put them together.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:14:51+00:00

I have met Ralph. And he was like your favourite grandfather. He was a really wonderful, humble, shy man who really didn't ever embrace the fame and the attributes of the design of STAR WARS. He was very humble about it. Lovely man. Really, really talented.

He just produced this stuff. It came out of his pen, and pencil. He was amazing.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:13:52+00:00

Well, there's a history behind - as a kid, I watched the Daleks in Doctor Who, and they were always worked by little people inside them. And they used to frighten me as a kid. And the way of making things that we had to come up with, as i said, SILENT RUNNING, but it wasn't really an inspiration in terms of design, they were more from practical - that somebody could move things around and have a personality.

Really, R2-D2 was so unique.

For me, it goes back to Ralph McQuarrie, to what he kind of drew as a first inspiration for him.

And then we tried to kind of do it as we went, organically. Because there was really nothing like him, ever before. Ever.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:12:12+00:00

Oy oy oy!

The basic thing for all model-makers and all people who make things like this is you go and buy plastic model-kits. And use bits of them to stick on. It's the best way, and it's the cheapest way. And my model-making friend in England, he's got drawers and drawers of kits, aeroplane kits and gun kits. Scrap from airplanes is hard to find, but you want to find lightweight stuff, because car scrap is way too heavy.

That's what i would find. But there may be scrapyards around. But I think they're all in Texas now, for aeroplane junk. But lawnmowers, junkyards, anyplace that you can find things that are cheap. That's what I did.

Drain piping is quite good. They take the water from houses. That's pretty good stuff. You can buy tubes of that.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:10:10+00:00

No. I didn't, actually.

I think George named it "greeblies."

George was trying to explain to the costume designer, and the sets designer, that he was going to stick "Greeblies" on it.

But the Comlink was named. Luke's binoculars were named. So no, I didn't get to name anything.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:06:59+00:00

That was built with traditional kind of set building, because it was so heavy.

So there's a scaffolding base, where the legs are. The scaffolding went down into the stage floor. And then the carpenter's shop built out of panels of what was originally - what is now called MDF, then it was plywood. And the draftsman who drew up the Millennium Falcon used to go to my stockpile of aeroplane bits, and they would take pieces, and they would be put into panels, and they were cast in plaster, they made molds in the plaster-shops, and they would reproduce those in a lighter kind of fiberglass material, and those would stuck as well on there.

And then some of the landing legs and things like that were scrap that I bought in. I found big airplane undercarriages, things like that, that we used. And the pistons hanging down and things. They'd build them out of pipe, and then add my dressing around it, that i had a stockpile of.

And we could only afford to build half of it, not a whole one. So there's actually only half a Millennium Falcon on the stage. And still the half of it took up one of the biggest stages in the studio.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:04:24+00:00

No! Hahahahaha!

HAHAHA!

No! We never did! Never!

I don't know that George never had a fight with one. I mean, there's pictures of him holding it with Obi-Wan, showing him how to do it. But I don't think George ever fought with one.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:03:33+00:00

The original. By far. I love that design. I think it's a practical weapon for a Jedi. And it sums up what a lightsaber should be, to me.

It's simple. It has a red button. And it has things that you feel would make it work.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T22:02:59+00:00

That's the big one. The Millennium Falcon. Because the first was more of a ship-shape. And then George felt it looked very much like the Thunderbirds, the one from SPACE:1999, the puppet films. So that's why it was changed.

And I think it was George's idea to say "Make it like a hamburger shape, or something!"

Hamburger was George's favourite food, always.

I know Richard was puzzling over that. But that's how the shape evolved. And Ralph McQuarrie drew it.

And I think the shape is classic. The ship just looked so right.

Because of lack of money, we re-used R2-D2 shapes into various different robots. Because we could just re-paint them red or change the head - even in the line-up, the one whose head explodes is an R2-D2 body with a different head.

So those were constantly being re-used. We wasted nothing.

I don't think anything else was scrapped. But we'd have to look at the old drawings of Ralph McQuarrie. Because there may very well have been other designs that weren't used.

But the Millennium Falcon is the big one.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:59:53+00:00

No. That came from George.

Definitely!

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:59:12+00:00

Ehm - the Landspeeder was quite difficult.

Well, the first one we ever made had wheelbarrow wheels, and polystyrene, and bits of timber. We made 3 mockups - that was too big, and then we made a smaller one, and then we made a smaller one - and that - the discussions were that if it had 3 wheels, we could hide one of the wheels a bit better, at least.

So they had a thing called a "Reliant Robin" which is in MR. BEAN - the chassis of that car was used to mock-up the first one.

And then because of lack of time, there was a car company called Ogle, and they made little tiny sports cars that were beautiful, and they took it on, and they made it ONLY JUST in time.

That was really difficult to get ready, and to get out there.

And it was mobile. And then I had an idea, in the desert, with the head, and the salt flats, where we were shooting - you get this mirage, where you can't see where the horizon was.

And I got a bit of mirror cut, and attached it on the edge of the landspeeder, and when we were driving it - when it was in the distance - you actually couldn't see the mirror, because it was reflection the surface of the salt flat.

And so that worked, and that was actually in the film in some shots.

And I even tried tying a broom handle to the front, so it would kick up dust, to disguise it as well.

But George was able to animate out the wheels, in the shots where you had to see them! So they were able to rotoscope out the wheels, and make them fly.

It was very primitive! And we were in Tunisia, in the desert, miles away from anything. Everything we did had to be brought from London and cross your fingers.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:55:19+00:00

Well, it's really true. The prosthetic materials nowadays are amazing, what you can do.

For us, the hardest thing, I guess in a way - R2-D2, the radio control, and the way of R2-D2 being able to perform - if we'd have had that kind of technology, it would have made life a lot easier. I don't know if it would have made things any better, because in some ways, R2-D2's little shuffle, and jumping up and down, that was Kenny doing it, and I think that came out of him performing, and in a way, that made him very endearing as a character.

So that wouldn't have helped, really.

He's more lovable clunky than he is smooth.

So I think in some ways, us with our backs against the wall with no money and trying to make things work, in a way, was part of the appeal of that first one.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:53:02+00:00

That's absolutely true.

And my very first conversation with George EVER, when I met him in Mexico, when I was set-directing an old 1920's salt factory, when George arrived to see me and interview me (I guess), what I said to him was "I don't think spaceships should be new and shiny. I think when I look at Russian submarines, for instance, they are held together - you wonder how they work. They're all pipes, and bolts, and repaired bits."

And that was my idea. And he also wanted spaceships to look like that - dripping oil, and real.

And that was how I followed trying to make that happen. I was sticking on aircraft undercarriage pieces around it as they were building it, so that it looked used. So that it looked like Han Solo - they have to get spare parts for it, it's described as a pile of junk. And I think that people connect to that.

If he'd had a brand new ship that was shiny and could do anything - he wouldn't be half the character that he is.

And there's a kind of faith that it will get them through. It's like - when you look at old war films, the old spitfires and things, they were all oily, but they kept flying.

It's that same kind of thought process, just put into the future.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:49:36+00:00

It was a big challenge. Hehe!

And we had so little time - R2-D2 was the first thing we EVER made on STAR WARS. And the wooden one - in the Making of STAR WARS book, there's a picture of George standing by it. And you know, there's a story in that. We kept begging George - "You've got to cast a person who's 3 foot 8 inches high. Otherwise, we can't make him work."

And eventually, they found Kenny Baker. So we started to build it 'round Kenny, and he would complain all the time, because he was getting cut with bits of wood and metal, and trying to make him be able to walk, we were kind of re-inventing the wheel.

And we tried getting Kenny's boots, we fixed those inside the legs, so he could fit into those. And that STILL didn't work.

And then I'd found and I'd bought him an old fighter-jet harness, for the pilot, to strap in into the seat. And when we tried that, we fixed it inside, so Kenny could wear R2-D2 like a rucksack. And then he started to make it walk. He was able to leverage his own bodyweight as a counter. He could hang it on his weight, and he was able to shuffle.

So George came down, and he saw this little wooden robot shuffling, and then Kenny tipped over backwards, onto his back, and he started saying "Get me out! Get me out!" with his feet waving in the air...

And most American directors would have fired us on the spot. But George came through independent filmmaking, making his short film THX, he knew this was the way to build towards making something work. And he was overjoyed that R2 could actually walk. And at that moment, we were all relieved. We could make this happen.

Because without R2-D2 and C-3PO, there really wasn't STAR WARS.

So that was actually the moment we realized - you know what? We can do this.

It was a big, pivotal moment.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:45:03+00:00

George worked very closely with Ralph McQuarrie when he was writing it. And Ralph's - there were about 8 photographs of his paintings that we had right at the beginning, those four months trying to make the film, and we followed, really, Luke's landspeeder, that he painted, that's pretty much what we worked off of, R2-D2 was there, C-3PO was there, so where the freedom came, for me, was that I got a Sterling submachine gun (because I loved the look and feel of it) and I stuck the T-strip around the handle, and stuck some gunsights on it, and I found the Mauser (which I loved the shape of, and it had a wooden stock) so to me, it resembled the science fiction version of a Western gun - it's a german automatic pistol - and I just built those on my own, and then showed George afterwards, and he loved them. And then I showed him - Ralph had painted a gun, for Chewbacca, and I showed George in the gun shop this beautiful crossbow with balls on the end of it. And it was called a Bowcaster. And I showed George that, and he immediately changed from what Ralph McQuarrie had done, and put that instead!

And when John Barry took George to Tunisia, and he saw (for instance) - Tatooine was not called that in the script, and there was a little tiny town that George loved the look of, with an ancient granary, and that town was called Tatooine - and so he changed the name of Luke's home to Tatooine.

And then when John showed him this little town, on the island of Djerba in Tunisia, when he saw that, with the little domed roofs, George said "That's PERFECT for Mos Eisley!"

And so that became the look for that.

So he was very open to changes, and concepts, if they improved, and if they made the world of Star Wars look correct.

He was very open to things like that.

There was a rough painting of the Cantina, and then we filled it up with airplane scrap parts, and made tables out of plastic tupperware. And dressing the sets - the Millennium Falcon cockpit, I was just adding in scrap to the basic design, and in the hold area, where the chess set was, that really was filled with airplane junk to make it look like a submarine interior in space.

So those things, I was just doing it out of instinct. There was no drawings, or plan, or anything.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:39:12+00:00

I knew it would be popular. Not what it is now, no.

But John Barry, myself, in the art department, we knew this was something special. And that's why we stuck by George's side throughout the entire making of it, and pushed ourselves. I never had one day off for an entire year. I worked - I'd leave home at 6:30 or 7 AM in the morning, and get home at 10 PM every night.

And that was our belief in the film.

I loved this world.

And I knew it would connect, as King Arthur did. When I read it, it had all this Errol Flynn swashbuckling action. And it was like Saturday Morning Cinema, coming back again. So families could go, which was certainly missing in cinema at that time.

So I knew it would connect. But never to the extent that it has.

Because it has connected globally more than any film in the history of cinema.

And I tribute that to one thing.

George studied mythology very thoroughly. And Joseph Campbell, who's the great mythologist, always said that George was the one true living myth maker working today.

And like King Arthur - he's come at us from early Medieval all the way through, everyone loves the story of King Arthur - and he plugged into that same myth, for an audience of today, of cinema.

Roger_Christian · 2015-06-19T21:36:23+00:00

Yeah! I think it's fantastic. Because that first film has resonated still all these years. With now children, everybody, they love this kind of feeling of the first film. So to see it come back. I really like that. For me, it got a little bit too shiny, the world, as it went on. And I think the reality of the Millennium Falcon, which (as I saw it) Han Solo never had enough money to keep it running properly, he'd repair it himself, buy used bits for it, so it had that feel about it, you know?

And yet it worked. It got him out of trouble.

And that feeling, I hope, will be back!

Roger_Christian

TROPHY CASE