Richard Bonehill who portrayed Nien Nunb in Return of the Jedi passed away last week. Even though he did not have much screen time, together with the puppeteer skills of Mike Quinn, and the voice of Kipsang Rotich, Bonehill created a character that was very distinctive and, will be an engrained in our Star Wars consciousness for a long time to come.
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Every time I watch the 3 prequels, I marvel at the amazing costumes made for Padmé. Totally impractical, (but so are stormtrooper helmets), restricting, heavy, but gorgeous, splendiferous and plentiful! The red gown from the Phantom Menace is probably the most iconic. Concept artist Iain McCaig and costume designer Trisha Biggar deserve a lot of credit for making something so dramatic.
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I have now written, and then deleted 5 different versions of this post. All of them came out sounding bitter and angry over the Special Edition of the Star Wars trilogy – and the lack of an original version available. They say, if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all. So I will only say this:
Han. Shot. First.
P.S. Since I am done on the subject, I will leave you with some other artists showing their frustration creatively. Here are some of my faves:
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Admiral Ackbar is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. (…and I promise, it has absolutely nothing to do with that fact that I do really enjoy a nice plate of deep-fried calamari…). Visually, he is a very well-designed character. The puppeteer Timothy M. Rose, the designers and crew did a fantastic job making him come to life. These days, we have gotten so accustomed to CGI, that seeing puppets (when done well), gives me new-found respect for the art form. I am starting to think that maybe CGI is not necessarily the best way to create visual effect. Maybe it is becoming too much of a go-to, or a crutch? Maybe it has become… a trap!
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I read in an article once that stated that Samuel Jackson might be the only actor considered a genre all by himself. He exudes cool! Him + the name of the movie “Snake on a Plane” made me go see that movie. I have forgotten everything about he plot (I am sure it was pretty bad), but still, it sounds awesome! Unfortunately Mr. Jackson doesn’t get to do ALL that much in the Star Wars prequels, but him just loitering about makes Episode I, II and III better. I heard that he specifically asked for a purple lightsaber because his character was so bad-ass that he was the only Jedi that could harness part of the dark side, and yet stay a Jedi. His lightsaber hilt even had the letters “BMF” on it. (Who isn’t a Pulp Fiction Fan?!)
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May the Fourth be with You Party 