Hello, welcome to special Star Wars entry of Peverett Phile. The Phile is proud sponsor of...
Thanks for stopping by again. I have a really call entry for you this week, with the Phile's first Star Wars related guest. And there's two... not one. But first, what's been going on? NBC canceled “Law & Order” after 20 seasons. It’s too bad, but they had to make room for the new Jay Leno show, “Jaw & Order.” Here in Florida an 87-year-old woman was arrested for selling crack cocaine. She was sentenced to two months in jail — or as she calls it “life.” Robin Hood opened last weekend. Robin Hood is famous for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, which made him a folk hero in 12th century England. Nowadays, we call that sort of thing “communism.” If someone was stealing from the rich and giving to the poor in America, Glenn Beck would go insane — more insane. A fertility clinic is now offering parents the option to select the eye and hair color of their babies. Don’t you miss the days when people would just get pregnant, have their eight babies, and go on “Entertainment Tonight”? A few days ago Justin Bieber was nominated for a BET award. BET stands for Black Entertainment Television. Justin Bieber is none of those things. I don’t know how Justin Bieber was nominated for a BET award. This is what happens when you let Stevie Wonder choose the nominees. In Louisiana, BP claims that it’s making progress with the leaking oil in the Gulf. They’re working on a plan to heat the Gulf up to 600 degrees and use it to fry chicken. Okay, you know I love motivational or inspirational posters, right? Well, they even have Star Wars theme ones which is perfect for today's entry. Check it out.
And as it's Star Wars day here's a never before seen deleted scene from one of the Star Wars movies. Enjoy.
1960Music DJ Alan Freed, originator of the term "Rock and Roll," is indicted in New York in the Payola scandal. Freed had accepted $30,650 from five record companies to play their records, although to be fair "pay for play" was the accepted practice up to that point.
1971
The bassist and lead singer for the band Chicago undergoes five hours of emergency surgery after getting jumped at a Cubs-Dodgers baseball game. Peter Cetera winds up losing four teeth because some guys decided that his hair was too long.
1987
Conservative British MP Harvey Proctor pleads guilty to committing acts of gross indecency against minors... paying rent boys to spank them in his London flat.
1989
Attempting to clear Tiananmen Square of student activists and quell 100 million others protesting throughout the country, China declares martial law in Beijing. Two weeks later, after they continue to loiter in the Square, thousands of students are massacred by government troops.
1999
The dissolving body parts of eight people are discovered inside six plastic barrels sitting in an abandoned bank vault in Snowtown, Australia.
Ronnie James DioJuly 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010
Dio, eh?
Announcing the 9th book in the Peverett Phile Book Club. "Family Bones" by Kimberly Raiser. Will they stay? Will they survive? The Weavers have inherited family property in Astral, Pennsylvania, a town so small that Mrs. Weaver can find no mention of it on the Internet, save for a tiny spot on Google Earth. Hoping for a simpler, small-town existence for their young family, Steven and Tara eagerly head to Astral to see what they hope will be their dream house. As they explore their potential new home, the Weavers begin to discover secret passageways, secret rooms, and long buried family truths; some difficult truths are revealed and no longer kept in the far reaches of the closet. There are reasons for everything, and sometimes the explanations are so simple. But sometimes, simple can also be horrifying. Kimberly Raiser will be a guest on the Phile in a few weeks, and in the meantime, go ahead and check out the book on Amazon.com.
Okay, and now for...
Today we have not one but two guests on the Phile. The first achieved her greatest enduring cult popularity with her brief, but memorable appearance as would-be alien assassin Greedo in Star Wars. The second worked as one of the puppeteers of Jabba the Hutt and has worked on many other movies including Team America: World Police and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Please welcome to the Phile... Maria De Aragon and Dave Barclay.
Q:
Me: Hello, how are you guys doing? Welcome to the Phile you two, have you been to Orlando before? Is this your first time?
Dave: No, I’ve came out here a number of years ago with my two young boys at the time and had a fantastic time here in 1992. But I live in California now.
Maria: This is the first for me. I didn’t realize how much Orlando had to offer. I’m very much impressed by everything. The beauty of everything, hotels, places to visit.
Me: You were Greedo, right Maria? How did you get that role? You were kinda thrown into it, right?
Maria: I still am Greedo. A friend of mine was a set designer and we did some commercials together and he asked me would I be interested in woking with one of the upcoming great directors and I asked really, what's his name and he said George Lucas. I said oh, well, I will check with my best girlfriend and she’ll tell me. I asked what do have, and he said it was a film about science fiction, and that Lucas has a great imagination. I asked how old he was and he said 26. So I asked my best friend at the time, Shelly Winters, and she said he did American Graffiti and you should work with him. They wanted me to work three or four days at the most to replace Anothony Daniels who was unavailable. They wanted me to walk a little bit and speak in a soft voice.
Me: C-3PO?
Maria: Uh-huh. I am glad I didn’t do it because they had footprints in front of the Chinese Theater and I would have been upset so I went and worked on that for a few weeks. So, unbeknowned Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill had a big car accident and the shoot was cancelled. So, no Threepio would be for me. So they asked me would I like to have my very own monster and I said yes, I would. And I didn’t know until 20 years after I was proceded by Paul Blake who played him first in England. I am sorry, this is a long story. I could do that if you can tell. So, anyway, that is what happened. I played Greedo, and there were two of us. And then I found out there was five Darth Vaders. You have to run down the other Greedo. A lot of fans have both autographs of Paul and me. When I sign my name Paul had already signed the picture, or vice versa.
Me: Were you in the scene with Han Solo in the cantina?
Maria: Yes, I was, and so was Paul. When you see Greedo with Han Solo in long shots it was Paul Blake and Harrison Ford. When you see Greedo in close-ups it’s me. It goes to Harrison Ford with the camera and then to me and then to Harrison and then to me. We are never together, that’s because we weren’t never together. We worked in different towns. He was in England and Tunisia and all those places where Star Wars was shot and I was on the soundstage on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles.
Me: Where are you from, Maria?
Maria: I’m from Canada but when I was 18 years old I moved to the United States and remained in the United States permantly and made films. First in New York, then Florida, got married, had a long life. And then moved to California and was there about 35 years. I went to California when Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow... that goes back a while.
Me: Did you like wearing a mask?
Maria: No, I was running out of air under that mask which was made of latex. I am glad I wasn’t in make-up for two hours in the morning but I was not told I would be wearing a mask.
Me: Are you glad you worked for Lucas?
Maria: He saved my life!
Maria: Was that the first time you ever wore a mask?
Maria: Yes, and there were wires that in my neck to make it move and horns on my head. Greedo had a lot going, you know, his long fingers and all.
Me: Was that the last time you wore a mask?
Maria: Yes, first and last. It was taped to my throat and very little room in Greedo’s mouth to open it. I had a straw to deliver dialogue. Then they realized then and there they didn’t want a female voice coming out of him.
Me: They dubbed it over with some kinda alien garble anyway,
Maria: They had subtitles first and then they had Ben Burtt do the voice.
Me: Thank you, Maria. So, David, what part of England are you from?
Dave: I’m from London.
Me: What part of London?
Dave: North London.
Me: I was born in Balem. Do you know where Balem is, gateway to the south?
Dave: Yeah, yeah. I was in Enfield then moved to Morton Abbey, but now live in California.
Me: Do you like California?
Dave: Yeah, I love it because you don’t have the rain like we’ve got today.
Me: Now you were Jabba the Hutt, but one of the many people that played Jabba, right? How many altogether?
Dave: There were 7 of us working Jabba. I was chief puppeteer so I was the lead, and guide voice on set, and his right arm. With my left arm I did his jaw and all the mouth mechanisms to make his mouth move so I could do the lip synch while I was speaking. I did that all at the same time.
Me: Did you work on any other characters in the Star Wars movies?
Dave: I worked on Yoda with Frank Oz on Empire Strikes Back and on Return of the Jedi. On Empire I got to be chief puppeteer at the end of the shoot because it ran over and Frank nominated me on me to be his replacement. I was 19 years old and it launched my movie career.
Me: Do you still talk to Frank?
Dave: I haven’t spoken to him in a while but have kept up him with years working with him in Muppets and different projects over the years.
Me: Are you working on the new Dark Crystal movie?
Dave: The new Dark Crystal has in been in development for a number of years now and I guess they’re looking for funding. I’m not sure when it’ll come to production yet. They’ve been talking for the past years, saying we’ll be doing it in 6 months. It’s really hard to get funding for movies right now.
Me: There’s a new Muppet movie coming out... are you working on that?
Dave: Yeah, and there’s those Disney theme park commercials that are out. I worked on those. But I think they are trying to get a movie sometime in production this year but it’s hard getting something green lit in this economy.
Me: But they’re owned by Disney so I am sure Disney will.
Dave: Yeah, but the story has to be right, and the people and the script and the budget. There’s still a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens before it goes ahead.
Me: And you worked on Where The Wild Things Are, is that right?
Dave: I worked on Where The Wild Things Are when they were developing the characters for Spike Jonez and they facial expressions for the main Wild Thing characters. I worked with him in Melbourne in 2006 or 2007 just doing real time puppeteer computer graphic faces. Basically exploritery character development tht can be done in real time. So from that they were able to take that character developments and do the key frame in post process on the final characters which was done by a company in London I think.
Me: You’ve been doing puppets most of your life, right?
Dave: My folks are puppteers. I started when I was four and still doing it.
Me: How long did it take to be able to lip-synch with your mouth and hand?
Dave: I’ve done training courses before and people can pick it up pretty quickly. You can do a 40 hour course you can get pretty close to it. It depends really if its uyour passion or not.
Me: I can tell it is your passion. Are you working on any projects in the future?
Dave: Yes, the latest project comes out July thr 4th which is Cat and Dogs: The Revenge of Killy Galore.
Me: Yeah, I saw that. Well, not the movie obviously but the trailer.
Dave: There’s some animatrionic shots in there, even in the trailer that I supervised. Haven’t seen the final cut of the film yet, but am interested in seeing that. And working on my own feature film at the moment.
Me: Really? When do you hope to have that released?
Dave: I’m not sure because we don’t have distribution yet and we are pre-production at the moment so maybe a good couple of years away.
Me: It is a sci-fi film?
Dave: It’s a fantasy film.
Me: That’s something to look forward to. Thank you, David.
Me: What part of London?
Dave: North London.
Me: I was born in Balem. Do you know where Balem is, gateway to the south?
Dave: Yeah, yeah. I was in Enfield then moved to Morton Abbey, but now live in California.
Me: Do you like California?
Dave: Yeah, I love it because you don’t have the rain like we’ve got today.
Me: Now you were Jabba the Hutt, but one of the many people that played Jabba, right? How many altogether?
Dave: There were 7 of us working Jabba. I was chief puppeteer so I was the lead, and guide voice on set, and his right arm. With my left arm I did his jaw and all the mouth mechanisms to make his mouth move so I could do the lip synch while I was speaking. I did that all at the same time.
Me: Did you work on any other characters in the Star Wars movies?
Dave: I worked on Yoda with Frank Oz on Empire Strikes Back and on Return of the Jedi. On Empire I got to be chief puppeteer at the end of the shoot because it ran over and Frank nominated me on me to be his replacement. I was 19 years old and it launched my movie career.
Me: Do you still talk to Frank?
Dave: I haven’t spoken to him in a while but have kept up him with years working with him in Muppets and different projects over the years.
Me: Are you working on the new Dark Crystal movie?
Dave: The new Dark Crystal has in been in development for a number of years now and I guess they’re looking for funding. I’m not sure when it’ll come to production yet. They’ve been talking for the past years, saying we’ll be doing it in 6 months. It’s really hard to get funding for movies right now.
Me: There’s a new Muppet movie coming out... are you working on that?
Dave: Yeah, and there’s those Disney theme park commercials that are out. I worked on those. But I think they are trying to get a movie sometime in production this year but it’s hard getting something green lit in this economy.
Me: But they’re owned by Disney so I am sure Disney will.
Dave: Yeah, but the story has to be right, and the people and the script and the budget. There’s still a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens before it goes ahead.
Me: And you worked on Where The Wild Things Are, is that right?
Dave: I worked on Where The Wild Things Are when they were developing the characters for Spike Jonez and they facial expressions for the main Wild Thing characters. I worked with him in Melbourne in 2006 or 2007 just doing real time puppeteer computer graphic faces. Basically exploritery character development tht can be done in real time. So from that they were able to take that character developments and do the key frame in post process on the final characters which was done by a company in London I think.
Me: You’ve been doing puppets most of your life, right?
Dave: My folks are puppteers. I started when I was four and still doing it.
Me: How long did it take to be able to lip-synch with your mouth and hand?
Dave: I’ve done training courses before and people can pick it up pretty quickly. You can do a 40 hour course you can get pretty close to it. It depends really if its uyour passion or not.
Me: I can tell it is your passion. Are you working on any projects in the future?
Dave: Yes, the latest project comes out July thr 4th which is Cat and Dogs: The Revenge of Killy Galore.
Me: Yeah, I saw that. Well, not the movie obviously but the trailer.
Dave: There’s some animatrionic shots in there, even in the trailer that I supervised. Haven’t seen the final cut of the film yet, but am interested in seeing that. And working on my own feature film at the moment.
Me: Really? When do you hope to have that released?
Dave: I’m not sure because we don’t have distribution yet and we are pre-production at the moment so maybe a good couple of years away.
Me: It is a sci-fi film?
Dave: It’s a fantasy film.
Me: That’s something to look forward to. Thank you, David.
Dave: Thank you, Jason.
Well, that about does it for another entry of the Phile. I hope you enjoyed the Star Wars theme, kids. Thanks to Dave Barclay and Maria De Aragon for taking time out to do the interview, and a special thanks to Derek Maki from Coolwaters Productions for setting it up. The Phile will be back next Thursday with the biggest interview the Phile has done... Billy Dee Williams. Yes, Billy will be next week's guest. Enjoy the series finale of "Lost" on Sunday and be back here next Thursday. Spread the word, not the turd, and don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
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