Was George good at giving you feedback on the role?
“I don’t think we had much, his direction was not elaborate at that time and when I first met Mark he warned me that the phrase was, as we all know, ‘faster, with more intensity’ and George might have applied that to me – I can’t remember. He was also shooting from a long way away, he was down on a long distance lens so I was getting a lot of the instruction – whatever I did get – from the assistant director. I remember we did the scene quite a number of times for a lot of different reasons, and it was quite a long take – I remember that too.”
What was the first thing you were told about the film?
“I can only say the first message I got about the role itself was from Mark, at the wardrobe fitting with met each other for the first time and he said, ‘You’re my best buddy’ and that was the keynote. It was fairly evident what the scene was about, me trying to persuade him to come up and join the Rebel force and the fact he was just marking time on his uncle’s farm, then also the relationship was fairly clear – that I was an older buddy, and kind of a model for him, and example of somebody who’d gone out and done it and become a pilot. I think he’s always somebody who’s bigger in myth, the hero’s best friend who died. Nobody actually talked about Joseph Campbell and the deeper meaning of Star Wars [laughs]. Maybe it was one of the things that had an echo of American Graffiti, the Tosche Station scenes might have been too close to the idea of the gang hanging out, and George probably didn’t want to repeat himself – I just don’t know, George hasn’t talked to me about it, Mark has and Mark would’ve wanted that scene to be in, I’m pretty certain. I’d like to believe he’d have liked the scene in, but of course he can speak for himself. It became something that we always discussed in later years, you know, and I think Mark always said ‘It’d would’ve been nice to have it in’.”
The reunion scene before you all go off to attack the Death Star made it back in for the special edition, did you know that was going to be put back in?
“No, I didn’t know, generally very few messages are passed down the line – I went to the screening in London, and I think it got a nice reception among the audience from the ones who knew. But I didn’t know, and neither did I know when it was cut the first time, I think Anthony Daniels told a friend of mine, and my friend told me, so I was slightly prepared but not officially, that’s often the way of it – you don’t realise until you’re sitting there watching it.”
The character seems central, not necessarily to the plot, but to establishing Luke’s character in relation to Biggs…
“I think it was, I think it was, but it did show Luke as younger and weaker than perhaps they wanted the character to be. But that’s a good starting point for Luke because from there he develops into our hero. I think the relationship kind of was important, certainly in the very early scripts before they began to shoot – they were kids together, although I was a little older, you know. I think Biggs was younger than Luke in one of the early scripts I read, but the relationship was there, and certainly for Mark and myself it was fun to do the reunion scene because I’d been away for a while, I’d been doing another film. I’d be doing A Bridge Too Far, so to come back on set and see Mark again was quite a warm meeting, so that reunion scene was a nice one to do.”
Mark looked very young, but he’d already been in TV for a decade…
“Yeah, yeah, he was a real pro and his attitude was extremely professional, extremely quick worker and also good with the company, you know. For such a young actor, to make everybody feel a part of the team… he did very well. To work with somebody as eminent as Alec Guinness and treat him the way you’d treat a major star like that, and also to be as close as he was, and to be as friendly as he was, with all of us, he did good to be at that central point in the company. It’s always nice when the lead character is able to cope with it, and make everybody feel a part of the team. He was pretty young to be doing that.”
Was the atmosphere different in between the Tunisia scenes and the Yavin scenes?
“Yeah, by that point everybody knew what was going on, in a way. We knew our position and we knew each other a bit better, and of course it was exciting because we were surrounded, not by green screen or CGI stuff, it was the models, and the set was very exciting just to be on. You run around and it was cardboard and bits of wood, but on the other hand, quite exciting to be in the hanger. And indeed the Tosche scene itself, the set that was created at Elstree Studios for the inside of Anchorhead Station, that was pretty big stuff – it was a junky kind of gas station and it felt like it.”
There was a very strong cast, even down to the smaller roles like the Rebel pilots…
“Oh yeah, yeah there were. Everyone was really good and willing to be there and quite a lot of my fellow pilots had quite a bit of experience, even at that point – there was Denis Lawson of course, and William Hootkins – they were all up and coming, and most of them stayed in the business and did well.”
Do you remember when you first became aware of how big Star Wars was?
“I remember getting a letter from a friend who’d be on the film I’d done immediately before, who was in Hollywood, and I remember he said, ‘This is gonna be massive – you better get over here’. Well, I was in London doing a play and I wasn’t going to be nipping off to Hollywood, but yeah, that was the first kinda feeling I got. And then the reaction that was coming back from the opening in Hollywood… and again, I was doing a Bond film [1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me], and I was playing squash and I remember the chap beside me saying, ‘I just got a call from Anthony Daniels about how big it’s going to be, and how big a success it’d been on the opening’, so the word filtered back that way. And then we saw it, the London actors saw it in a special cast and crew showing, and then we realised, you know, as soon as that ship started coming over our heads [laughs] we were just on our back like everybody else was, and then we realised just what we were in. It was a long time before I started meeting the fans, and got on the circuit, and ever since it’s just been phenomenal and this Blu-ray is all a part of it – reimagining the film, regenerating it, and I’m glad they do, it’s one of the great successes.”
Do you wish they’d have explored Biggs more in the Expanded Universe?
“No, because I wouldn’t have been a part of it – I’d be too old! I think it’s better to be remembered for a small part, in the background – it’ll intrigue you forever because that’s all you know. I’ve been in so many exciting films – like Batman and The Spy Who Loved Me – but none that have had the repercussions and the afterlife of Star Wars, and I’ve been very blessed to have been a part of the afterlife. If that gives me more visibility that’s fine with me, I think Biggs deserves it [laughs].”
Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray box set is available September 12 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, priced £67.49, and SciFiNow’s collector’s edition Star Wars issue is available now from all good newsagents and online from the Imagineshop.
