Welcome to the House of Crouse. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. well, actually it was at the HoC this week, Roger Christian dropped by to talk about his new book Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars and Alien. He won an Academy Award for his work on the original Star Wars and was Oscar-nominated for his work on Alien, directed the second unit on both Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as well as feature films including The Sender and Nostradamus.. Today he talks about Star Wars and how he created some of the most famous props in movie history.
Richard hosted a screening of Academy Award winner Roger Christian’s “lost” movie “Black Angel” at the Royal Theatre in Toronto in May, 2014. They discussed the film, the creation of R2D2 and the light sabres and Roger’s intimate connection with the “Star Wars” universe.
Check out the film at iTunes. Here’s some info: The mythological drama follows a Knight returning from the wars to find his land destroyed and his family dead from a great sickness. Returning to the wars with nothing to live for, he falls into a river and is dragged down by the weight of his armour. At the last breath, he manages to pull off his armoured helmet. Swimming to the surface he ascends into a strange land where he meets a maiden bound to the Black Angel. He vows to save her and fulfil his Knights quest to rescue a maiden. In a fight to the death he confronts the Black Angel, a mysterious figure, an angel of death. Especially commissioned by George Lucas to accompany STAR WARS; THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on its world release wherever a short film was programmed. The 25min medieval fantasy was written and directed by Roger Christian.
Photos courtesy of Jag Photography!
