The eagerly-awaited Star Wars prop exhibition has opened- and our man in London, Mark Mawston was given exclusive access. Here is his report: Cinema Retro was invited to attend the special launch party of Star Wars: The Exhibition, held appropriately enough on May 4th 2007. The exhibition, which officially opened its doors the following day, celebrates 30 years of the much loved film series and is an Aladdin’s cave of props and costumes. Its opening in Portugal last year attracted more than 150,000 visitors in the space of two months.
The much anticipated exhibition will give fans in England a chance to
see some amazing items including original film props, models, art,
vehicles and costumes from the entire Star Wars saga, spread through a
dozen rooms in the magnificent County Hall on London’s Southbank. Each
room features an array of items from the Lucasfilm Archives in
California, including the spectacular life-size Naboo N-1 Starfighter.
The exhibition gives visitors a rare glimpse inside the making of the
epic movies as well as enjoying several interactive activities from
Jedi training to a green screen simulation that puts you right into the
movie! All in all the exhibition consists of over 240 props, so make
sure you leave yourself enough time to see it all. The launch itself
was spectacular but Cinema Retro was kindly given access to the
exhibition a couple of hours before it opened allowing them to take
photographs and see as much as the time allowed before the crowds
descended. Although the props were exceptional, photographing some of
them proved a little difficult, as obviously those characters from The
Dark Side won’t be bathed in spot lights, and the sheer value of the
pieces alone meant that the props were protected by 17 tonnes of glass,
some 17mm thick, which was cause for reflection (and no flash)!
However, what weren’t immobile behind glass cases were the numerous
Storm Troopers walking the halls before the opening precession later
that evening. As shown in the picture attached, they kindly stormed
Cinema Retro to give our readers an idea of the sheer authenticity of
the event. After this rather thrilling start, Cinema Retro caught up
with C3PO’s better half Anthony Daniels, who regaled us with tales from
the shooting of the films. When asked what he remembers best about
filming, he said that it was the fact that because his peripheral
vision was impaired he was constantly catching loose flooring/matting
and there are numerous outtakes of him keeling over, like many of the
props were prone to do on set, all of which are still in the archives.
We then caught up with Roger Christian, the set decorator who made all
those familiar sci-fi figures out of scrap and bits of old aircraft
engines standing in front of the Oscar he’d won for the first of the
films in 1977. Being reunited with R2D2 was like ‘meeting an old
friend’ he said. There were a few actors from the later entrees to the
series milling around pre opening, many of whom had brought their
children who looked around as wide eyed as their parents. This really
is an exhibition for all ages and even if you’re not a true Star Wars
fan, we recommend it whole heartedly as a great day out in itself.
The 30,000sq.ft exhibition is on at County Hall, Westminster, adjacent
to the London Eye and above the London Aquarium. It will be open 7
days a week, between 10am and 8pm and runs until Sept 1st.-
Mark Mawston
All photographs © Mark Mawston, 2007. All rights reserved. Not be reproduced without permission.
To see examples of Mark’s magnificent photography, which includes many
celebrities from both the film and music world, check out his web site http://markmawston.com
MARK MAWSTON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY THROUGH 30 YEARS OF STAR WARS