This week's collection of whimsical and curious stories will talk about the perils of moviemaking. We will consider one of the most famous franchises of all time (Star Wars) and how it came close to sparking an actual war here on Earth (and also how one of its actors had to be protected from Big Foot hunters).
Trouble on Tatooine - When George Lucas was dreaming up the first Star Wars movie, he chose Tunisia as the perfect spot to film scenes set on the desert planet of Tatooine. Although the scenery was excellent, the geopolitical neighbourhood was less so. You see, in 1976 (the year of the movie shoot), Libya's dictator Muammar Gaddafi* was eyeing his country's border with Tunisia suspiciously for any military build-up as the two countries were on less than cordial terms. When Libyan intelligence detected a very large military vehicle close to its border, Gaddafi demanded its immediate removal or otherwise risk war. The "military vehicle" in question turned out to be the model of a Jawa Sandcrawler which was only really threatening to unsuspecting droids in the imagination of George Lucas. Keen to avoid a real confrontation, the Sandcrawler was duly moved to an apparently less threatening location.
Movie shoot in the Tunisian desert
Protecting Chewbacca - The Tunisian desert was not the only dangerous place the Star Wars crew soon found out. When filming in the Redwood forests of California (a stand-in for the forest moon of Endor), Peter Mayhew, who was playing Chewbacca, had to be escorted at all times by members of the film crew to avoid him being attacked by Big Foot hunters. Luckily, no incidents were reported.
Peter Mayhew putting on the Chewbacca costume
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*incidentally a man as close to a Star Wars character as any human can ever hope to get
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