Literal ROTJ Sneak Peek From 1982

[lazypadawan]

Check out this "documentary" shot (surreptitiously) on Super 8 on the Buttercup Valley set of ROTJ...see your faves in their younger, thinner glory 30 years ago:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Rare_Return_Of_The_Jedi_Footage_146176.asp

I believe this Jeff Broz guy is part of a small group of SoCal fans who trekked out to the dunes once they heard Star Wars was filming there. In spite of the film using bogus production names like Blue Harvest on location, these guys somehow saw through the subterfuge. Even more miraculously, once they got there, they were allowed to stay! They did sort of hang back and not really bother anybody (plus there was no internet in 1982) but you'd think they would have been arrested or shot or something. I recall the fans actually got to chat with some of the crew. They evidentially let Mr. Broz shoot some film for posterity, which is shocking! There was no YouTube in those days but still; Broz could have made a fortune selling that stuff to t.v.!

It's a neat slice of Star Wars history regardless.

Comments

[krpalmer]

That's some interesting footage; perhaps even more interesting than I'd first imagined it would be. (I noticed a little bit of "cutting-room floor" action when Leia whacked a guard in the back before getting to the deck gun...) It was a little interesting to me (anyway) that the film hadn't been titled right away and didn't say "Revenge of the Jedi." In trying to remember if I'd heard about fans getting to Yuma before, I finally remembered where I'd put my Return of the Jedi "Official Collector's Edition" and found a little comment from Howard Kazanjian mentioning "about sixty diehard Star Wars fans" turning up. As for them being able to get away with filming, maybe it would have been easier to keep tabs on TV stations back then, or maybe the thought was the footage didn't really give anything important away...

[lazypadawan]

Maybe; there's no way though this would have happened during the prequel era.