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What a Great Job! - the original Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi.
After working for Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal, I was approached
to make a
second film (cloaked in secrecy) at the same studio - Elstree, London. They called it 'Blue Harvest'
to outsiders, and 'Revenge of the Jedi' to us.
When
I saw the creature we were going to work in, I was astounded. Jabba the Hutt
was
probably the most complex (and expensive) animatronic puppet ever made.
David Barclay (his home
page) is an
extraordinary puppet maker, performer and action coordinator who wanted very much to
extend his work on film (he'd already been involved with Yoda). We got on well, working on The Dark Crystal, and he
got me the job as co-pilot inside Jabba. (See his agent's page here)
Dave directed all our overall body movement, lip synched the mouth, (speaking the lines in English, and talking to the actors - as Jabba - through a mike), and was the right hand. I imagine he was fairly disappointed when they dubbed Huttese all over his careful work, but you can hear his voice in 'From Star Wars to Jedi', a 'making-of' video. You can find an online clip of the relevant section here, if you have a fast connection.
I was the silent part of the brain, but as the left hand I got
to eat frogs, hit people, smoke a hookah, etc. I also animated the head (with my
right hand) and the body (by swiveling my seat, legs braced) and the tongue (a
separate job for the right
hand). Operating the tail, to express mood swings,
was the ever-cheerful Mike
Edmonds.
Members of the team who had built Jabba did breathing (mechanically), and the expressive eye movements (by radio remote control). Check out John Coppinger's site for more detail.
John Coppinger (Jabba sculptor) & HR Nielsen
Fan Sites I have visited Online Interviews I have given
Is real Jabba better than cgi? amusing and instructive links
Images Return of the Jedi ©1983, 2000 Lucasfilm Ltd