Star Wars – Page 2 – FULL CONTACT NERD

Dark Crystal and Star Wars actor – Hugh Spight interview

Hugh Spight is a dancer and a “puppet performer.” He was a Mystic in “Dark Crystal” and a Gamorrean Guard in “Return of the Jedi.” He studied dance in London and worked in Germany before getting into the movie industry. I was able to speak with him at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con.

1:25 – Hugh Spight talks about he got into acting. He started as a dancer and then auditioned for Dark Crystal. He got the role to help develop how the creatures in that movie move.

4:36 – He actually learned how to gallop with a contraption that carried 60% of his body weight. When he finished at Dark Crystal, Return of the Jedi was being filmed close by and he was asked to do puppetry work on that.

6:20 – Netflix will be doing a prequel to Dark Crystal and they will be using body costumes again. People don’t react to CGI characters as much as they might react to real people in costumes. The industry might be swinging back to three dimensional characters.

9:32 – Passion is vital to succeed in dance or actor. Sacrifice is necessary to succeed in that.

10:57 – Hugh considers himself a Billy Elliot type when he got into dance.

13:58 – His first dance job after school in London was in Germany. When he started he was afraid to tell his parents.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Hugh Spight

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, puppets, daleks, doctor who, gamorrean guard, return of the jedi, mystic, Dark Crystal, dance, Wales, Germany, Billy Elliot

Game of Thrones and Star Wars actor – Ian McElhinney interview

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Ian McElhinney has been a stage and screen actor for close to 40 years. He’s done a wide range of roles including acting in both the Star Wars franchise, Krypton, and in Game of Thrones as Barristan Selmy. We talked at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con about acting in general, how he got into it and how he does his work, and also about his work specifically in Star Wars and GoT.

1:30 – Ian talks about how he got into acting. He started at University trying to study something serious. He was getting a degree outside of Boston, Brandeis, and they had a theater degree. He decided he loved acting too much to not get a theater studies degree.

3:55 – He went back to the British theater and taught for a few years. Then he went back into the gaming game and had to get an equity card. At age 30, he went back to Northern Ireland to work as an actor in Belfast.

5:56 – He did a lot of screen work that reflected modern Irish politics and he was often put in a box. He had more freedom on the stage.

11:00 – Ian discusses what its like playing a character in sci-fi and fantasy including the Game of Thrones.

14:50 – Wearing a knight costume gave an Ian a different sense of movement. Wearing armor and wielding a sword gives one a new sense of weight and such. Props can give you a new sense of how you relate to others.

17:20 – Ian loves being on stage and getting the feeling of having connected with the audience. He’s also started enjoying rehearsing a lot more.

19:42 – Ian addresses how he approached his roles in Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

20:30 – Ian loves acting and will keep doing it as long as he can.

21:40 – He was in a Ken Brannaugh production and he met Jack Lemmon. He had always been a big fan of Jack and loved working with him. It was the only time he did a fan thing and he asked Jack for a favor.

24:50 – He had to give up science while in school because the system required one to choose science or the arts. But he really liked science and misses having learned it.

25:55 – He’s more of a fan of gritty dramas rather than sci-fi or fantasy. However, as a child he would have liked to be able to fly and enjoy the freedom and sensation of flight.

28:18 – Ian believes that apart from entertaining people, actors can help people think outside the box and to broaden their minds.

30:00 – Ian has a twitter account @serianmc

Links of interest

https://twitter.com/SerIanMc

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Ian McElhinney

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, barristan selmy, game of thrones, star wars, rogue one, General Dodonna, sci-fi, acting, props, Belfast, Ireland, Brandeis, Krytpon, Superman

Sci-fi armor and weapons – James Johnson interview

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James Johnson is a builder with ShotanKazori Studio. I spoke with him about his work at Escape Velocity 2018.

2:33 – James talks about the props Shotan Kazori creates. They build every genre, Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, armor, guns, weapons.

4:09 – Everything they build has a visual component, an auditory component, and a kenistetic component. They’ve even added sound amplification for helmets.

6:28 – Their Mandalorioan Wraith Armor is fitted to James. They fit any armor to the person who buys it. They build light to heavy armor.

7:42 – They brought a Kyber shield to Escape Velocity.

9:17 – James collected toys until he was 18 and stopped until he was 48. He loves Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, LOTR and so on. They love anime and James is into Halo.

11:08 – A Grendel rifle would take a month to make. Armor could take a week to many months depending on how detailed the buyer wants their armor. They build from scratch to finish.

13:23 – They also have an Apax Mnemnon lightsaber built for Escape Velocity. It has 137 points of detail. They also consider the “era” the weapons is from.

16:27 – James wanted to be the Hulk when he was young and still does. He also loves Tony Stark and feels like him in the shop.

17:22 – He’d love to build something very challenging. He’d want to build the Mech Armor for a group of four.

18: 22 – They’re exclusively on instagram at shotan kazori. They’re just outside of Atlantic City and can be reached on instagram. They also teach how to make props on instagram.

Links

Instagram Shotan_Kazori

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez, on twitter @crisalvarezwlc, and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: James Johnson

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, props, builder, mech, grendel, lightsaber, rifle, flame thrower, armor