As soon as I finished watching Jon Spira’s Elstree 1976 there was one question that just kept running through my mind – how come no one is talking about this documentary? Star Wars is arguably the biggest movie franchise of all time and is a cultural phenomenon like none other and here we have a documentary directly related to Star Wars and nobody is talking about it? This boggles my mind!

The film talks to 10 actors that were either extras or had some “secondary” role in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. I put secondary in quotes because the actors interviewed had roles that varied so much and have gathered various levels of fan fare over the years that this secondary isn’t quite the same as secondary in another film. Plus one of the actors is David Prowse and well, he had a pretty big role playing Darth Vader and all. In addition to Prowse the film interviews Jeremy Bulloch, who actually didn’t appear in Episode IV but is in Episode V and Episode VI as Boba Fett, Paul Blake (Greedo), Anthony Forest (Sandtrooper, Fixer), John Chapman (X-Wing Pilot), Laurie Goode (Stormtrooper), Garrick Hagon (Biggs), Derek Lyons (Temple Guard/Medal Bearer) and Pam Rose (Leesub Sirlin). Of these 10 actors only Prowse, Bulloch and Blake were actually credited in the film.

The film spends equal amounts of time with each actor and goes through certain phases of their lives. It opens with by delivering a backstory on everyone – we learn where they’re from, what their goals were growing up and just a quick general overview of their lives. After getting to know a little bit about everyone we jump into their experience on Star Wars, starting with how it all came about. Most of them just showed up to a casting call and we’re given a role. They didn’t really audition or have a choice for the role. Prowse was actually approached by Lucas and company because he was a well known body builder and his physique was perfect for the role of Vader.

After we get a grasp on how everyone became involved in the film we then get to hear about their experiences and what they thought while making it. For the most part they all just thought it was any other job. Rose in particular states that it was like any other role where she’s just reading lines except for in this film you look funny. They all do make mention of how impressive the sets where and how now looking back it’s crazy that they were in the same room as the Millennium Falcon but at the time they had no idea what was coming.

Anthony Forest has some of the most interesting moments and stories. He was originally cast as Fixer, a good friend of Luke’s. They filmed his scenes and Forest was quite proud of the character. The role was small, but he served an important purpose as a friend of Luke’s. One day Forester received a call to show up on set and play another character. He was confused but he said Lucas let him know his face would be covered in this role so it wouldn’t cause any problems with the Fixer role. Forest showed up and they immediately started dressing him as a Sandtrooper. It ended up being the Sandtrooper that is fooled by Obi-wan’s Jedi mind tricks. Fixer ended up being cut from the movie. So the role Forest was cast in originally was ultimately cut and you don’t see his face in the film, but he ended up playing in one of the most iconic scenes of the film. People may not know the name Anthony Forest, but we all quote one of his scenes.

Each actor has a story similar to that of Forest, with some being more interesting than others. I won’t go into the other stories here because I think they’re better suited for the movie.

Each interview is done separately so we never see the actors interact with one another, until a very brief bit spot between two of them during the final credits. Depsite the lack of interaction there is a very interesting dynamic between the actors that shines through. There are different tiers to the actors – you have your obvious stars of the film, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, etc. none of which are in this documentary, followed by Prowse and Peter Mayhew that play large roles without ever actually being seen on screen, then there’s Bulloch and Blake and other guys who play popular costumed characters that have small roles, then your extras who actually have their faces appear on screen which is the case for someone like Lyons and finally your other extras who are way off in the background and never noticed by anyone other than the actual extras themselves. There are different levels of jealousy at each stage that is fascinating. For example an extra who has their face on screen doesn’t understand why guys like Bulloch and Blake are more popular when they’re just wearing helmets, but at the same time they think lesser of extras who were further in the background. It’s kind of crazy.

The film then touches base on what, if anything, these actors have done since Star Wars and what they’re doing now. Many of them still attend conventions to this day, a few actually state that’s where the majority of their income comes from. Think about that – a guy who handed a medal to Luke Skywalker in Episode 1 is still making money off that brief moment nearly 40 years later. I don’t blame them by the way, make that money while you can!

Whether or not you find any of this interesting or not likely depends on how much you like Star Wars. I would think the people that attend conventions and wait more than 30 minutes in line to see some of these bit players will absolutely love this. The rest of the world may not care so much, unless you just like to hear behind the scenes stories from movies. I’m a Star Wars fan, but I wouldn’t say I’m a fanatic and I loved this. Elstree 1976 is a look at Star Wars from an angle we’ve never seen before and to me that is a truly fascinating look.