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Elstree 1976 poster

Film · 2015

Elstree 1976

Directed by Jon Spira · starring Garrick Hagon, David Prowse and James Caan

  • 1 h 37 min
  • 12
  • Documentary
  • UK

Synopsis

In 1976, in a time far, far away, ?Star Wars? didn?t even exist. It was in the suburbs of London, in the Elstree studios, where everything was born and the cinema industry will change forever. That gave a very rich universe full of characters and stories created by George Lucas. An universe that came to stay, as the last movies certify.

Some of the people whose lives changed were the ones whose faces were not so visibles because of the clothing that they were wearing of the hours behind their make-ups and prosthetics. This documentary is based on a huge variety of interviews with actors and extras that remember their jobs in the movies of the saga and how they affected to their lives being part of them, from some disappointments due to not being in the movie as much as they wanted to many joys due to their assistance to several conventions and see the creativity of the fans. What do these actors do right now? Are they still working or are retired? This is the question that they try to answer in ?Elstree 1976?.

?Elstree 1976? is directed by the British Jon Spira, known for directing other documentaries such as ?Anyone Can Play Guitar? or some short movies such as ?Suityman?. In the production side, Steve Milne (?Robot Overlords?) and Han Starts (?Trick or Treat?) are in charge of that.

The essentials

Runtime
97 min1 hour and 37 minutes
Budget
£135,000
Rating
12Suitable for 12 years and over
How long is Elstree 1976?
1 hour and 37 minutes (97 minutes).
Who directed Elstree 1976?
Jon Spira.
Who is in Elstree 1976?
It stars Garrick Hagon, David Prowse, James Caan and Anthony Daniels.
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Director
Jon Spira
Writers
Jon Spira

Videos and trailers

See the video

Photos and posters

All 7 photos

Reviews

All 5 reviews

What the critics say average 6.5 from 5 outlets

  • 8.0 New York TimesNeil Genzlinger "'Star Wars' fans will, of course, love this film, but it?s also a thought-provoking exploration of the dawning of our current age." Read
  • 7.5 The PlaylistOliver Lyttelton "Without patronizing or condescending, it?s an examination of how fame can change us and haunt us, and of the complicated relationships that survivors of something like 'Star Wars' can have with it." Read
  • 7.0 Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan "The best parts of 'Elstree', not surprisingly, are the war stories these nine men and one woman share, their vivid memories of a shoot one calls "as primitive as it gets"." Read

Trivia

  • Crowdfunding

    Director Jon Spira set a crowdfunding trough kikcstarter.com in order to end the shooting of the film.

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