![]() "You know, movies to watch with your eyes closed."Įditor's note: A version of this story was originally published in December 2015.Ĭopyright 2022 WBEZ. "We were making movies with the lights turned out," he says of his Star Wars experience. The security checkpoints at the airport, the intense scrutiny of him and his things. The sleepy little network received 50,000 letters and phone calls in a single week, and there was a 40 percent jump in audience.įor Madden, the experience eventually led him to direct his own movies, including the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love. The giant wall thats being built to keep out African immigrants is new. Toscan, the drama's executive producer, says, "It was analog with a vengeance." He says when the drama debuted in 1981, "We were all walking way out on a plank, I think, keeping our fingers crossed." But it was an overwhelming success. "You know, now you could take those breaths and move them on a computer screen and do it pretty easily." Back then, Voegeli was mixing with reel-to-reel tape machines and editing with razor blades. "Just choreographing Darth Vader's breathing so that he wasn't breathing in the wrong places," Voegeli says. But it could still take him an entire day to put together just a minute of audio. ![]() It didn't hurt that Voegeli had access to John Williams' music and Ben Burtt's sound effects from the film. Sachs says part of what makes that scene work is the mix by engineer Tom Voegeli. And I kind of clammed up as he hugged me and he said, 'Oh, you poor dear. "I'll never forget after it was finished, came out to the greenroom and he gave me a big hug. Sachs still gets the shivers when she thinks about taping that scene. Brock Peters plays Vader and Leia is voiced by Ann Sachs: In it, Princess Leia undergoes an excruciating interrogation at the hands of Darth Vader. So for instance, the radio version has an extended scene aboard the Death Star that never appeared in the movie. They enlisted science-fiction novelist Brian Daley to write more back story and exposition. The producers had to create 13 half-hour episodes from a movie that had only about 30 minutes of dialogue. Madden says Hamill, a radio newbie, was an absolute natural.īut turning a film known for its spectacular visuals into noncommercial radio wasn't easy. The Hollywood-public radio collaboration was so notable that there was a photographer in the studio to document it. Madden says, "The idea of doing this seemed a complete hoot, but I was so up for it."Īnd so were some of the movie's stars: Anthony Daniels returned as the uptight protocol droid C-3PO, and Mark Hamill voiced Luke Skywalker. The producers brought in John Madden, a little-known theater director who had worked with the BBC. ![]() So after a little prodding, he gave away the radio rights to Star Wars for $1 - a public radio budget if there ever was one. George Lucas had graduated from USC and was a fan of the campus NPR station. Happy #StarWarsDay! /LOZK1h1TkP- GBH May 4, 2022īut if this was selling out, it sure came cheap. John Williams conducted his first concert with the help of C-3PO and R2-D2, and has the archival footage to prove it! A long time ago (1980) in a galaxy (not so) far, far away. ![]()
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