Richard Bonehill
Snowtrooper, Stormtrooper, Palo Torshan (The Empire Strikes Back), Stormtrooper, Mosep, Ree-Yees (Return of the Jedi)
Interview: March 2006
Mr. Bonehill, in both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi you played various characters; Stormtroopers, rebels, aliens….if you could pick one favorite character, which one would it be? And why?
This is an easy one to answer. At the time my favorite part was that of a Rebel Soldier, purely because it was the most comfortable costume to wear. The masked aliens such as Ree-Yees were the most uncomfortable. Over the years I have become very attached and proud to have been a snowtrooper and stormtrooper. The stormtrooper really has become an iconic symbol of the Empire so I would pick him as my favorite character.
What would you regard as your best memory from the two Star Wars movies you played in. Is there a special moment you’ll cherish forever? And what was the funniest thing that ever happened on the set?
One of the things I remember most was the terrible vision in the
stormtrooper costumes. The eyes were made of a badly formed misty green
plastic. It was like trying to see underwater, only vague shapes were
visible. The helmets also tended to move round on the head when you
moved this led to many hilarious situations with stormtroopers
staggering all over the place. I remember one particular scene in the
ice tunnels in Empire Strikes Back where there were about a dozen
of us with Darth Vader. We were lined up in a column of two’s. Two were
in front of Vader and the rest of us behind him. We were facing an ice
wall which was going to explode and we were all to emerge into another
ice tunnel. It took all morning to set up the explosion and when it came
to the ‘take’ it was a complete disaster. The explosion went off and
was so enormous and created a fog of polystyrene that no-one could see
anything .Now blind and deaf the first two stormtroopers made it through
the explosion and promptly fell flat on their faces. Darth Vader then
attempted to make his entrance only to find that the two troopers behind
him were standing on his cloak. He gave it an enormous tug and the cape
tore away leaving him to appear without half his costumes. The rest of
us then piled past him, fell over the first two storm troopers and hit
the deck. I was one of the lucky ones who actually made it past the pile
of bodies to stagger down the corridor only to find that my helmet was
now on back to front! Now completely blind with great style I collided
with the wall and fell flat on my back! As you can imagine it was a
scene of complete chaos and much hilarity. We did not re-shoot the scene
on the same day so I do not know if it was ever included in the film ,
but somewhere there must exist a wonderful out-take.
Probably my biggest claim to fame on the Star Wars films is that I
was the only extra whose autograph was requested by one of the
principles. When some of the ‘regular’ crew of extras were working on
the film we got quite friendly with the leading actors. At that time
they was a special anniversary edition of The Eagle comic. I had been
doing some photo -story shoots and I appeared in a story in this
anniversary edition. What I did not know was that Mark Hamill was a
great Eagle collector. He recognized me in the comic and was mightily
impressed! So in front of all the crew he asked me to sign his copy of
the comic!! Isn’t life bizarre !!!
Another rather strange story I remember is that one day four of us
stormtroopers we asked to do a stills photoshoot with Darth Vader. We
were asked by the second assistant director to make a mess of it,
dropping our guns, helmets etc. and try and make it last for at least
three hours. This did seem very strange at the time but as it meant
extra money we did our best to make fools of ourselves! We found out
later that the object of the exercise was to keep Dave Prowse away from
the shooting stage where the main unit was filming the scene where is
helmet was removed to reveal a different actor as Darth Vader!
You’re a sword master and member of the British Fencing Association. In both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , Bob Anderson did the swordfights. Why didn’t George Lucas use you to stand in for Mark Hamill and/or Dave Prowse during the lightsaber fights?
At the time of filming Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi I was a top class fencer but was just at the start of my film career. To become a sword master takes many years of film experience. Modern sports fencing is ‘light years’ (if you forgive the pun) away from stage and film fights. Completely different techniques are required as well as a knowledge of camera angles and techniques. Now when I work on a production I work closely with the actors, director, cinematographer, costume designer, production designer etc. etc. To give you the short answer I would have been completely under qualified for the job. It would have been like asking a normal driver to drive in a Formula 1 race.
Of all the movies and series you have worked on, which are you most proud of? And why?
The next one. As I hope the fights will look more dangerous and exciting then I have designed previously. I am attending the BAFTA premiere of Sharpe’s Challenge next weekend and I will be very interested to see how it looks.
Besides working on movies, you have done some conventions over the years. What is your most memorable experience regarding conventions? And what is your opinion on conventions?
I was astonished on attending my first convention at the enthusiasm and depth of knowledge of the people attending the event. In fact after appearing at my first convention I did do a lot more ‘home work’ so that I could answer questions more intelligently. I love to travel so I enjoy attending conventions but obviously given the choice I would rather be working on a new production. However attending events I have made many new friends and I am very pleased and surprised that films I worked on twenty-five years ago are still such highly regarded.
