Kylo Ren is so 2015.
Kids (including the adult kind), I regret to inform you that Darth Vader didn’t really die. He’s an 80-year-old white guy living in England, and when official “Star Wars” trilogy conventions started, he said, “I’d like to be able to cash in on this.”
According to “Elstree 1976,” David Prowse — who wore the Dark Lord’s costume on camera — unfortunately got a touch too enthusiastic in claiming the role at such events, despite the fact that he neither voiced Vader nor was the face that was revealed when Vader’s mask was ultimately taken off. So George Lucas banned him from cashing in at official “Star Wars” conventions. (Unofficial ones, however, are OK.)
“Elstree 1976” pulls back the curtain on 10 of the bit players whom Lucas hired for his 1976 London shoot of the Little Blockbuster That Could. Few even knew what they’d signed on for: “We thought it was going to be on TV,” says John Chapman, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him X-Wing pilot. Others echo the low-budget feel and how they regarded their casting as just another gig. One, having never met Lucas, asked the soon-to-be-giant filmmaker to fetch him some coffee, luv.
“Elstree” director Jon Spira is similarly elusive about his own subject, having funded his unsanctioned documentary through Kickstarter and appearing to include short clips of “A New Hope” following fair-use laws. If you hadn’t known the subject of the film — its title refers to the studio where Lucas shot — going in, it might take you a while to catch on: The film opens with a white canvas and unseen people talking about their action figures, which occasionally populate the screen. “Immortalized in plastic,” one man says. “What other kind of great accolade as an actor can you achieve?”
This guy sounds sincere, as does Pam Rose (identifiable because she’s the only woman in “Elstree”). But Spira accompanies their words with slow, sad piano, as if the actors are desperately hanging on to a huge piece of pop culture with which they actually had little to do. Then come the sob stories of having grown up poor, without parents, ill, etc. It’s remarkable what downtrodden backgrounds most of them share. It’s also boring.
Lucas and the production aren’t even mentioned until 25 minutes into “Elstree.” Then we get some remembrances of how the set smelled and the costumes irritated. Pam says, “It was just like another job, except you looked weird.” There are some mildly entertaining stories, such as how Angus MacInnes, who played Gold Leader, was actually reading his lines from a script on his lap when his scene was filmed.
But that’s about it. The documentary then strays to random details of the actors’ lives some decades on, including one having hurt his back and subsequently getting addicted to Valium or another suffering from depression. A notable number of these people got into music; even more had little interest in passionately pursuing acting.
Late in the film, Spira introduces one more actor: Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett. Though it makes the doc feel lopsided, Jeremy helps serve to transition the topic into conventions. (His imitation of crazily obsessed fans is the highlight of the film.) Apparently there is some jealousy about his popularity at events from the actors whose faces were actually in the film. Sadly, no fisticuffs occur.
If this weren’t fascinating enough, “Elstree” then offers tidbits like Pam moving to a new house and that Derek Lyons (who played a couple of small roles) once found it difficult to smile. This inside look into the biggest blockbuster of all time could only be duller if Spira included tax records or slides of family vacations.
Still, it’s inarguable that some fans, somewhere, will relish every detail. That’s how internationally indelible “Star Wars” has become — allegedly, 25 percent of the world’s population has seen it. Paul Blake, who played Greedo and is one of the few subjects here with a pulse, warmed to the phenomenon once he started attending conventions, thinking, “There’s something quite special going on.” In “Elstree 1976,” such specialness does not translate to film.