Hollywood director Brian Volk-Weiss has revealed that the first ever Star Wars film could have had a completely different ending.
Brian and his team at Nacelle Company, who are behind docuseries such as The Toys That Made Us and Down To Earth With Zac Efron, have taken a six hour deep dive into Star Wars Episodes I-VI for new TV show Icons Unearthed, which is currently airing on Vice TV.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, Brian spoke about making Icons Unearthed, having dinner with C3PO actor Anthony Daniels and shared some of the incredible behind the scenes stories from the making of the saga.
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Icons Unearthed features interviews with cast and crew involved in the making of Star Wars, including Billy Dee Williams, Paul Hirsch, Rick Baker, John Dykstra and Ian McDiarmid – as well as the first ever on-camera interview with George Lucas' wife at the time, Marcia Lucas.
Their stories have revealed never-before-heard insights into the films, with Brian saying that one moment particularly took him by surprise.
"To give you a couple of specifics, I had never heard – and this is a spoiler for episode two – I had never heard that, because they were overschedule and over budget, Fox wanted to end the movie after they rescued Princess Leia," said Brian.
"There was lot of pressure on George [Lucas] to just wrap it up and don't even shoot the final battle."
He revealed that the first episode of Icons Unearthed also explains that a last-minute decision inspired the opening of the iconic cantina scene, saying: "Do you remember that shot in the cantina with that alien with the gold eyes and that's how they open the interior of the cantina scene?
"I never even noticed this, but I was sitting there interviewing Rick Baker and Rick's like, 'Did you ever notice that metal thing sticking out the back of his head?'
"I went, 'oh yeah, I never thought about it, but yeah.' I asked, 'what is that?' and he said, 'that's a flash light'.
"He said, 'when we were shooting, the eyes weren't lighting and we were in such a rush, I just placed a flashlight .into the back of the model and turned it on, not knowing the alien creature would turn its head and it would be in a the shot."
Along with the story behind a crew night out that later inspired the name of character Salacious Crumb, Brian recalled that interviewing cast and crew involved was a "surreal" and "wonderful" experience, where he learnt dozens of new facts everyday.
"If you want to understand the sense of scale, I would say, quote on quote, studying Star Wars since I was eight. I've been lucky to learn one or two new things per year.
"In Marcia's six hours, I learnt probably about 50 new things. In one day."
That's not all, as Brian also recounted the incredible moment he was taken out for dinner by none other than C-3PO himself, Anthony Daniels.
"It was very, very, very surreal. I am in showbusiness because of Star Wars. It was seeing Star Wars that affected my entire career choice. To be talking to people that were there, it was crazy.
"All of these people I had been reading about in books…to be sitting with them. I flew to England for Anthony Daniels and he wanted to get dinner afterwards, and it was like, 'is this real life?'. It was wonderful."
He added: "What people don't understand about Anthony Daniels…you know it, but you don't really think about it, more than George Lucas, he is a witness to history. Other than the writing process on A New Hope, he was there. He was there for absolutely everything."
Not only is Brian grateful to the cast and crew for sharing their stories with him as part of Icons Unearthed, but the director also said he could not have produced the eye-opening series without the team he works with.
"I know people know this, but I think it's important to say – I am part of a gigantic team. I am one person, I do what I do, but our Editors, our Researchers, our crew. I couldn't do any of this without being a part of this team."
With episode three recently airing, Brian is also thankful to the fans for their response to Icons Unearthed, saying: "Literally reading thousands of comments and DM's saying, 'oh my god this is beautiful.' Literally stuff, if I'm being honest with you, that made me tear up a little bit."
Talking about the future of Icons Unearthed, he also added:
"It's all about how this does. It has gotten off to a really great start and we're really happy with it. It seems like we'll do something next. I have a lot of ideas," saying: "It doesn't have to be a movie, it doesn't have to be a TV show – it could be a person, it could be a building.
"Whatever is iconic, in my dreams, that's what we would do."
ICONS UNEARTHED IS CURRENTLY AIRING ON VICE TV.
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