One Star Wars Scene Accidentally Set Peter Mayhew And His Chewbacca Costume On Fire
The "Star Wars" galaxy can be a dangerous place, especially if you're a very tall walking carpet. Furry Wookiees like Chewbacca (played by the late Peter Mayhew in the original trilogy) might as well be kindling when you pair them with electronics as old as the ones in the Millennium Falcon. While Chewbacca himself is a great pilot and has clearly lived a long time (he's over 200 years old in "The Rise of Skywalker"), the life of Mayhew faced a threat thanks to Chewie's furry exterior.
In the 1983 book "Star Wars – The Making of Return of the Jedi" by John Phillip Peecher, Mayhew spoke about what it was like to wear that giant fluffy suit in the extreme conditions of the shoot through the first three films in the franchise. Though he said shooting in Yuma, Arizona wasn't too bad, because the air was dry, Crescent City, California (where they filmed some scenes set on the moon of Endor) was rough. Since the suit was cast off his facial features, he could at least see out of it, but there was one issue that made things unavoidably hot. Poor Peter Mayhew was accidentally set on fire.
'Oh, Peter, you are on fire'
The thing about wearing a giant suit like the one Mayhew wears for the role is that you can't always tell when something is happening that isn't quite right. Though he could see out of that face mask, he wasn't completely aware of what was going on elsewhere... like his nether regions. While it's best not to think about that part of a Wookiee for too long, it did become an issue once. Mayhew said:
"So many things happened-like when I was set on fire. We were doing bluescreen. Carrie and I were in the Falcon cockpit. They had baby spotlights placed between my legs. Next, there was smoke coming out. Carrie turned and said, 'Oh, Peter, you are on fire.' I was totally oblivious to what was happening. It was a confined space, my head was on, and I thought, Come on, let's just get on with it. If Carrie hadn't said something, there would have been a burned Wookiee."
Oh boy, that could have ended very badly. It's wonderful that Fisher caught it and Mayhew didn't end up with any injuries, but admittedly, the first thing I thought of was the smell of burning yak and mohair (which is what the suit was made from). Between that and the fact that Mayhew had to have a team around him so he wasn't shot by a hunter thinking he was going to be the first one to bag a Bigfoot, the actor went through a lot for our viewing pleasure.
All the "Star Wars" films are currently streaming on Disney+.