Mark Hamill And A Star Wars Co-Star Once Snuck Horses Off Set For Some Fun
Thanks to the generation-defying success of "Star Wars" and the obsessive passionate fanbase that followed, no stone has gone unturned in documenting the making of George Lucas' epic, fantastical space opera. Whether it's acknowledging how Lucas revived a 1950s form of filmmaking technology to pull off the effects or how Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, helped Mark Hamill land the role of Luke Skywalker, you don't have to be a film historian to put together a timeline of how "Star Wars" came to be. As impressive as it is to hear all about the technical mastery that went into making spaceships, planets, alien creatures, and the iconic costume designs, there's also a lot of fun to be had to learn about the backstage hijinks the cast and crew got into.
Like the time Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker, and Laze "Fixer" Loneozner went on an unsanctioned horse riding adventure.
If that last name doesn't sound familiar to you, don't worry, because Fixer was tragically cut from the final film. However, the actor who played him, Anthony Forrest, was part of one of the silliest off-screen "Star Wars" production stories. Forrest, along with Garrick Hagon, who played Biggs Darlighter, and Mark Hamill snuck out one night after Forrest had rented some horses to go riding across the Tunisian desert. "I was the one that ordered the horses," Forrest once told Ethan Slater in an interview. "It was my 'Lawrence of Arabia' moment. [Laughs] I saw us galloping across the desert on these Arabian stallions. I don't know how I managed to do it, but there were people around who provided these rides for tourists, so I managed to rope us into that. Had the insurance company known, they probably would have shot me on the spot."
Thankfully, no one got hurt
Garrick Hagon also talked about the adventure with StarWars.com, calling the moment one of the standouts of his time working on the film. "One foolhardy stunt we did, not on the shoot, but on a day off. Mark, Tony, and I managed to get horses and go out for a really intense ride, and we had some really wild fun," he said. "But that was really irresponsible of us. I mean, if anything had happened to Mark, that would have been a disaster. Fortunately, nothing did, but still. But it was great fun." It sounds like a bit of harmless fun considering no one got hurt, but can you imagine how cinema history could have changed had Hamill gotten bucked into the sand or something? Would the film have replaced him? Would Lucas have had to delay the project? What cursed butterfly effect could that ride have wrought?!
Thankfully, because no one got hurt, the three actors have a great memory to share and fans have a fun bit of trivia to share. John "Dak" Morton of StarWars.com called it "magical" how people bond while working on films together, and Hagon said the majority of the cast and crew all went back home on the same charter flight, and it was one big party: "I have in my mind a particular image of Kenny Baker [R2-D2], and Jack Purvis [the Chief Jawa], his partner in The Minitones, doing their cabaret act in the aisles. I'd never seen it before. So funny."
Ah, to have been a fly on the wall during that flight!