KENNY BAKER

Darin and Scott grinning like idiots with Kenny Baker.

From the Official Star Wars Homepage, George Lucas stands next to R2

3/17/98 - NEW PREQUEL STUFF FROM BRITISH MAG!!!

Adam Leach just sent us some scans from the newest British Star Wars magazine. Click on the thumbnails to view a larger version.

• A pic of Kenny Baker and stand-ins Ray Griffiths and Gavin Hale overseeing the testing of an electro-mechanical Artoo Detoo. Notice all the blue-screens in the background.

2/3/98 - BAKER AND MEN BEHIND THE MASKS ON BBC - Several of our British friends sent in reports of the old Star Wars gang on TV. Here's Andrew Jones' report:

Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse and Jeremy Bulloch appeared on Light Lunch today, a daytime chat show on Channel 4.

The program started with the 2 female presenters, chatting with Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and David Prowse about the success of the trilogy and the usual questions about how hot they were acting in there costumes, then the blonde female presenter brought up the subject of the prequels, she asked Kenny if he had any gossip;

Kenny : "Well to be quite honest I didn't have a script, because I don't need a script, I just go see, and George Lucas said, look this way, look that way, imagine you've got something on the blue screen, and half of it, you've got to imagine, so really I don't know what the story is, I haven't got a clue to be honest".

Presenter : "A little birdy, I have to say, did tell me, that during one of the scenes, Ewan Mcgregor was doing a lightsaber scene, he was making the noises of the lightsaber ".

Kenny : "He may have been, but I wasn't in that scene, so I don't know what he was doing".

Presenter : "No gossip at all".

Kenny : "No, my lips are sealed".

The program was dedicated to Star Wars, the second half, introduced Jeremy Bulloch, he mentioned that his sons were on the internet and mentioned the many Boba Fett web sites appearing on the net, he mentioned the Vault, a pretty cool site at http://bobafett.bounty-hunters.com

I'll keep you updated on any other news appearing in the UK.

That concludes his report. Thanks to Strider and Brian Cameron, who also sent it reports.

12/05/97 - Steve Head sent us the following news items.

from THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC 10-27-97

Baker recently was busy filming the first of the three Star Wars prequels, which stars Liam Neeson. He says he knows only a vague outline of the highly secretive plot. At least, that's all to which he'll admit. "I spent nearly all my time in front of a blue screen," Baker says. "It was just like the first film because no one really knew what the story was about. Only this time, there's a lot more confidence on the set." Also, as on Star Wars, actors won't be getting a cut of the profits. Baker says Lucas told the cast that any box-office bonanzas would be needed to launch the next two films. Baker is sure actors will be amply compensated for the next two movies.

10/25/97 - KENNY BAKER INTERVIEW

posted by Scott 3:00 pm CST

Harry Knowles had a fan report about an article about Kenny Baker (R2) in the Akron Beacon Journal. I did a little investigating and found the original article on the Akron web site. Baker talks about Natalie Portman, filming in the robot suit, and C-3PO. Pretty interesting. However, as usual, the stupid reporter threw in his own opinions. He says that the title of the film is 'Balance of the Force', which we have long known is bogus. So, if I were you, I'd only believe what is quoted from Kenny Baker directly. Ignore the rest, IMO. Here's the article

6/30/97 - JC on the RASSM newsgroup and The Star Wars Wonder World Page have confirmed the following info. At DragonCon in Atlanta this past weekend, Kenny Baker confirmed that he will definitely be R2-D2 in the prequels. He has been fitted for the ORIGINAL DROID COSTUME. He will be flying to Leavesden Tuesday to begin filming, then he's off to Tunisia for more filming. He knows nothing of the script yet. He also stated his son might be having a part in the new films. We are still waiting for reports from our DragonCon people and will update you as soon as we hear from them.

The 2/3/97 issue of People has an article on where the old Star Wars actors are now. Warwick Davis (Wicket, Willow) says, "I have official word that I will be involved (in the prequels)." Also, Kenny Baker (R2-D2) says of the prequels "If R2-D2 is in the movie, I'll be in the movie. That's what George Lucas told me." There you have it!