Malakili Down Under sent this in from the Sydney Morning Herald :

On merchandising

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/08/1019441520971.html

and on Jay Laga'aia (Captain Typho)

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/08/1019441520974.html

Here's a sample from the article:

Jay Laga'aia was "gobsmacked" to work on the latest Star Wars episode in Sydney. The actor, best known for Water Rats and Play School, can hardly contain his enthusiasm as he talks about even the secrecy on set.

Being part of such a high-security operation was exhilarating, he says. Actors in costume always had to be accompanied, were ferried between studios in enclosed golf buggies and only saw the parts of the script that involved their characters.

Such security was understandable given the long lead time for a major visual-effects film and the commercial value of any secrecy breaches - another film-maker or toy company ripping off a storyline or lightsabre design, for example. Not to mention the film-makers' undoubted dismay at seeing paparazzi photos in newspapers of Obi-Wan Kenobi smoking and Anakin Skywalker riding a scooter during the Fox Studios shoot.

''They had a fresh-air area where you could relax but you couldn't step outside because of the security requirements," Laga'aia says. ''You could bring families in but they basically had to sign their lives away. You expect that from someone who's bringing back [the screen version of] the Bible."

While he has seen only trailers so far, Laga'aia believes he features for about 15 minutes in Attack of the Clones as Captain Typho, a security officer loyal to Natalie Portman's Senator Amidala.

He is renowned for losing his scripts but knew exactly where this one was at all times. His wife made sure he didn't lose it.

''They gave me the scripts that I was working on and nothing else. The scripts that were handed to us were basically printed on money paper in that there was a watermark through it. It was embossed. It [was] imprinted [with] your number so that if it fell into 'enemy hands' and they made copies of it, you knew exactly where that copy originated from."

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