Guests this week are the Jedi-licious (hmmm…something very creepy about that word) Amy Allen and Supervising Sound Editor and Voice of everyone’s favorite non-Sith Star Wars baddy, General Grievous, Matthew Wood.
Everyone knows Amy Allen as Jedi Knight Aayla Secura in Episodes II and III, but do you know she played other roles in the Star Wars saga? She was inserted into the Episode I DVD as a Twi’lek senatorial aide (to replace some boring human senators that were in the original film version) and also played some human characters in the bar in Episode II. Go figure! Yet another reason for me to go back and look carefully through those movies.
Poor Amy! Arnie, one of the show hosts, has taken a terrific liking to her. He started the talk show by explaining how he was supposed to be her padawan in Episode III and right before they were cut down by clone troopers, he was supposed to say something like, “Oh Aayla, I have been your student in the ways of the Force, now, I am your student in the ways of LOVE!” Hrm. Evidently they were supposed to be shot down while making out. At least in Arnie’s version of the Star Wars galaxy. Poor guy. Amy fended off his attempt to re-enact the scene by coughing, which she later described as a “gag reflex”. OUCH!
Matthew Wood has been a wizard of sound working beside Ben Burtt on the prequels, and also has appeared in Episode I as Bib Fortuna, and done voices for characters like Ody Mandrell and the Dug air-taxi driver in Episode II. And of course, he did the voice of Grievous. There’s a great video clip of him doing the Grievous voice at the end of the article. For all you Grievous fans, good news! Matt said they were adding a Grievous scene to the version of the movie coming out on DVD. From the way he talked about it, it’s not a cut scene, but a scene added to the movie. Yea! Extended edition!
Here is a clip from Matt’s appearance on Saturday:
I got to meet Matt and surprise him with the picture that my wife and I took with him at the Episode III premiere. He autographed it and graciously took another picture with me. The funny thing is, we were only kind of introduced at the premiere (we were more a kind of “fly on the wall” for him talking with some mutual friends) and I totally forgot to tell him my name when he autographed the picture (as Threepio would say, “How rude!”) so at this point we’ve met twice and I don’t think he knows my name. =)
I have to say though, that everytime I walked by the autograph area, Matt and Amy were out there signing. Here in Florida right now, it’s like 95 degrees and partly cloudy all weekend, which means they pretty much have to stand around in soupy humidity all weekend. (They do get covered areas to sign and some piped in air conditioning, but it’s still pretty nasty out there, and they are running from event to event each day.) So I give them a lot of credit for making the effort to really stay out there and sign for the fans. They really are a big part of making Star Wars Weekends a success, and I’m always glad to see the celebrities come out and enjoy it.
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