Michael Brown Autograph

This is a pretty unusual autograph just in the history side of things.

Michael Brown
Michael Brown Autograph – Return of the Jedi

Michael Brown was a local resident of Smith River where they filmed the Forest scenes for Return of The Jedi. In his own words “I was just playing music at Ship Ashore one night and landed a role in ‘Jedi’ when I overheard the casting directors talking. They said, ‘We need to hire another guy’, I was a little bold so I said, ‘hey I’ll do it.’ They looked me up and down and said, ‘You’ll have to shave your moustache.’ That was the only time I shaved my moustache”.

Michael got to be two types of bad guys; an Imperial officer and a stormtrooper. For a long time, he carried around a Polaroid of himself in the stormtrooper uniform. As an Imperial officer his face is clearly visible. He even has a line: “They went that way,” as the Battle of Endor breaks out.

He recounted the long-told story of the crew clearing out the natural habitat and putting in fake greenery for the Imperial bunker. This was to get the same vegetation in each shot, Brown said. “There were 200 idiots trampling all these bushes,” he said, recalling the numerous takes. “They would call for the grounds crew to come back and put in the exact same bushes.” Having “been raised here,” Brown helped scout the location for an early scene in ‘Jedi’ when Princess Leia meets the Ewok Wicket after crashing her speeder bike. The speeder bike chase scene was the only time Brown remembered seeing actor Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the set. The crew set up mini railroad tracks through the redwoods and Michael recalled how a truck pulled Luke Skywalker on the bike along the tracks. “The first time I saw the speeder bike scenes, I was just like, Wow, that brings back memories.”

Brown was probably the closest to the major stars, Carrie Fisher, Ford, and Hamill. Brown recalled being shot in the forehead with a blank by Fisher when he and other Imperial officers tried to arrest Princess Leia and Han Solo.

I love the history and I love the Graph.

:MTFBWY: all

Dave

 

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