110: “It was a boring conversation anyway…”
c.1982? | age 14? Borrrr-ring. A bit like today’s page. Better drawing—but boring. As you’ll know, if you’ve been reading these blogs, I get more of a kick and tickle out of the oldest, most poorly-drawn ones. So we’re doing penance today: you get the rough with the smooth, at SWa9.
“Were sending a SQUADUP”
Art Notes & More Literary Appreciationment
I think this is from around 1982. I can’t understand why I didn’t even bother to finish drawing Solo in the top-right panel. I was probably impatient to get to some more BLASTING! Here’s my modern take on the dialogue in this old page:
“What is your operating?!?”
“Eh? You’re not making sense! My operating—what?“
“We’re sending a SQUADUP!”
“Great, very helpful. Now you’ve completely lost me. What the hell’s a squadup?”
Film Notes
In the film, Harrison Ford—almost absentmindedly—mutters, “It was a boring conversation anyway…” and then snaps out of it, turning to shout in a very gruff growl, “Luke – we got company!”
It’d be interesting to know how much is Ford’s invention and how much is Lucas‘. Even if George did write it word for word, it’s the change in tone, indeed the entire rapid change in attitude that makes it. Carrie Fisher says “Harrison used to rewrite a lot of his lines” and wishes that she’d had the clout to do it too. But she concedes that her character was a pretty serious minded one anyway. I remember being surprised around 1997 to hear that he was acting in a comedy—the pirate/desert island one—with Ann Heche; especially after my wife Gabby noted how “he’s so boring in interviews“. But he was made for comedy. Light comedy admittedly, but he showed his comic flair in Star Wars and the Indiana Jones films. I swear, sometimes he used to remind me of Oliver Hardy especially when the pugnacious bald German gives him a bloody nose in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But lots of performers—even funny ones—are boring in interviews and off-camera. Apparently Steve Martin’s really dull on set; Gary Cooper used to wander off and fall asleep in between shots and John Cleese and Stephen Fry suffer from depression—as do many comedians. Spike Milligan, during one attack of mania, tried to kill Peter Sellers—with a potato peeler. Yes, you heard me. Gary Cooper though, Hmmm. Ford is a little bit like him in some ways.
Wandering a bit today eh? It mustn’t be a great comic page at all—so it’ll need an extra push! Why not give it a share or two? That’s what really spreads the word about creative works online these days: social media shares.
P.S: I gave another Comics Lecture today!
I gave another one of my talks about comics and webcomics at Ballyfermot Senior College today in Dublin, to their Illustration Students. I enjoyed it, despite this bug that I seemed to have caught. Funnily enough, I felt great driving there and giving the talk, but I’ve crashed now. Perhaps I was running on adrenaline for a few hours?
I talked about by own life-story with comics right up to my grown-up comics, including Between * Wars and after a break, spent another hour discussing my own working methods and touched on those of other artists. We took a look at tools and materials, and the options available for publishing them online.
A touch of Kirby, by Irish Artist Karl O’Rowe
I gave them an opportunity to leave at 1pm for lunch, but there was no rush for the door, so it must have been OK.
Many thanks to Miriam Van Gelderen—head of Animation—for inviting me there to talk again, and to the students: Especially the nice chap who assisted me with the AV gear and especially-especially Karl O’Rowe, a talented artist who gifted me a copy of his self-published comic ‘Masters of Lunacy’ which he himself wrote and illustrated. It looks very good and professional, Karl. And I’m really looking forward to reading it tonight.
I recall an unauthorized biography of Ford in which the author compared both Ford and Gary Cooper and saying that Ford was very much regarded as a modern day Cooper. I haven’t seen many Cooper films but from the few clips I have seen, there is a definite similarity in terms of style and delivery.
As Ford gets older, I lament the fact that he hasn’t (at least, to my knowledge) sat down for an Inside The Actor’s Studio styled exploration of his career and himself as a person. Your wife is right in that the majority of interviews he has given over the years have been mind numbingly boring, which I think is a real shame because, I suspect that Ford is a much more engaging individual than we are lead to believe. I’d like to know what his motivations have been for choosing certain roles – and I’m not just talking about script and technical aspects or personnel on a given project. I’m interested in what drives Ford, his philosophical mind, his political mind, what gets him off and so on.
I’d personally like to hear him reflect on his life, his successes and his failings, whether he has any regrets and what his hopes are for the future, for his children. Of course, these things, he will likely never discuss publicly because of his legendary possessiveness of his privacy.
It’s still nice to dream…
Hi Dean. Yes, I wonder if he WANTS to be enigmatic–or is it just that, like Gary Cooper, he’s not that interested in movies or acting?
It’s difficult to imagine that he’s uninterested, because he seems to work hard at his roles. Like a real professional. I mean, you can see in various ‘Making of’ documentaries that he has no problem suggesting ideas to directors and working with then to get the most out of a scene. He seems interested.
But then why does he seem so much less interested and quite bored in interviews? Is it contempt? I hope not. Is it that he doesn’t like to reveal his real self but likes to stay behind the characters when he’s onscreen? That is reasonable. He does look a little embarrassed at times. It’s also reasonable of course that he finds interviews boring, but there must be worse things in life, especially when you’re paid to do it. Does he look embarrassed and coy because he feels self-conscious as himself, or is he embarrassed by the silliness of what he does for a living. Almost like he’s thinking, “C’mon, you don’t really expect me to talk seriously about this stuff, do you? It’s just entertainment.” (My words, not his)
He might also be purposely creating a sense of mystery, of the enigmatic hard-to-get-at artist. Francis Bacon rarely gave interviews and I’ve always thought that he was making that sort of access to his thought processes and working methods deliberately difficult in order to make them seem more mysterious, more special, making them seem like some sort of black art. After all, once it’s all explained, it mightn’t seem so special anymore. Why spoil the illusion, the magic? And Bacon wasn’t a curmudgeon. He was very friendly, lively, loved to have fun with his friends (though he was usually half-cut or completely pissed).
So what is it with Harrison Ford?
Such a classic scene. I always thought Harry was making it up as he went along. Just one of the handful of moments that made Han Solo the favourite of many a playground romp.
GRAKK! = Shoot the communicator.
At least I learned something today.
😀
There’s so much knowledge to be gained here at ‘Star Wars age 9’, Neil.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to shoot the phone or computer in response to some dumb comment! 😉
I guess that’s the advantage of being a lawless smuggler. 🙂
I love Han’s facial expressions.
Thanks T.
Hey! I just remembered that the Stormtrooper’s blasters were drawn from the teeny-tiny-weeny little ones that came with the action figures! It must have been the best reference that I had–to draw from.