Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope celebrates its 40th anniversary today, with fans all around the world honoring the film’s contributions to the science fiction genre. Among many things, it gave audiences arguably one of the best onscreen bloopers in cinematic history, when a stormtrooper extra accidentally hit their head on a rising door.
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Not much has been known about that anonymous stormtrooper until recently, when The Hollywood Reporter tracked him down. The actor, Laurie Goode, was 31 years old while filming A New Hope. And Goode finally revealed the surprising cause for the blunder.
“On the second day of filming, I developed an upset stomach.” Goode explained. “By midmorning I had paid three to four visits to the loo/bathroom. Having re-dressed myself and returned to the set, I felt the need to rush back to the gents’ toilets, but I was placed in [the] shot. On about the fourth take, as I shuffled along, I felt my stomach rumbling, and ‘bang,’ I hit my head! As I wasn’t moving too fast, it was more of a scuffed bash, so it didn’t hurt, but as no one shouted ‘cut,’ I thought the shot wasn’t wide enough for me to be in frame.”
That thought led to Goode’s absolute surprise when he first saw his blunder included in the film.
“Believing I probably wasn’t in frame, I expected it to end up on the cutting-room floor,” said Goode. “But when I did see it in the cinema, I thought: ‘OMG, that’s me!’ I’ve been telling people the story ever since it occurred.”
Despite Goode being vocal about his role as the Head-banging stormtrooper, he discovered that others were trying to steal his thunder – and went to pretty unconventional lengths to prove it was really him.
“I had no way of proving it, I thought I’d better keep quiet about it. As time marched on, people started telling me that [the late] Michael Leader was claiming the Stormtrooper blooper. So it left thinking, ‘How can he prove it?’ That’s when I decided to speak up. I hear Michael has started to state a similar story. So after a while, and feeling rather peeved, I decided to write a song about the subject. It’s now out on iTunes, also on YouTube. It’s called, obviously: ‘Who Was the Stormtrooper Who Banged His Head?’”
You can listen to Goode’s song below:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the second film in the new Star Wars sequel trilogy that began with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. The film will deal with Luke training Rey to become a, and possibly the last, Jedi. Meanwhile, the Resistance, including Poe Dameron and First Order defector Finn, continues to fight against the First Order, led by General Hux, while Supreme Leader Snoke and his Dark Side follower Kylo Ren continue their mysterious plot.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson and stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics -
Image Credit: Lucasfilm
