Chien star wars

15 choses que vous ne savez pas sur Chewbacca

Si tout le monde connait Chewbacca, vous ne savez pas forcément que c’est Peter Mayhew qui se cache à l’intérieur du costume de la boule de poils. L’acteur fêtait ses 70 ans lundi dernier et à cette ocassion nous vous proposons une liste de 15 choses que vous ne savez pas sur le wookiee le plus connu de la galaxie.

#1 Un chien pour inspiration

Pour le personnage de Chewbacca, George Lucas s’est inspiré de son propre chien Indiana, un Malamute de l’Alaska à poils longs. Le chien était souvent assis à la place du passager dans la voiture de Lucas, tel un copilote, et beaucoup de gens le confondait avec une vraie personne. Ce même chien a été source d’inspiration pour un autre film de George Lucas, Indiana Jones.

#2 Un prénom russe

Le nom Chewbacca est dérivé du mot russe « Sobaka » qui veut tout simplement dire chien. Il est pas allé chercher très loin en fait.

#3 Un vieux encore bien vigoureux

Dans Star Wars Episode IV : un nouvel espoir, Chewbacca est âgé de 200 ans. On aimerait bien connaitre l’espérance de vie des Wookiees.

#4 Un rôle sur-mesure

Peter Mayhew a été le premier choix de George Lucas pour incarner Chewbacca dès leur première rencontre. Ce choix s’explique par la taille hallucinante de l’acteur qui culmine à 2,18 mètres.

#5 Des vrais poils

Pour le tournage de la première trilogie et l’épisode Holiday Special (qui a été détruit à la demande de George Lucas), le costume de Chewbacca était réalisé avec un mélange de vrais poils de yacks et lapins tricotés. Un costume un peu modifié a été utilisé pour le personnage du sénateur Yarua dans La Menace Fantôme. La grande nouveauté vient de l’épisode II et III où le costume intégrait un système de rafraîchissement à eau ce qui permettait à Mayhew de garder le costume pendant plusieurs heures sans avoir trop chaud. L’acteur a souvent raconté le calvaire des scènes tournées dans le désert de Tunisie pour la première trilogie.

#6 Frère de Yoda, de Jabba et des Ewoks

Le créateur du personnage de Chewbacca tel que l’on connait aujourd’hui est le chef maquilleur Stuart Freeborn. A l’origine George Lucas souhaitait un mélange entre un singe, un chien et un chat. Cet homme au travail très reconnu dans le métier est également le créateur de Yoda pour l’Empire contre attaque, mais aussi celui de Jabba the Hutt et des Ewoks pour le Retour du Jedi.

#7 La ferme des animaux pour une voix

Pour faire la voix de Chewbacca, Ben Burtt a enregistré le son de plusieurs animaux. Il a commencé par un ours brun qui venait du zoo Happy Hollow à San José. Il a ensuite enregistré les sons de morses, de lions et de blaireaux. Un cri spécial, mais incontournable !

#8 Un personnage critiqué

Dans un résumé présentant la remasterisation de l’Empire Contre Attaque en 1997, le très connu critique de films Robert Ebert avait qualifié Chewbacca de plus mauvais personnage de la saga. Il se demandait alors comment une bête peut être pilote d’un engin stellaire alors qu’elle n’arrive même pas à communiquer normalement.

#9 Une bête féroce à l’apparence humaine

Dans les premières notes de George Lucas concernant Star Wars (encore appelé à l’époque Les aventures de Starkiller), le réalisateur décrivait Chewbacca comme une créature sauvage de huit pieds de haut qui ressemblait à un singe avec des crocs féroces. Ses grands yeux jaunes dominaient son visage recouvert de fourrure, il portait deux bandoulières chromées, un gilet pare-balles avec un motif camouflage et un short en tissu brun.

#10 Un personnage inspiré

Le personnage de Chewbacca est basé sur un concept-art réalisé par Ralph McQuarrie. George Lucas avait donné la photo d’un lémurien à McQuarrie pour l’inspiration. A l’origine le dessinateur était parti sur un Chewbacca féminin, mais a très vite revu ses plans pour le faire devenir mâle. Les dessins de McQuarrie sont eux-mêmes inspirés par des dessins de John Shoenherr, commandés par George R.R Martin pour son histoire « And Seven Times Never Kill a Man ». Oui d’une certaine façon, le créateur de Game of Thrones a également créé les Wookiees.

#11 Une médaille pour Chewie

A la fin de l’Episode IV : un nouvel espoir, Luke et Han reçoivent une médaille, mais pas Chewbacca. Un évènement qui a mis en colère les fans qui ne comprennent pas pourquoi le wookiee n’a pas eu le droit de recevoir une récompense lui aussi. Pour résoudre ce problème, MTV a offert à Peter Mayhew une médaille lors des MTV Movie Awards de 1997. L’acteur s’est vu remettre son prix par la Princesse Leia elle-même, Carrie Fisher.

#12 Chewbacca a une famille

Dans l’épisode Star Wars Holiday Spécial, Han Solo et Chewbacca se rendent sur la planète Kashyyyk pour rendre visite à la famille du Wookiee à l’occasion du « Life Day ». On y découvre que Chewbacca a une femme nommé Mallatobuck, un fils qui s’appelle Lumpawaroo et un père qui répond au nom de Attichitcuk. Ce film a été par la suite détruit car il n’était pas du goût de George Lucas (bien qu’il participa au scénario).

#13 Une histoire de grands pieds

Peter Mayhew doit son rôle dans Star Wars à sa taille comme on a pu le voir plus haut, mais aussi grâce à ses pieds. A l’époque l’acteur apparait dans une enquête sur les grands pieds réalisée par un journaliste anglais. Un producteur de film tombe alors sur l’article et engage Mayhew pour jouer le Minotaure dans le film Sinbad et l’oeil du tigre. Un membre de l’équipe maquillage de Star Wars qui avait bossé sur Sinbad proposa aux producteurs de faire un test avec Peter Mayhew. La fin de l’histoire on l’a connait.

#14 Un acteur qui ne chôme pas

Pendant le tournage de Star Wars, Peter Mayhew travaillait comme concierge à l’hôpital de Londres. Le programme du tournage n’étant pas fixe, l’acteur avait du démissionner. Cependant, il a repris son boulot après la mise en boite du film.

#15 Dark Vador à la place de Chewbacca

David Prowse et ses 1,96m sont connus pour avoir endossé le rôle de Dark Vador entre 1977 et 1983, mais saviez-vous que l’acteur devait jouer à l’origine Chewbacca ? Prowse a refusé le rôle de Chewbacca au profit de celui de Vador. Il explique son choix par le fait que tout le monde se souvient toujours des méchants et puis pendant le tournage, il était persuadé que la voix de la version robotique d’Anakin Skywalker serait sienne.

Voilà pour ces 15 anecdotes concernant Chewbacca. Nous souhaitons un joyeux anniversaire à Peter Mayhew qui fête ses 70 ans et nous lui souhaitons beaucoup de réussite dans le nouveau Star Wars Episode 7 dont le tournage a commencé la semaine dernière.

Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca in ‘Star Wars’ Films, Dies at 74

Mayhew had done some minor acting — he played a minotaur in the Ray Harryhausen fantasy Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) — and was working as a hospital orderly when he tried out for the part of Chewbacca. He got the role based on his physique, as writer-director George Lucas was in desperate need of someone who would be able to play taller than Darth Vader. (In his prime, Mayhew stood 7-foot-3.)

After wrapping the first Star Wars, he went back to work as an orderly and did not leave the job for good until the release of Return of the Jedi, after which he made a living off of Chewbacca, becoming a favorite on the fan convention circuit.

While Mayhew did not provide the voice of the 200-year-old Wookiee (that was created by sound designer Ben Burtt), many credit the body language and expressiveness of the eyes the actor brought to the role in making Chewbacca a beloved character. It was a part that Mayhew would take on his whole life and well beyond the movies, reprising the role for appearances on Donny & Marie and The Muppet Show and, more recently, Glee.

Finnish-born basketball player turned actor Joonas Suotamo took over for Mayhew in some installments, including Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Mayhew worked as a consultant on The Last Jedi (2017) to pass the baton to Suotamo, and at that film’s premiere in 2017, he spent time chatting with his young protege and with Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill.

The Star Wars family is remembering the actor.

« Peter was a wonderful man. He was the closest any human being could be to a Wookiee: big heart, gentle nature … and I learned to always let him win. He was a good friend and I’m saddened by his passing, » Lucas said in a statement.

« He was the gentlest of giants. A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly. I’m grateful for the memories we shared & I’m a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete, » Hamill tweeted Thursday.

Harrison Ford, who played the Han Solo to Mayhew’s Chewbacca, expressed his condolences in a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter.

« Peter Mayhew was a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. These aspects of his own personality, plus his wit and grace, he brought to Chewbacca, » read Ford’s statement. « We were partners in film and friends in life for over 30 years and I loved him. He invested his soul in the character and brought great pleasure to the Star Wars audience. Chewbacca was an important part of the success of the films we made together. He knew how important the fans of the franchise were to its continued success and he was devoted to them. I and millions of others will never forget Peter and what he gave us all. My thoughts are with his dear wife Angie and his children. Rest easy, my dear friend. »

J.J. Abrams, who directed Mayhew in The Force Awakens, shared a message on Twitter: « Peter was the loveliest man … kind and patient, supportive and encouraging. A sweetheart to work with and already deeply missed. »

« Peter was larger than life in so many ways … a gentle giant playing a gentle giant. Rest in peace, » Disney CEO Bob Iger wrote on Twitter.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy shared her own remembrance: « We are deeply saddened today by the news of Peter Mayhew’s passing. Since 1976, Peter’s iconic portrayal of the loyal, lovable Chewbacca has been absolutely integral to the character’s success, and to the Star Wars saga itself. When I first met Peter during The Force Awakens, I was immediately impressed by his kind and gentle nature. Peter was brilliantly able to express his personality through his skillful use of gesture, posture, and eyes. We all love Chewie, and have Peter to thank for that enduring memory.”

A private memorial will take place June 29, and there will be a gathering for fans at EmpireConLA in December. Mayhew is survived by his wife, Angie, and three children.

Chewbacca’s actor Joonas Suotamo is the latest person of note to offer words of support for fellow Star Wars alum Kelly Marie Tran on social media. The 33-year-old Finnish actor and former professional basketball player called the standing ovation Tran received from fans at Star Wars Celebration in April one of his favorite moments of 2019.

Tran entered the Star Wars universe through her role Rose Tico in Rian Johnson’s polarizing entry into the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In the film, Tico’s sister sacrifices herself during a battle with the First Order and it eventually inspires her to team up with John Boyega’s Finn in an effort to disable the tracking device on an enemy flagship which is pursuing their Resistance vessel through hyperspace. In the wake of The Last Jedi, Tran endured online harassment to the point that she deleted her Instagram account. In spite of the bullying, Tran reprises her role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Suotamo, meanwhile, shared the role of Chewie with the character’s original actor, Peter Mayhew, in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and has been the sole steward of the role since then.

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In a post on Twitter on Saturday, Suotamo said « One of the best moments of 2019 was seeing the standing ovation that Kelly Marie Tran received from fans at Star Wars Celebration. She deserves applause every time she enters a room. » His tweet has garnered more than 12,000 likes and a litany of responses from fans voicing their own support of both Tran and Suotamo.

One of the best moments of 2019 was seeing the standing ovation that Kelly Marie Tran received from fans at Star Wars Celebration. She deserves applause every time she enters a room 👏 pic.twitter.com/vhndSRinDH

— Joonas Suotamo (@JoonasSuotamo) December 28, 2019

They aren’t the only ones backing Tran and her performance in Star Wars. Director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) took to Twitter earlier in the week offering his services to Disney for a Rose Tico spin-off series for Disney+. His tweet included the hashtag #RoseTicoDeservedBetter, which has been trending as a result of Tico playing a significantly smaller role in The Rise of Skywalker. Tran is on-screen for less than two minutes of the film’s 142-minute running time, which many are calling a gross disservice to the character.

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The Rose Tico character may have been divisive for fans initially, but there’s no denying that Tran received an unfair amount of criticism following The Last Jedi. Since that time, however, fans, fellow actors and filmmakers have rallied around her and the character has developed something of a cult following. The championing of both a character and an actor who are people of color – in a series which has lacked diversity at times – is undoubtedly one of the positives to come out of the latest entries into the Star Wars series.

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Ryan Aston covers gaming, tech, movies and TV for Screen Rant. He was formerly on the WWE beat for Bleacher Report and also covered NBA basketball on the FanSided network, with whom his work was featured by Fox Sports and USA Today. If he’s not writing words, he’s probably arguing with someone about ’80s sitcoms or jamming to Thompson Twins or Rush while playing River City Ransom.

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Wookies to sarlacc

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Chalk it up to parallel evolution in a galaxy far, far away. As weird and wonderful as Star Wars’ menagerie of multi-species aliens and exotic xeno-fauna appear, few are as implausible as they might seem at first blush. As a matter of fact, several of those beasties have real-life counterparts on Earth, albeit with inflated, misshapen or stylized proportions. From Wookies to the sarlacc in the Pit of Carkoon, here are 10 creatures you might recognize in the here and now.

Wookie

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Wookies may appear like big, hairy Sasquatches, but the ambulatory shag carpets can trace their lineage to man’s best friend. George Lucas would later claim, in fact, that he based the character of Chewbacca on his own dog, an Alaskan Malamute called Indiana who would later inspire another Lucas creation.

« A very sweet dog, she would always sit next to me when I was writing, » Lucas once said. « And when I’d drive around, she’d sit in the front seat. A Malamute is a very large dog —like 130 pounds and bigger than a human being and very long-haired. »

Han Solo’s hirsute co-pilot also bears no small resemblance to the orangutan, a great ape found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia. Researchers from Durham University taught an orangutan named Rocky how to manipulate his vocal chords the way people do. The term they used for these human-like vocalizations? « Wookies. »

Dewback

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Native to Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine, dewbacks are massive, thick-hided reptiles that locals employ as a means of conveyance across the hot desert sands. Slow, lumbering, but hardy despite the searing oppressiveness of Tatooine’s twin suns, dewbacks share a number of traits with Indonesia’s Komodo dragon.

Though diminutive in comparison, Komodo dragons are the largest living species of lizard, sometimes reaching lengths of up to 10 feet (3 meters). Like dewbacks, Komodo dragons are four-footed, long-tailed and have a yen for arid environments. They also both possess flicking tongues: dewbacks for licking beads of morning dew from their backs — a behavior that gives them their name — and Komodo dragons to help them process airborne stimuli.

Ewok

(Image credit: Michael Buckner/Getty; )

If you picture Ewoks as miniature Wookies, you’re onto something. « Ewok » almost sounds like « Wookie » in reverse, and George Lucas himself said that he designed the Endorian hunter-gatherers with another family dog in mind, this time a Griffon Bruxellois.

With their rounded ears, flat noses, and furry countenance, Ewoks instantly recall teddy bears. The popular toys, originally known as Teddy’s bears, got their name from President Theodore Roosevelt, who famously refused to shoot an American black bear that his attendants had trounced and tied to a tree on a hunting trip in 1902.

Shaak

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Roaming the grasslands of Naboo, shaaks are essentially the planet’s equivalent of grazing herbivores like sheep and cows. (Similar to our Earth-bound ungulates, they also tend to move in packs.)

Besides their tapir-esque snouts, the critters are characterized by ovoid girths not unlike those of engorged ticks, except that shaaks are are bulbous with blubber rather than blood. But while ticks prefer their habitats hot and humid, shaaks avoid the damp when they can. Despite the natural buoyancy that their stores of fat confer, shaaks have weak, spindly legs that are rather useless in water.

Varactyl

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Varactyls, also known as dragonmounts, are mammoth herbivores native to the Outer Rim planet Utapau. They are part bird, part reptile. Capable of scaling walls, thanks to microscopic hairs on their gecko-like feet, varactyls possess both scales and plumage, much like some current depictions of dinosaurs.

For a more extant analog for the animals, we can look to the iguana, a genus of omnivorous lizards with almost equally impressive spiny crests and tails. Unlike varactyls, however, they make poor steeds for humans. Found in the tropical climes of Central America, South America and the Caribbean, iguanas top out at roughly 5 to 6 feet (under 2 meters).

Bantha

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Indigenous to Tatooine, banthas bring together the immensity of woolly mammoths, the dense coats of wild and domesticated yaks, and the sweeping headgear found on bighorn rams.

Tusken Raiders, colloquially known as the Sand People, use the gargantuan pack animals as beasts of burden. You have to wonder about all that hair, though. As vital to survival as those locks may be in the Himalayas, where yaks are bred for milk, meat and transport, they’re a curious attribute to have on a planet that’s roasted daily by binary suns.

Exogorth

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

When the « Millennium Falcon » attempted to shake off a fleet of TIE fighters by hiding in a crater of an asteroid, that « crater » turned out to be the maw of a giant space slug known as an exogorth.

Exogorths are silicon-based life-forms that survive in the vacuum of space by feeding on asteroid minerals, stellar energy fields and wayward ships. They share their instinct for burrowing with Earth’s moray eels, which create their marine lairs by secreting a mucus that coagulates the sand around them.

As with exogorths, morays possess a vicious set of hooked teeth. They reportedly don’t take kindly to being disturbed in their burrows, either. Even at the maximum recorded length of 13 feet (3 meters), however, morays are unlikely to swallow you whole.

Hutt

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

What are Hutts if not oversized slugs with arms? Thick, blobby and bereft of feet, the corpulent criminal masterminds maneuver themselves by gliding along their flat bottoms, perhaps aided by the layer of mucus and oils that coats their skin. This slick surface also serves as the Hutts’ greatest protection, shielding them from chemical burns and heat and making them difficult for enemies to gain purchase.

Akin to slugs, Hutts are hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. Slugs are mainly composed of water, which makes them vulnerable to desiccation. Hutts, on the other hand, appear to consist mostly of muscle, blubber and an insatiable lust for indentured servitude.

Ortolan

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Ortolans, most notably Max Rebo, leader of the Max Rebo Band of musicians at Jabba the Hutt’s palace, appear very much like dumpy blue-skinned, bipedal elephants. Their most defining features are their large floppy ears, beady eyes and trunk-like schnozz.

Unlike elephants, Ortolans don’t manipulate objects with their trunks. While Earth’s pachyderms have been known to pick up a paintbrush or two, Max Rebo prefers an instrument dubbed the red ball jett organ, which he coaxes music from with his feet.

Sarlacc

(Image credit: Lucasfilm; )

Next to having his prisoners go mano a mano with the Rancor, Jabba the Hutt’s favorite means of execution is the Pit of Carkoon, a vast chasm in the middle of Tatooine’s shifting Dune Sea. No ordinary hole in the ground, it’s also the home of the sarlacc, a tentacled, carnivorous behemoth with parallels to the terrestrial antlion.

Antlions are insects that live in a variety of environments, although most prefer dry and sandy habitats, where their larvae can excavate steep, conical traps. Once they are lodged in their burrows, all that remains visible of the larvae are their large, sickle-like jaws, which lie in wait for hapless ants to tumble into. Like sarlaccs, antlions inject their prey with a paralyzing neurotoxin before proceeding to digestion. Lucky for its victims, this order of business takes far less time than the sarlacc’s fabled millennia.

Animals That Look Like “Star Wars” Characters (PHOTOS)

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Yoda Bat

This nyctimene tube-nosed fruit bat, photographed in Papua New Guinea, shares many facial features with Yoda. (Piotr Naskrecki/Minden Pictures)

With « Star Wars: The Force Awakens » opening to enthusiastic moviegoers over the weekend, many viewers will be fondly reminded of many of the delightfully bizarre characters from the previous films that have captivated audiences for a generation.

Some of the fans who watched the earlier Star Wars films grew up to become scientific researchers and let their Jedi flag fly when classifying new wildlife species, or by colloquially referring to them as « Star Wars » characters. Here are a few of the species of the animal kingdom that scientists have forever associated with the force.

Pallas’s tube-nosed bat
This Indonesian megabat shares many facial features with the diminutive green « Star Wars » hero, Yoda, especially with his distinctive ears and gremlin-like nose.

Glowing Cockroach
This bioluminescent cockroach, discovered by looks remarkably like a Jawa, the hooded humanoids seen in « Star Wars IV: A New Hope. »
Chewbacca Moth
Capitvated by discovering this shaggy moth, researcher David Adamski noticed some similarities to Han Solo’s Wookie sidekick, and named it wockia chewbacca.

Greedo Catfish
This catfish, discovered this year by researchers at Auburn University, reminded them of the famous Cantina villain Greedo, and they dubbed the critter Peckoltia greedoi.

Saiga Antelope
With its alien-like snout, the saiga antelope has frequently been described by biologists as a « Star Wars » creature. The Saiga looks like something Luke Skywalker would run into at the Cantina in Tatooine.

Darth Vader Mite
Darthvaderum is a mite named after the titular « Star Wars » villain Darth Vader. Researchers found a similarity between the leader of the Dark Side and this little parasitic insect.

Ancient Three-Horned Mammal
Earlier this month, palentologists named an ancient three-horned mammal, the Xenokeryx amidalae, after Natalie Portman’s character Padme Amidala from the « Star Wars » prequels.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: New Species Discoveries of 2015