One of the most pleasing aspects of The Acolyte, quite apart from the establishment of a whole new era and political landscape for the stories to take place, was the double hit of a species being pulled from the much-loved Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy, and that character being performed by Hassan Taj, the actor who brought R2-D2 to life in The Rise of Skywalker. Gold Derby take a look inside the freshly released The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, out now.
“A species from the earliest days of Star Wars tie-in publishing was put on the screen with the Tynnan tracker Bazil,” writes Baver. “The species dates back to the 1979 novel Han Solo’s Revenge by Brian Daley, and Neal Scanlan’s creature department referenced beavers and otters to design their version of the curious alien critter for its live-action debut. Among his cinematic inspirations, Scanlan looked to Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein as a touchstone.”
“It was one of the oddly inspiring things for me when I spoke to Leslye [Headland] about it,” Scanlan says in the book. “We just felt that this could be a really useful tool for Bazil. He’s tiny, but [in camera you] shoot him in that kind of directorial style whereby his presence was equal if not more commanding than those around him.”
You can read mnore from The Acolyte in issue 230 of Star Wars Insider as I vitited Pinewood Studios to chat with PIP performer Jack Parker, designer Nick Tyrell and creature shop head Neal Scanlan.
