Any die-hard Star Wars fan can surely tell you about the character Biggs Darklighter, and his short part in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The basic story of Darklighter, played by actor Garrick Hagon, was that he was trained at the Imperial Academy, but was eventually compelled to join the Rebel Alliance with Luke Skywalker.
As it often happens in many films, a majority of Hagon’s Darklighter scenes ended up on the cutting room floor prior to the release of Episode IV. A new documentary, though, is looking to tell the story of Hagon’s popular minor character.
In the film Blast it Biggs! Where are you?!, director Jamie Benning shows lost footage of Darklighter in Episode IV, as well as commentary from actor Hagon about life on the Star Wars set. In one part of the documentary, Hagon explains his feelings when learning that most of his character’s scenes never made it to the final cut:
“It was admiration and a thrill mixed with disappointment,” Hagon said in the short. “Because I realized what a chunk [of my scenes] had gone.”
Hagon did in fact have a decent amount of screen time in the uncut version of Episode IV. Many of the deleted Darklighter parts took place on Tatooine, and also a longer scene prior to the pivotal “Battle of Yavin,” as well. According to George Lucas, though, many of Hagon’s Darklighter scenes were removed due to pacing issues.
With this new documentary, and the recent re-release of Black Angel, Star Wars fanboys are at least getting somewhat of a fix before The Force Awakens rolls out in December.
(Via: A.V. Club, Business Insider)