On May 25, Star Wars turned four decades old. The first film, which cost 11 million dollars in 1977, changed science fiction forever, and ever since, fans have been analyzing every single frame. One of the most striking incidents is the head bump one of the Stormtroopers suffers after entering the control room. Several people have claimed to have played that role, but finally actor Laurie Goode explained how he ended up in that scene, and most importantly: why he bumped into the door.
It's a relatively tense moment in Episode IV. Luke and company are about to be "processed" along with the rest of the trash, and a group of Stormtroopers enters the control room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are. I'm sure many fans didn't notice the detail the first time, but it's impossible to ignore afterward: one of the Stormtroopers bumps his head as he enters, and we can clearly hear the "clonk!" of the helmet against the door, an effect that was enhanced in the 2004 remaster.
The bump isn't very hard, and honestly it gives a comic touch to the Stormtroopers, who had already proven to be quite useless. Still, the question remained: who is that actor and why did he bump his head?
The Stormtrooper who bumps his head
For years, Star Wars fans heard rumors and claims from various actors who said they were that distracted Stormtrooper, but the people at Hollywood Reporter tracked down the one who claimed that role from the beginning, a British actor named Laurie Goode. In the interview, he reveals that his participation was decided "at the last minute", after his agent told him that a colleague, Peter Dukes, was sick and couldn't appear on the set of "something called Star Wars".
Goode went to the filming, and on the second day he started feeling stomach discomfort. That morning he had already gone "three or four times" to the bathroom, got dressed, returned to the set, and discovered he needed to go again, but he was brought into the scene. As the fourth take began, Goode felt a cramp, got distracted... and his head found the edge of the door.
Why four takes? Goode explains that after the first two, the actors were told to carry their weapons in their left hand. Goode told his colleague Mark Kirby that he had hit his head, but nobody yelled "cut!", and there was no additional take.
In fact, Goode thought they had cut the scene entirely, or that the frame would be too narrow to include him. His doubts were cleared when he saw himself in the cinema. However, Goode has had to spend all these years trying to convince the world that he is indeed the Stormtrooper who bumped his head. There are still people who don't believe him...
Hollywood Reporter
