Here is a report from England about an interview Brian Blessed did this morning on RADIO ONE. Blessed plays Boss Nass, if memory serves, who is not a Jedi as he claims in this article, it's been established for quite some time that Blessed played a member of Jar Jar's race. But here's the interview anyway...
I've not been in touch before but here's some amazing news i've just heard here in the UK.
Brian Blessed has just been a guest on Radio One on the Simon Mayo show. Now, he's starring in Episode One (which i wasn't aware of) as some sort of leader of '50 million Jedis' and apparently he has to appear in front of all these Jedis as their leader!!! He said he rides around on a dinosaur throughout the movie (i'm sure he doesn't literally mean a dinosaur - probably some sort of mammoth or similar Star Wars entity??). He also said his character lived on a world which was covered in water and was full of 'mechanical fish' and strange creatures!!
He said most of the work he'd done had been in front of a blue screen and that he'd worked with Liam Neeson and George Lucas had been great to work with. He was EXTREMELY enthusiastic and said the film would be brilliant. He was very genuine.
Hope this confirms things you may already know or even surprise you with new info.
KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE!!!
Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder
And here's how Colly heard it....
I've just heard Brian Blessed talking on (UK) Radio One FM, he was on the morning DJ Simon Mayo's regular God of the week slot, Thursday 3/12/98 11.15 am. Apart from talking about films & TV he talked about his role as Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode One. I didn't get all of it down, but he tried out for one role but thought he'd come over too strong. Then while working on something else and staying in a run down hotel he got a fax from Lucas asking him if he could build something up, around a Jamaican/something else accent. Brian then went on to talk about how he's playing Boss Nass on a CGI world which is mostly water but with some stunning landscapes, it includes electric fish and dinosaurs [he could have meant cgi]. The Boss NAss character plays a reluctant hero, and Brian has some scenes with Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. Apparently Boss Nass gets the last line in the film. Most of Brian's scenes were against a blue screen and apparently the effects guys will be making the cgi of the half-man seal really convincing so that they come across as people more than the human parts. They will also be getting 6-8 track recording for their vocals so that they come across better.
In one scene Brian's character apparently is in front of an army of jedi and Naboos and has to inspire them, according to Brian [doing a Lucas impression] he's got 5 million guys in front of him to inspire and Lucas wants a key line form him. Brian goes "blurlahlahlahlah", and as he says Lucas loves it and goes print that.
Sorry I can't give you a complete transcript but I was listening and now typing at work.
all the best
"Colly"
