Star Wars: An important group of letters and wardrobe budgets relating to the production

Lucasfilm / Twentieth Century Fox, 1976, Qty

Lucasfilm / Twentieth Century Fox, 1976,
comprising; an original costume budget for Star Wars consisting of seven pages (six hand-written by Mollo, one typed) detailing how much was available to spend with Bermans and Nathans Costumier's and other bespoke London suppliers; costumes for the principal characters, the 'Cantinas', 'Jawas', and smaller parts are included detailed within the initial budget; 'Stormtroopers', 'Imperial Officers', 'Rebel Officers' and crowds, which totals £106,655, with the breakdown listing 'Luke' (ex stormtrooper) at £620, 'Ben Kenobi' at £725, 'Han Solo' (less stormtrooper) at £500, 'Darth Vader' (incl. helmet etc) at £550, and 'Leia' at £2100, together with a single page of hand-drawn sketches of guns/weapons for each character by John Mollo which depicts 'Han's Mauser' pistol, the 'Rebels silver and standard guns' and another for 'Imperial troops', accompanied by a typed budget and costings page dated 4th May 1976 confirming the initial total budget was £106,655; as well as with two letters from EMI Studios confirming the termination of John Mollo's employment at the end of filming on the 25th June 1976, and a note of 'thanks' from Robert Watts, George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, with Watt's hand written note jokingly listing upcoming The Return of the Wookie's sequel; a letter of 'thanks' from Peter Beale at Twentieth Century Fox dated 16th June 1976 stating he thought ...the costumes reflected the intentions of the Director, and six unused colour pre-production stickers from late 1975/early 1976 for the early-titled The Star Wars featuring the iconic Luke with Lightsaber logo; and a folder of inserts of Ralph McQuarries original production artwork (Qty)

This lot offers a fascinating insight into the routine processes which take place in order to produce a film of this scale. Budgetary decisions as to how much could be spent on 'Luke Skywalker', 'Han Solo' and 'Princess Leia' – against the more otherworldly characters such as 'Darth Vader' and the 'Imperial Stormtrooper's'. Also providing an insight into characters such as 'Jabba The Hut', initially budgeted as a simplistic £100 costume for a single actor, he was ultimately cut from the initial release only to be added to Return of the Jedi, as a major character, then reinserted into A New Hope in the "Special Edition" release.

During Mollo's first face-to-face meeting with George Lucas at a London hotel in early January 1976, the writer/director summed up his vision for the costume design as being along the lines of "Nazi's vs Cowboys". Fast forward a few months and its clear that John Mollo and the team around him perfectly delivered on that vision. The Imperial forces led by Peter Cushing's ice-cold 'Grand Moff Tarkin', through the aptly-named 'Imperial Stormtrooper's' so clearly influenced by WW2 Axis uniforms, whereas the less-aggressively attired rebels included 'Luke Skywalker's' in his farm-boy attire, and 'Han Solo's' fully-cocked old-west gunslinger outfit.

Provenance:
From The John Mollo Archive