THE FORCE IS WITH ME Lifelong Star Wars fan lands dream Rogue One role
I T’S been a hit with many Star Wars fans – but for one Cardiff man the latest movie will always be pretty special – as he has a part in it.
Samuel Victor, 35, achieved his childhood dream of landing a role in the new film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and saw the result of his work at a preview in Cardiff just hours before the film’s UK release.
Samuel shot his scenes for the film in July in London. After starring in several low-budget British films and working as an extra in Hollywood, a speaking role alongside Felicity Jones and stars of the blockbuster was light years ahead of his previous characters.
“I received a call from my agent, saying if I could get to London the next day, I would be in Star Wars,” Samuel said.
“It was very short notice. I was over the moon. Several of my friends were extras in the last film, most of them were Stormtroopers. I was so jealous.
“I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan my entire life – so when I got the call, I couldn’t quite believe it.”
Victor, who lives near Cyncoed and is originally from Gloucester, had applied to be in last year’s The Force e Awakens, but never got the call, though it seems the team kept his details on file.
His s dream job was about to get even better when he arrived at Pinewood d Studios, where he assumed he’d be an extra.
Samuelmuel said he went to a large marquee quee where hundreds of people ple were queuing up to collect ct their costumes and get to work on the top-secret -secret movie, ie, but he was in for a wel c o me su r - prise. “Someone came to the extras tent looking for me. I couldn’t quite believe it when they said someone would be driving me to my trailer – I’ve never had my own trailer in a movie before.” Samuel took the role of a pilot of the new U-Wing vehicle, named Blue Two, and in some scenes he acted as a body double for an actor who couldn’t make the shoot. His most exciting scene was a meeting of the Rebel Alliance, where he got lines to perform with the main cast. “There was a scene with all the main good guys around a big table”, says Victor. “I was standing rig right next to Felicity Jon Jones, Riz Ahmed and all the others. Disn Disney had asked for t the scene to be re-shotre-sh with more excitementexciteme and interjectio interjections from the smal smaller players, and we were asked by the dir director to i mpr mprovise. “A f few tim times, on one of the production team asked me to repeat what I said, and then wrote it into the new script. By the end of the session they’d given me several lines of dialogue with all these amazing actors.
“They even asked me back to rerecord the lines so they had a clean audio take for the edit.”
It wasn’t until the actor attended a preview screening in Cardiff on Wednesday that he discovered this scene had made it into the final cut.
Samuel said he was just as excited to see the movie in its entirety as any other fan.
“It’s always exciting to see yourself, but I was so caught up watching the film I kept forgetting to look out for myself.”
As to be expected with a huge blockbuster franchise movie, the whole operation was shrouded in secrecy, to avoid spoilers for the millions of fans around the globe, while code names were frequently used to detract attention.
“On set, they were very strict about not taking any photos. Every time you went to set they would check your pockets for phones or cameras,” he said. “You even had to wear a big black poncho to hide your costume if you left the set.”
After shooting his scenes in July, the actor, who has lived in Cardiff for nearly 15 years, has been under strict non-disclosure agreements preventing him from revealing his role to his fans until the film’s release.
The actor, who has also rapped with the likes of D12 and R Kelly, said: “Honestly, I’m just so excited to have been on set and have those memories. Felicity Jones was particularly amazing, a great actress and a lovely person.
“As a kid I used to play with Star Wars toys all the time, and now they are making action figures and Lego men based on the U-Wing pilot – I have my own action figure.”
Now Samuel has just signed up to shoot two features with Hollywood names.