I’m glad we didn’t break the wookie

By sovknight | January 18, 2008

The Utah chapter of the 501st legion is friends with many Star Wars celebrities.  By default, we’re also friends with a number of other celebrities and some influential people, as well as people who know people.  Add that all up and you get some perks.

Actor Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca for those who don’t know, recently invited  the garrison up to Sundance to view the premiere screening of a film he recently completed.  The film is called Yesterday was a Lie and was directed by a very talented writer/director named James Kerwin.  It’s a little hard to explain, but the idea is essentially a 40s-type film noir mixed with a bit of a scientific element.  Here’s the synopsis directly from the website:

A groundbreaking new noir film, YESTERDAY WAS A LIE is a “soulful and thought-provoking metaphysical journey” (Talking Pictures).  Award-winning writer/director James Kerwin — “one of these young guys on the edge of a digital revolution” (Soundwaves Cinema) — crafts a thrilling, intricate detective drama that teases the boundaries of reality.

Kipleigh Brown “exudes Bacall” (Slice of SciFi) as Hoyle, a girl with a sharp mind and a weakness for bourbon who finds herself on the trail of a reclusive genius (John Newton).  But her work takes a series of unforeseen twists as events around her grow increasingly fragmented… disconnected… surreal.

With a sexy lounge singer (Chase Masterson) and a loyal partner (Mik Scriba) as her only allies, Hoyle is plunged into a dark world of intrigue and earth-shattering cosmological secrets.  Haunted by an ever-present shadow (Peter Mayhew) whom she is destined to face, Hoyle discovers that the most powerful force in the universe — the power to bend reality, the power to know the truth — lies within the depths of the human heart.

Here’s the trailer:

I personally found the film quite exceptional.  It dealt with some elements of theoretical physics, including Planck’s constant, and even alluded to Schrödinger’s cat.  Mix all of that with a black & white, 40’s film look, and then toss in a dash of newer technology to boot.  It was a little weird I admit, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it quite stimulating and provocative.

After watching the movie and then chatting with the filmmakers and stars a bit outside the screening room, it was decided that we (Peter and his wife Angie, and the present members of the Alpine Garrison) would head across the street to a pizza joint and continue the conversation there.  That’s when I committed the error that made me feel guilty for the rest of the evening.

The pizza place was packed  (Of course… Sundance… duh) and we couldn’t get a table straight away with our rather large party.  I suggested another pizza place that I knew a couple of blocks back down the street and the group agreed to try that.

Now, Peter isn’t exactly young.  In fact, I do believe he’s somewhere in his 60’s.  Add that to several other facts, some being that Peter is a heavy smoker, has bad knees (you would too if you were 7′3), and Park City is essentially built on the side of a mountain.  We set off at a brisk pace down the street in single-digit temperatures on the icy sidewalk in search of this wonderful pizza place that I so fondly remembered.  I assured all that it was only a couple of blocks away, but after about three of these blocks we began to sense something was amiss.  One of our party scouted ahead, as Peter was lagging behind a bit, but couldn’t find the place.  After re-converging and making a few phone calls, we discovered that the place doesn’t exist anymore, and I had dragged our entire party some half-mile down the festival-filled street completely in vain.

As guilty as I felt at that point, it was nothing compared to the fact that we had to turn around and make our way back up the hill to the restaurant we had originally chosen, because Chase had gone over and used her magic celebrity powers (or her bare midriff)  to secure us the table we had sought to begin with.  Peter seemed to have a tough time of it, stopping every fifty yards or so to rest, and I began to seriously worry that I was the villain in some sort of horrible event.  I kept imagining the headline reading “Chewbacca dies of pneumonia at Sundance” and finding 41,000 angry Stormtroopers showing up at my apartment the next morning pointing guns and threatening to string me up.  I felt bad, but Peter assured me he was fine and to his credit,  took it all in stride.  He’s quite the trooper really, and his conviction impressed me.  We finally arrived back at the restaurant and had a merry time eating and drinking and hanging out with our new celebrity friends.

In the end, the night was a great success.  We got to premiere a fantastic movie, hang out with some cool people, eat some delicious pizza, make some new friends, and as it ended up, We thankfully didn’t kill the wookie.

Thanks to Peter and Angie and Chase and James and all of our new friends.