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The Lightsabre Interview Robert Watts
Welcome to
Lightsabre. Our latest guest is a
producer with a pedigree of classic films long enough to blow the sides off
any CV. Think Star Wars, think James
Bond, think
Robert called Lightsabre Towers at 9.50am, ten minutes before the I was due to call, so before the recording began Robert immediately mentioned that he noticed Lightsabre is based in Lichfield, Staffordshire here in England. Back in the 50's Robert was in National Service at Whittington Barracks, just a mile outside of Lichfield and was the only non-local, being posted from Somerset where he lived. On 13th March 1958 he entered the barracks. "I was surrounded by guys from Walsall, Stafford and Brum. It was like nowhere I had ever been." Robert remembered not having enough time to go home on leave and staying at the barracks alone, and spending time at a friends house in Walsall, which was "completely alien" to anything he had experienced before. I set my recording equipment, prepared a cup of tea and called Robert back to start the interview in earnest. MN - Now just for the record the 1958 Cup Final was Bolton Wanderers versus Manchester United. RW - Was it? Cor blimey, what you do, go on the net and find out? MN - I couldn't possibly give away my sources. RW - Oh right, obviously a mega football fan. MN - Well, I'm an Albion fan, so if you can put those two things together... RW - Oh well, there you go. West Brom. MN - You probably mixed with a few of them at the barracks.
A - Yeah (Laughs) for me it was like walking into a completely different reality. Like going to these Star Wars conventions like that too. But look, I'm going to answer the question which I think was 'Which is your favourite Star Wars character?' Well, there is only one that it can be, and he's in Return of the Jedi and he's the co-pilot of this two-legged walker when the bad guys are attacking the bunker. Chewbacca gets on of of the walker and yanks him and throws him out onto the ground. And there is actually a trading card, he's the co-pilot of that thing, he's not the captain. Now, that's me, I played that part, and the other one is Richard Marquand the director. But the reason I'm going to use it is for this, which might be interesting for your Lightsabre audience, I don't know. I didn't even know Lucasfilm had received a trading card with my character on it. I discovered it because some fan had got my address and sent it to autograph. I said 'Bloody hell.' And the character I played had been given the title of Lieutenant Watts. Now, let's call it Leftenant as we're in England. That's the rank that I hold in the British Army right now because you never lose it. I was a second leftenant in national service, but after two years you get automatic promotion. So not only is it my name, it's my rank as well.
Q - That's got to be a first?
A - Well, I don't think anybody else has got that. I don't know what Richard Marquands was, but poor Richard's dead anyway. So, you asked me my favourite character and I probably would have said Yoda, but you know...for the purposes of this, because he's only on screen for about 1.6 seconds. Because he has his own name and his own rank.
Q - It was a good 1.6 seconds though.
A - Yeah, why?
Q - The way you wriggled your legs.
A - I'm really glad I did it. I didn't know it was going to happen until that day we did it. Anyway, do you want to go through the questions as listed?
Q - We can do. We'll probably go wandering off on tangents anyway.
A - Well maybe, yes. Now, can I ask you a question?
Q - Of course you can.
A - What do you think of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
Q - You are very perceptive you know, that was going to be one of my questions.
A - Well I was sure you were going to ask me and I'll answer it.
Q - I'll tell you what I thought, I really enjoyed it. I was lucky enough to go to the press screening on Leicester Square on the Tuesday.
A - Blimey. Do you know what? I paid to go see it, nobody even invited me to a fucking screening.
Q - Really?
A- No, I was supposed to have been but I never did.
Q - Here we go on tangents, have you got the new Making of Indiana Jones book, the big new hardback?
A - Oh yeah I've got that, they gave it to me.
Q - Did you read the little preface that Spielberg wrote?
A - Err, I haven't actually read it yet.
Q - I only got it yesterday myself. I interviewed the author about a month ago.
A - Jonathan Rinzler, I spoke to him about a year ago when he sent me a copy of the making of the original Star Wars.
Q - Yeah, that's a fantastic book. But Spielberg gives you a little mention in his preface, which I thought was very nice.
A - Well I suppose I'd better read it, hadn't I? I suppose I feel like yesterdays man, you know. I suppose I am because it's nothing to do with me. (Roberts reaction to the film itself) I laughed myself silly, it was the most bizarre experience of my life because it was very familiar, particularly when Karen Allen showed up again. And yet it wasn't, because I hadn't seen any of it, and I didn't know the script, didn't know anything about it at all, so it was the most bizarre experience for me in a way. I was looking at something that was totally familiar. I loved every minute of it, I laughed myself silly all the way through because of what it was. Thoroughly enjoyed it, great rollercoaster ride, and nobody does that better than Steven.
Q - As a summer action movie it worked.
A - Oh yeah, but Steven does that, he's the best at that. So, where are we going to start here? (Robert reads from the list of questions Lightsabre emailed across earlier) Oh, it starts 'Robert, welcome to Lightsabre'.
Q - Robert, welcome
to Lightsabre. A - Oh thank you very much, I've been really looking forward to doing this and I'm sorry it's taken me so long.
Q - Not a problem
A - Because as I said earlier I felt like I'd been set a GCSE. Q – Well I didn't even do GCSE's, so that was quite daunting.
A - Well I didn't, they were called GCE's.
Q -
That's what I did, GCE's and CSE's. Ok,
question one. You’ve been
involved with some of the biggest and high profile movies of all time. As a producer, overseeing the mechanics of
making these films, how high-octane is that life? A –
Q - We only see the end result.
A
- Yeah, and it's really difficult to quantify it from a perspective of
somebody from the outside looking in. It's better to be right in the
middle of it because it's what you do. It's your job, and if you do it
ok then the whole thing is the same in the whole entertainment game.
If you do it ok you get another job. Arriving with George Lucas on
Star Wars, I honestly didn't appreciate it was going to turn into the
longest period of employment. Never being permanently employed if you
like, I wasn't then, but the films overlapped. Once Star Wars came out
we all disappeared, and George said 'Well, if it is successful we'll make
another couple.' And the Millennium Falcon, we put it in
containers on the back lot of the studio and one of two things were going to
happen, we were gonna put it out and rebuild it or we were gonna junk it.
The film turned into something that I don't think any of us were expecting.
I always thought it would be successful, I thought it would do James Bond
business which was high end at that time. It went right through the
roof, we wrote the gross book. And it still is a phenomenon. |
