Join Me (Return Of the Jedi)
‘Join Me’ is a piece inspired by ‘Return Of the Jedi’ and the iconic fight scene between Vader and Luke and engineered by the Emperor. You can’t mess around with ‘Star Wars’, the pieces that I have done are becoming much more ‘blatant’ and each has its own quality but for this one I wanted to have fun. It’s such an incredible movie! There are amazing memories of ‘Star Wars’ growing up in the 80’s, I never pretend to be a die-hard, obsessive fan but these are memories that I hold and that make me smile, they are part of my childhood. My ability and skillset allow me to be able to take something that so many know and love and amplify it, making it even more spectacular and that is exactly what I have done.
It is dominated by the Emperors’ throne and the room around it, looking out to space. It was initially going to be a full-on space scene and that will still happen but with the move to adding characters into the scene it just suited what you now see. I wanted to test myself technically, so the room and window that you see have all been created from scratch, it isn’t something that exists, it is my interpretation of what we know. It took an absolute age to create but it gives so much satisfaction to see it finished.
There are battles raging on in the distance, everything is amplified and more dramatic than it was. The biggest pull for me was the battle between dark and light and the push to cross over from either side, it is perfect for how my mindset works. You can see how both Vader and Luke don’t want to be doing what they are doing but then the sinister stare and power of the Emperor is just so intense, god that face brings back memories! I always loved the Emperor’s guards as a kid, like I said, I was never one to collect every single figure, but I randomly remember the texture of their cloaks. Funny how things stick!
It all centres around the angles of the room as it all points towards the central dominant, controlling force of the Emperor who manipulates but ultimately who fails. There are some special details within the scene, it’s not a piece that I wanted to bugger around with, it must be done with respect. I will leave you to spot the subtle touches, but it was all about making everything more dramatic, more fire, more explosions, more electricity, more fun.
I loved every minute of working on this and I hope I have done it justice and it serves you well.
