Page 39 - Star Wars Insider #181
P. 39

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                 01    The Star Wars
                   Show hosts
                   Anthony
                   Carboni and
                   Andi Gutierrez
                   at Celebration
                   Orlando (left).
                 02    The set, in a
                   corner office at
                   Lucasfilm HQ,
                   is redressed for
                   each segment
                   of the show.


                 can happen at any time. Sometimes our   “Exactly that, yeah,” agrees Bromley.   “By Orlando, The Star Wars Show was
                 interviews are shot a couple of weeks in   “I always take the team aside and say:   a thing,” says Bromley. “People not only
                 advance, but we’ve also done interviews   ‘Just stop, look around, and enjoy   knew who Andi and Anthony were, but
                 on Tuesday for launch on Wednesday.   everything that’s happening, because   also, if I got up in front and said ‘This
                 And the field packages [the on-location   this is not a normal job.”  week on The Star Wars Show’ in the Yoda

                 reports] can happen anytime.”                                       voice, people knew who I was, too!”
                    When big news breaks, the team   Going Live                        Fan acclaim was also followed by
                 will get at least a couple of hours to   When the team stages The Star Wars   industry recognition, with an Emmy
                 prepare, though announcements late in   Show LIVE at Star Wars Celebration,   nomination for Outstanding Short
                 the week call for an additional breaking   the preparation needed for a standard   Form Variety Series in summer 2017.
                 news installment of the show. “We can   episode gets stretched into a marathon,   The awards ceremony followed in the
                 shoot and edit a breaking news insert   as they cover back-to-back days of the   fall, with The Star Wars Show going up
                 in 90 minutes,” says Bromley. “Nothing   massive convention.        against big-hitters such as NBC’s Behind
                 surprises us too much,” adds Harper.  “It’s not just Andi and Anthony up   The Voice and the eventual winner, The
                    Yet, while the team has learned to   on stage for eight to 10 hours a day,”   Daily Show—Between The Scenes.
                 take the unexpected in their stride, they   says Bromley. “The shows also need to   But, super-stardom and award shows
                 never forget that their work lives are   be written and researched, so you’re   aside, the cast and crew are still just a
                 anything but ordinary. “It gives you   doing everything you would do for a   bunch of Star Wars fans having fun with
                 pause when you’re on the red carpet at a   regular seven-minute show, but to fi ll a   their friends.
                 Star Wars premiere with Steven Spielberg   10-hour slot, and for four days straight.”  Bromley adds: “Everything we do is
                 and Frank Oz,” says Bromley. “You go:   “For a month and a half before that   with love, and we get away with a lot of
                 ‘Hold on guys, we’re going to get you on   happens, I don’t even look at our regular   silliness because of that.
                 camera in a second,’ and then you stop   show,” says Harper. “There is just such an   “Right from the beginning, when we
                 and think: I’m telling Steven Spielberg   immense amount of planning to do.”  first superimposed my mouth on the

                 what to do! This is wild!”          At Celebration London in July 2016,   Yoda fountain, I said, ‘We’re never going
                    The show has also acted as the key to   Gutierrez started to sense fans’ growing   to get away with that. It’s too silly! But
                 an early-morning shoot in Disneyland,   awareness of the show. “We had done   it got a laugh and it helped set the tone
                 before the park opened to the public. “I   Celebration Anaheim [in April 2015],   for the rest of the show, and that was
                 felt like Preston Waters in Blank Check   and no one knew who I was,” she says.   always the intention.”
                 (1994), doing that,” says Bromley. “I   “So I was able to just walk around and    “We do have fun,” Gutierrez says.
                 have the entire park to myself and I can   enjoy it. But, by the time we arrived in   “We get to come to work and be with
                 ride Space Mountain as many times as I   London, people knew us and recognized   our best friends, and I think that really
                 want! I always remind the team that…”  us wherever we went. And when we got   comes through. It’s just a perfect storm
                    “This isn’t normal!” Gutierrez chimes   to Celebration Orlando [April 2017], it   of weirdos, which makes it so easy for
                 in, laughing.                     was insane. We could not go anywhere.”   people to connect with.”



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