The man who designed the spaceship in the Star Wars films has died.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sierra Dall confirmed that he had died at his home in Colorado on Saturday.
He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a degree in animation. He attended the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.
He worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 60s on educational programs about flights. During the 1969 moon landing, Cantwell worked with Nasa to provide Walter Cronkite with updates on the broadcast.
Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the first Hollywood films to combine architecture and space. During the filming of the film, Cantwell and Kubrick became friends, with Cantwell regularly visiting to discuss how the film was going.
I worked closely with Stanley Kubrick and persuaded him not to start the movie with a 20-minute conference table discussion. The dramatic space opening that followed the films was created by Cantwell.
George Lucas invited Cantwell to work on his next film, Star Wars, after he was introduced by friends who worked on American Graffiti. The X-wing, TIE Fighter and the landspeeder were among the prototypes designed by Cantwell for the Star Wars franchise. The design of the Tantive IV was originally intended to be the Millennium Falcon, but it was changed to run after Vader in the first movie.
He said that a dart being thrown at a target in a British pub gave him the idea for the X-wing, and that he accidentally designed an icon of the Death Star.
I didn't originally plan for the Death Star to have a trench, but when I was working with the mould, I noticed the two halves had shrunk. I went to George to find a trench that would save me the labor. He liked the idea so much that it became one of the most famous moments in the film.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind and WarGames were both written by Cantwell.
He once wrote that he could not have picked a better time to be born. Our dreams of space flight are maturing and I believe one day we will be exploring the next waiting wonders of our galaxy.
He is survived by his partner.
The Associated Press contributed to the report.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
