Behind every successful movie shoot, there's a talented production coordinator who makes it her job to know everything from the director's daily schedule to which actor only eats tofu. It was up to Episode III Production Coordinator Virginia Murray and the Production team to keep everything running smoothly for the over 700 members of the crew and cast working on the set in Sydney, Australia.
Murray and her team were responsible for everything from hiring camera and lighting equipment to booking flights, hotels, cars, office space, phone lines, catering, medical appointments, work permits, issuing schedules, scripts and storyboards, organizing issues relating to health and safety, underwater filming practice, employment of children, shipping of Episode I and II archived props and costumes from Skywalker Ranch, assisting with the Gentle Giant crew scanning cast and props, plus the usual day to day business of getting the callsheets ready and making sure everyone knew what was going on the next day.
In fact, Murray had so much to do before shooting began that she came to Sydney eight months in advance of principal photography to set up.
"Normally on a production you'd never have eight months preparation, but we had the Art and Costume Departments moving over to Sydney from the UK and so I had to have houses ready, mobile phones, cars, you name it -- for these overseas crew so that they could be all catered for as soon as they got here. That's why it was good for me to start in November [2002] ... just to find my feet!" Murray says.
Not that this was Murray's first movie as an experienced Production Coordinator. Working in the film industry for nearly 10 years, Murray filled the role of Production Coordinator for Die Another Day, The Hours and pickups of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Before that she was an Assistant Production Coordinator for such films as The Mummy Returns and Jason and the Argonauts.
As the Production Coordinator, Murray was considered to be the gatekeeper to every group on the set. In order to get any kind of crucial message from one department to another, cast and crew would go through Murray and the Production team.
"As people have had all their various departmental groups coming and going, the information filters to us, we'd then make it as concise as possible and run it past Rick McCallum and Stephen Jones (Production Supervisor.) And then just get it all done, whatever it may be," Murray explains.
"For example, we had a whole team of people come over from ILM," Murray continues. "So we made sure that they got all their equipment safely shipped from the States, and then set up their office, got the phones working so they could get in touch with the Ranch and so on."
Keeping the lines of communication open is vital for a smooth operation for a Production Coordinator on a hectic movie set. Murray often found herself in constant check-ins with various members of the crew including the second assistant directors.
"Every night, before we left, I spoke to Deb Antoniou and Paul Sullivan, the second and second second AD, and we just went over everything, made sure everybody knew what they were doing, and that everybody knew that they're coming in for fittings, contact lenses, or the like," Murray explains. "There are so many other little funny things that go on every day, whether it be people needing to go for medical checkups at the doctor's, or Wookiee feet fittings at the shoe shop. There's just a new novel thing every day."
"You just don't know what each day is going to bring you, which is probably the plus and the minus of the job. You always get a new challenge," Murray recalls. "You suddenly find yourself being an expert on dermatologists in the Sydney area or whatever it could be. It could be anything."
One of the more unusual aspects of Murray's duties was to help locate a whole new cast of walking carpets to compliment Chewbacca's storyline in Episode III.
"The biggest challenge actually in the beginning was the Wookiees because we had to find seven guys who are at least seven foot tall," Murray fondly recalls. "And amazingly our extras casting director managed to find a few basketball players and other guys including a prison officer. They're all a real mixed bag, the Wookiees."
The search was more than successful. As it turns out, of the towering Wookiees assembled in Sydney, Chewbacca was one of the smallest.
With Murray firmly placed in the eye of the communication-hurricane known as the production offices at Fox Studios in Sydney, she was close to both Producer Rick McCallum and Director George Lucas, who both worked out of the same circular window-lined building.
"Rick and George were based there," Murray explains. "They don't care about having grand offices and would rather be with the team and hear what's going on in Production. Jayne-Ann Tenggren, the Script Supervisor and Colin Fletcher, the First Assistant Director were also based in our office which was great for communication. I think it was a good central place for everyone to come find out what was going on."
