April 2010

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April 2010 

Return to Table of Contents April 2010

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Entertainment In Brief

A year in the life of a couple of Stormtroopers. Plus, Wes Anderson drives artist to drink




The Empire’s Final Days

After an acting gig that provided them with a year of steady employment, a couple of Stormtroopers are out of work as of the 4th of this month — and, sadder, have few prospects for future employment. The 12-centimetre-high Hasbro action figures are the stars of “Stormtroopers 365,” a year-long project that saw Stéfan Le Dû, an engineer and Star Wars fanatic living near Nantes, France, post one image each day, except for a two-day break in January when his second child was born.

“I thought it would be exciting to start some­thing a bit challenging with a specific theme and some sort of commitment, rather than just posting random pictures,” says Le Dû. “I had two Stormtroopers figures still in their box that I bought at a bargain sale two years earlier. After starting to play with them and my camera, I realized I had several ideas for shots I could make.”

So on April 3rd, 2009, Le Dû began the series with an image titled “Escaping from Giant Vader.” It was an inauspicious debut, with a Storm­trooper floating in the forefront and a blurry Darth Vader behind. But, over the months, Le Dû’s daily posts became better, and stranger, attracting fans from all over the world.

“The set’s main page was viewed 660,000 times, four pictures have been viewed more than 100,000 times,” says Le Dû. But those numbers don’t include the fact that many shots ended up on websites and blogs other than the homepage (Stormtroopers365.com) and its associated Flickr page.

As for inspiration, Le Dû says it can come from anywhere. “Some are inspired by famous Star Wars scenes or gimmicks, like the ‘This is not the droid’ miniseries. Some have references to other movies or TV shows, some are about using items I have in my house — my son’s toys are a great help, but I also like to use stuff from the kitchen, the bathroom or the garden — and mixing them with the Imperial Stormtroopers to make something new.”

The Stormtroopers aren’t the only ones dealing with change now that the project’s complete. “It will probably take some time to lose the reflex of ‘What could I do with this object I have in front of me, and Stormtroopers?’,” laments Le Dû.

—Marni Weisz


Artifact

This month’s objet de film

Royal Tenenbaums Coasters
If there’s one thing most coasters lack it’s references to the films of Wes Anderson. Artist Kelly Puissegur attempts to right that wrong with a series of small clayboards, individual works of art that she encourages you to place under a sweating glass of whatever it is you drink.

Aside from this set inspired by Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, Puissegur — who was born and raised in New Orleans, but moved to L.A. after Hurricane Katrina — offers sets devoted to Anderson’s Rushmore, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, and an extensive mix-and-match collection of director portraits ranging from Woody Allen to the Coen Brothers.

Puissegur says she and her husband are huge movie buffs, “especially ’70s and ’80s era grind­house cheese, Italian giallos, exploitation films and, obviously, from looking at my art work, everything by Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino.”

A set of four coasters (which could just as easily be hung on a wall) costs $48 (U.S.) and is available via Puissegur’s website, Retrowhale.com.

—Marni Weisz

 


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