zachilles wrote:
Interesting insight I gleaned from the Star Wars Costumes book that came out today. According to the author, "Approximately six fiberglass Darth Vader Helmets were created for Empire Strikes Back. Beyond the six standard helmets, two or three special stunt helmets were designed and constructed for sword stuntman Bob Anderson who performed in ESB and ROTJ."
From my professional perspective (I've been a vfx producer for 20 years and worked with costumes and props on a professional level) these numbers do make sense. The question I have is: what's the source of the information? Pure recollection or authentic production documents? I've spoken with quite a few crew members from the OT who were involved in producing and handling the props and costumes for the movies, and even their memories differ from each other a lot. Remember, we are talking about films that were produced more that 30 years ago.
As an example, when I researched the origins and history of the original Highlander swords I was able to source production material such as purchase orders and original invoices from service providers. I literally searched dozens of cardboard boxes full of unsorted papers in different places. I even remember that in one of these boxes I accidentally found pictures of the screen used Vader ANH faceplate when it was stored away in Britain.