Elan Sleazebaggano (Matt Doran) — aka the ‘Death Sticks Guy’ — tries to offload dodgy cigs to Obi-Wan in Attack Of The Clones.
“EVERYONE KNOWS THE ‘Death Sticks Guy’,” beams Matt Doran. “It’s such a short scene, but it’s amazing just how many people reacted to that one little tiny moment.”
For the Star Wars-challenged, the ‘Death Sticks Guy’ is actually called Elan Sleazebaggano, the most nominatively determined character in cinema history. Uttering only three lines, the bequiffed scallywag tries to peddle thinly veiled cigarettes to Obi-Wan at the Outlander Club. In Attack Of The Clones’ funniest moment, Obi-Wan plays a Jedi mind trick, sending Elan scuttling off to “rethink his life”.
Shooting at Fox (now Disney) Studios, Sydney, Doran, best known at that point for playing Mouse in The Matrix, remembers, “It actually took longer to get past the security gate than to shoot the scene.” The props team had created Death Sticks for Doran to hold but George Lucas nixed them. What you see in the film is CG (as are Sleazebaggano’s antennae). Doran recalls Lucas “wasn’t the most chatty bloke”, but he had a giggle with McGregor.
“Ewan just seemed like a good lad,” he says. “Someone who you’d want to hang out with and have a few beers and a laugh with. I did get to touch his lightsaber as well.”