Playing Chewbacca isn't easy for Joonas Suotamo. The actor who took on the role from the late Peter Mayhew just recently discussed the different struggles he had to endure playing everyone's favorite Wookie in Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy and not only does Suotamo have to put on a stuffy suit, but it turns out he has to wear heels too.
Suotamo just recently went on an interview with Cinema Blend to talk about his role as Chewbacca, and during the discussion with the entertainment news outlet, the actor revealed that he had to wear heels inside his suit. Suotamo might stand at a massive 7'0 height, but Lucasfilm wanted the actor to stand taller so that he could reach the same height as the late Peter Mayhew. The studio made Suotamo wear heels underneath the suit, making it a bit difficult for Suotamo to do action sequences.
"It's actually not difficult at all," the actor said when asked about whether or not moving around in his Chewbacca suit was difficult.
"Because the mask is so tight on my face, it doesn't hinder my visibility; I can see fine," Suotamo continued, "And it's not that heavy. So, it's not a hard thing to do. I can move fine, but sometimes, I wear these small heels to make me a couple inches taller because I'm only 7'0. That hinders me a little bit but not too much. The intention was to match Peter's listed height from when he was younger, but when doing running scenes or action shots, we sometimes did not use the high heels."
It looks like Lucasfilm was intent on keeping the continuity of the Star Wars franchise. It must have been pretty difficult for Suotamo to run around in heels, especially with a suit on him. The studio really went to lengths just to makes sure that Suotamo had the same height as Mayhew because well, fans would probably notice the few inches height difference.
It's such a shame that Lucasfilm didn't have the same meticulousness when stringing together all of the different entries of Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently screening in cinemas.
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