Miltos Yerolemou is a British actor who played a bar patron in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. He is best known for playing master swordfighter Syrio Forel on the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones.
Yerolemou was cast in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens because Nina Gold, who was the casting director of the film and Game of Thrones, was familiar with his work on the latter. He did not have to audition for the role, but landed the part when Gold sent his tape to director J.J. Abrams, who was looking for character actors to play space pirates. The actor spent two weeks filming at Pinewood Studios, under strict secrecy: His trailer carried his name and a fake character name, and he had no script and wasn't told what he was going to do until he showed up for filming. Yerolemou wore orange plasters on his fingers and nose for the part, and had a tube going up his nose. At one point, he was told that they didn't have to do the tube, but the actor insisted that they keep it, saying that it was the best thing about the character's design.
Originally, his role was going to be bigger: The bar patron was going to have a fight with the character Grummgar, with the patron asking for his money and the big alien having a go at him. However, due to time constraints, this segment was never filmed the way the director wanted. All that was shot was a segment where the patron is trying to have an argument with Grummgar; this can be seen in the background of two shots where Finn is leaving Moz Kanata's castle. According to Yerolemou, director J.J. Abrams wanted him and some of the other background characters to be involved in the story as opposed to merely being extras, and the director was frustrated that they ran out of time.
For the bit that was kept, Abrams instructed Yerolemou to stand in front of the animatronic Grummgar: "You say something and he says something…in fact he's not going to say anything at all because we are going to dub it later." They did not rehearse the scene because there were three people inside the alien, operating it. The actor hadn't seen the big animatronic creature move yet, so the first time they shot the scene, when the big alien started picking up a glass of brandy, the actor forgot that the characters were supposed to be having an argument, and ruined the take by blurting out his amazement. (In the film, Grummgar is merely seen holding the glass, and no line was dubbed in.)
During filming, the actor couldn't tell which droids had people in them and which ones were controlled by operators. At one point, he was having a conversation with a droid that was on the set, thinking that there was an actor inside it. The people who were operating the droid from it, made the droid respond to Yerolemou and "completely hoodwinked" him.
Yerolemou was cast in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens because Nina Gold, who was the casting director of the film and Game of Thrones, was familiar with his work on the latter. He did not have to audition for the role, but landed the part when Gold sent his tape to director J.J. Abrams, who was looking for character actors to play space pirates. The actor spent two weeks filming at Pinewood Studios, under strict secrecy: His trailer carried his name and a fake character name, and he had no script and wasn't told what he was going to do until he showed up for filming. Yerolemou wore orange plasters on his fingers and nose for the part, and had a tube going up his nose. At one point, he was told that they didn't have to do the tube, but the actor insisted that they keep it, saying that it was the best thing about the character's design.
Yerolemou in costume for the part
Originally, his role was going to be bigger: The bar patron was going to have a fight with the character Grummgar, with the patron asking for his money and the big alien having a go at him. However, due to time constraints, this segment was never filmed the way the director wanted. All that was shot was a segment where the patron is trying to have an argument with Grummgar; this can be seen in the background of two shots where Finn is leaving Moz Kanata's castle. According to Yerolemou, director J.J. Abrams wanted him and some of the other background characters to be involved in the story as opposed to merely being extras, and the director was frustrated that they ran out of time.
For the bit that was kept, Abrams instructed Yerolemou to stand in front of the animatronic Grummgar: "You say something and he says something…in fact he's not going to say anything at all because we are going to dub it later." They did not rehearse the scene because there were three people inside the alien, operating it. The actor hadn't seen the big animatronic creature move yet, so the first time they shot the scene, when the big alien started picking up a glass of brandy, the actor forgot that the characters were supposed to be having an argument, and ruined the take by blurting out his amazement. (In the film, Grummgar is merely seen holding the glass, and no line was dubbed in.)
During filming, the actor couldn't tell which droids had people in them and which ones were controlled by operators. At one point, he was having a conversation with a droid that was on the set, thinking that there was an actor inside it. The people who were operating the droid from it, made the droid respond to Yerolemou and "completely hoodwinked" him.