A key figure in the creation of the original Star Wars movie is heading for the Highlands and islands to shoot a feature-length version of a cult classic.
Roger Christian won an Oscar for designing the set on Star Wars: A New Hope, and also held senior posts in the production of Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, as well as Alien.
In the late 1970s, Star Wars’ creator George Lucas gave Mr Christian the chance to turn a film idea he had into a 25-minute short.
His subsequent work, Black Angel, told the tale of a knight who rescues a princess while returning home from the Crusades, and was made entirely in Scotland, at locations such as Eilean Donan Castle, Bernera Barracks at Glenelg, Loch Eck in Argyll.
It was shown in 1980 in cinemas in the UK, Scandinavia, Japan and Australia as part of screenings of The Empire Strikes Back – and became a cult classic.
Now he is planning to return to the Highlands to fulfil his original intention of turning Black Angel into a full length film.
Although much of the filming will take place in Hungary, Mr Christian is also preparing to return to old haunts of Eilean Donan, the wider Lochalsh area and also Skye.
He said: “I have to film in Scotland, and in late September and early October as I did the first time.
“The quality of the natural light at that time of year in Scotland is like nothing else in the world.
“It allowed us to shoot scenes that would have required CGI, technology that was not available to us at that time.”
The original Black Angel was found last year and made available online, ending fears that the film had been lost forever.
The tourism sector in the Highlands has already been cashing-in on the region’s appearance in several high-profile movies in recent years.
Landmarks which have become even more famous around the world include the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which appears in the Harry Potter movies, Glencoe, which featured in Skyfall, Braveheart and The 39 Steps, and Eilean Donan Castle, seen in Highlander and The World Is Not Enough.
Skye, the Western Isles and Orkney are all currently featuring in Stephen Spielberg’s adaption of Roald Dahl classic BFG.
