When the dozen-odd members of Order 66, a Dubai-based Star Wars fan group, lined up for an XPRESS photo shoot in Dubai last month, they knew fame was just around the corner. What they hadn’t imagined though was seeing their acts on a global satellite network. That became a reality when CNN came calling within days after they appeared on the cover of the April 24 edition of XPRESS Abu Dhabi.
“I had heard about the film crew camping deep in the desert of Abu Dhabi for the filming of the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII. A few days later, I came across Order 66 in their full ware on the cover of XPRESS. It was a visual delight and sparked off a great story idea,” says Nick Salter, the producer of CNN’s daily hour-long current affairs programme Connect the World that featured the group on May 4. The date is an easy pun on ‘May the Force be with you’ - a cult line in the movie. and celebrated by fans worldwide as the unofficial holiday to honour the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas.
Giovan Anthony Paz, the 39-year old ‘father’ of Order 66 who Salter contacted through Facebook, says he and his entire team are ecstatic that their hard work is getting the mileage they deserve.
“I have no idea where to take it from here. Till a few days ago we were just a bunch of passionate fans, but now we feel like true celebrities,” says the designer who has also led his team to wins in the last two editions of Comic Con.
The man from Manila who’s spent over Dh35,000 on making 45 costumes in the last three years remains grateful to XPRESS for ‘plucking them out of obscurity’.
