Madame Tussauds To Give New ‘Star Wars’ Characters, Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak The Wax Treatment
Two Madame Tussauds wax museums will be welcoming new wax figures in the next few months. The Star Wars experience at Madame Tussauds London is set to unveil two new characters from the hugely successful Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Madame Tussauds San Francisco will be unveiling the newest addition to their line of tech entrepreneur wax figures this month at Silicon Valley Comic Con.
The Star Wars experience at Madame Tussauds London originally opened in May of 2015, and features 11 iconic scenes and 16 characters from the Star Wars universe, such as Han Solo sitting in the booth at the cantina on Mos Eisley, Chewbacca co-piloting the Millennium Falcon — Chewie’s fur is made from real yak hair, and was sown into his wax figure by hand, strand-by-strand — and the scene in The Empire Strikes Back in which Darth Vader reveals his true identity to Luke Skywalker. Each scene is an interactive experience, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the scene, taking on the roles of Greedo sitting opposite Han in the Cantina, or Luke as he finds out that Darth Vader is his father, among others.
Dress up as a Star Wars character for the arrival of BB-8 at @MadameTussauds this Easter https://t.co/mkwu6SkAw0 pic.twitter.com/pfHUHSoEHi
— Visit London (@visitlondon) March 10, 2016
According to Film News, the two new Star Wars characters that will soon be added to the experience at Madame Tussauds London are fan favorites BB-8, the beloved orange and white astromech droid — which will be unveiled just before Easter weekend — and Rey, who will be revealed at Madame Tussauds London’s Star Wars experience some time this summer. More characters can be expected to be added in time, says Edward Fuller, General Manager at Madame Tussauds London.
“Like the rest of the world we have been blown away by the new Star Wars movie and are very excited to be welcoming figures of BB-8 and Rey to the Star Wars experience at Madame Tussauds London this year. The experience is an evolving one and we will add new scenes and characters as the story continues to unfold. Guests have confirmed that BB-8 and Rey are top choices they want to meet.”
In order to celebrate BB-8’s addition to the Star Wars experience, Madame Tussauds London is offering a free BB-8 gift, and entry to a contest to win a BB-8 app-enabled droid to all fans who visit the attraction over Easter weekend dressed up as their favorite Star Wars characters.
Madame Tussauds San Francisco will also be adding a new figure to their museum — everyone’s favorite loveable techie, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Woz’s sculpture — which has taken four months to create and is worth an estimated $350,000 — will be unveiled on stage at the first ever Silicon Valley Comic Con, reports Digital Trends. The Comic Con is set to take place in San Jose, California, on March 18-20.
A Madame Tussauds employee measuring Woz, who they're turning into a wax figure for their San Francisco location. pic.twitter.com/6Ai7r9NeN4
— Harry McCracken ?? (@harrymccracken) March 9, 2016
Wozniak will be joining a cast of other famous tech entrepreneurs at Madame Tussauds San Francisco that include Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. Woz was chosen via public poll set up by Madame Tussauds that included other well known techies like Elon Musk, George Lucas, Edwin Catmull of Pixar, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Larry Page of Google, and Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, among others.
In order to create his life-size wax counterpart, Steve Wozniak had to attend private sessions with a team of sculptors and artists and pose for them as they made sure to capture the minutia necessary to create the life-like waxworks that Madame Tussauds has been known for since the real Madame Tussaud created her first wax sculpture of Voltaire in 1777.
Wozniak has yet to see his sculpture, but believes he will have “an immense rush of pride and chills” when he finally gets to see the amazing work the sculptors and artists at Madame Tussauds have put into recreating his likeness for their world-famous museum.
[Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images]
