A New Hope:
Initially the special effects crew on SW IV: A New Hope were hoping
to achieve the brilliant effects of the lightsaber using a substance
known as "Scotchlite" manufactured by 3M. Scotchlite is what makes
road signs an the like, so bright. It appears to make the
impossibility of reflecting more light back than it receives by
refocussing the light it originally gets, hence amplifying it.
The FX crew covered a rotating lightsaber blade attached to the hilt
with Scotchlite. Unfortunately (for the FX crew) it did not even come
close to reflecting enough light back to the camera to make the
lightsaber believable. Thats when they decided to rotoscope them
(Drawing in the "light" around the lightsaber.)
So when it came time to film SW V: The Empires Strikes Back the FX
crew substituted the scotchlite rod with a simple metal rod into the
lightsaber handle to give the animators a guide by which to rotoscope
in the saber blade.
Also, since the scotchlight blade was rotating in SW IV, it threw
light into the actors faces which you will notice is not visible for
the latter two movies.
As a joke, movie makers often put in little things that usually are never seen in the movie but at least they know they are there. One such case is in the Corellian Corvette at the very beginning of the movie. if you were able to see inside the front window of the ship, you would not only see a movie poster for SW IV, but a playboy Playmate hanging on the wall. There is a photo of this found in the book: "From Star Wars to Indiana Jones - the best of the Lucasfilm Archives", by Mark Cotta Vaz and Shinji Hata, (c) 1994 Chronicle Books, San Francisco.
George Lucas consulted with world renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell to develop the script.
Lucas had trouble getting funding for this movie, most studios thinking that people wouldn't go to see it.
The Director's Guild of America (DGA) didn't like the fact that there were no specific credits at the beginning of the film. They "ordered" Lucas to recut the film and put some credits at the beginning. Lucas refused, claiming that this would destroy the opening of the film. The DGA fined Lucas, who paid up, and promptly quit the DGA.
The Millenium Falcon was originally modelled after a hamburger with an olive next to it.
Derived from (among other things) a Japanese movie called Hidden Fortress, The (1958). Obi Wan Kenobi was modeled after a Samurai warrior, and C-3PO and R2-D2 are derived from a couple of petty crooks he conscripted to help rescue a princess.
The word "Jedi" is derived from the Japanese words "Jidai Geki" which translate as "period drama." A period drama is a Japanese TV soap opera program set in the samurai days. Lucas mentioned in an interview that he saw a "Jidai Geki" program on TV while in Japan a year or so before the movie was made and liked the word.
Sissy Spacek originally cast as Leia, but when Carrie Fisher refused to do the nude scenes in Carrie (1976), they swapped roles.
Jodie Foster was Lucas' second option for Princess Leia, Christopher Walken was second in line for Han Solo. Lucas also considered Nick Nolte for the role of Solo.
Burt Reynolds was originally cast as Han Solo, but he dropped out.
A great deal of the film was shot by vintage 1950's VistaVision cameras, because they were of higher quality than any others available. After the film was released, the prices of these cameras skyrocketed.
The episode number and subtitle "A New Hope" did not originally appear in the film's opening crawl. These were added in a later re-release to be consistent with those seen in Empire Strikes Back, The (1980).
There is a rumor that while Lucas and a co-worker were editing American Graffiti (1973), the co-worker asked Lucas for "Reel Two, Dialog Two", which abbreviated to "R2-D2", a name which stuck in Lucas' mind.
Scene of escape pod leaving Leia's ship was the first ever done by ILM.
C-3PO originally scripted as a "used car salesman" type, and designed after the robot from Metropolis (1926).
The Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia. There is a town in Tunisia called "Tatahouine". Some of the interiors of Luke's house were filmed in a hotel in Tunisia.
The sounds of the lasers were made by striking one of the guy wires of a power pylon.
There is a rumor that Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) was having trouble timing his conversations with R2-D2, as R2-D2's dialog was to be dubbed in later. Supposedly, Daniels asked Lucas to make some kind of noise to help him, but when Lucas forgot, the matter was dropped.
Chewbacca was modeled after Lucas' dog, Indiana. See also Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
C-3PO loses an arm when attacked by the Sandpeople. Ben cuts off a creature's hand in the Cantina. See also Empire Strikes Back, The (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
The following characters "have a bad feeling about this": Luke and Han. See also Empire Strikes Back, The (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983).
A scene where Jabba the Hutt confronts Han Solo in front of the Millenium Falcon was filmed with a human standin, but cut due to pacing problems.
A small pair of metal dice can be seen hanging in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon as Chewbacca makes preparations to depart from Mos Eisley. They don't appear in subsequent scenes.
Han and Luke "transfer" Chewbacca from cell block 1138: Lucas directed a film called THX 1138 (1970). "THX-1138" was going to be the serial number of the guard with the faulty transmitter on the Death Star, but this was changed.
Harrison Ford deliberately didn't learn his lines for the intercom conversation in the cell block, so it would sound spontaneous.
When the stormtroopers enter the room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding, one of them "accidentally" bumps his head on the door, complete with sound effects.
Scenes featuring Luke and his Tatooine friend "Biggs" were cut from the film. Biggs was a young pilot who left the Imperial Academy to join the Rebellion. Luke mentions him to his "aunt" and "uncle" during the breakfast scene, and the character later shows up as a Rebel pilot who accompanies Luke down the final run on the Death Star trench (and is killed by Darth Vader).
James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, but specifically requested that he not be credited, as he felt he had not done enough work to get the billing. David Prowse was supposedly extremely annoyed at not being told that his voice would be dubbed.
Cardboard cutouts are used for some of the background starfighters in the Rebel hanger bay.
Mark Hamill held his breath for so long during the trash compactor scene that he broke a blood vessel in his face. Subsequent shots are from one side only.
Denis Lawson, plays Wedge Antilles, despite his name being misspelt in the credits as "Dennis Lawson". See also Return of the Jedi (1983).
The final battle has been described as borrowed from Dam Busters, The (1954), but much more closely resembles one in 633 Squadron (1964).
Most of the crowd watching the heroes receive their medallions are cardboard cutouts.
It is rumoured that the shots of Owen and Beru's burning bodies were added to avoid an MPAA rating of "G", which it was believed would hurt ticket sales.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Lighting for SFX was so strong that several models melted.
The AT-AT's were based on ship loading structure in an Oakland, California shipyard. Walking patterns of elephants were studied to make the movements seem as realistic as possible.
Before this film was made, Mark Hamill (Luke) was driving his BMW along a highway. Realizing was missing his turn, he swung sharply, but ended up rolling his car and suffering facial scarring. Despite the efforts of plastic surgeons, his appearance was noticeably different. For this reason, the scene where Luke receives facial scars from a Wampa was written.
Further scenes with the Wampa Ice Creatures were shot, and later cut. R2-D2 encountered one within the Rebel base, where it was killed by troopers. Later, the beasts were lured into a prison within the complex. In the completed film, a medical droid is seen examining the wounds of a Tauntaun killed by a Wampa, and Princess Leia mentions the "creatures" while discussing the Imperial Probe Droid. A scene filmed but cut had Han, Leia and C-3PO running through a corridor. Han went to take a short-cut through a door with a sign on it, but Leia warned him "that's where those creatures are kept". They run off, but not before C-3PO rips off the sign, hoping that the stormtroopers will enter the room.
Luke cuts off the Wampa's hand. C-3PO loses an arm when blasted by the Stormtroopers. Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand. See also Star Wars (1977) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
The blasters used by the stormtroopers were constructed from Sterling submachine guns.
There is a rumor that one of the asteroids is actually a potato.
The following characters "have a bad feeling about this": Leia. See also: Star Wars (1977) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
Security surrounding this movie was so intense that George Lucas had regular reports about "leaks" from actors. Lucas was so determined that the ending be kept secret that he had actor David Prowse (Darth Vader) say "Obi Wan Kenobi is your father", and dubbed it later to be "I am your father".
Denis Lawson, plays Wedge Antilles. See also Return of the Jedi (1983).
The designers at ILM wanted a radical design for Boba Fett's ship. They ended up using the end of a lamp post from the street outside the ILM building.
This is Carrie Fisher's favorite movie of the trilogy. Despite this, there were claims that she was heavily into drugs at the time. The scene where Han Solo (Harrison Ford) was to be carbon frozen was a long a complex scene which required many takes. Eventually, Leia says "I love you" to Han Solo. Ford had heard this line so many times that he changed the scripted "I love you too" to "I know". Lucas didn't want to film the scene again, and thought it read much better that way, so it remained.
Return of the Jedi:
SFX crew claim to have included a "sneaker" as one of the spaceships in a complex dog-fight scene.
Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called "Blue Harvest (Horror beyond your imagination)", and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.
Experiments with a computer to generate a random but logical language for some creatures produced a dialect of Greek.
Luke's hand gets shot. Leia gets shot in the shoulder. Luke cuts off Darth Vader's hand. See also Star Wars (1977) and Empire Strikes Back, The (1980).
The main chamber of Jabba's palace is connected to the entrance by a short flight of steps. When filming the scene where R2-D2 enters the chamber it was discovered that the droid could not roll down the stairs. In the movie we see R2-D2 approaching the stairs, then the camera moves to the left past the steps and the droid re-enters the field of view, having been manually hauled down the stairs.
The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in.
Carrie Fisher's birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a mounted laser gun.
Rumor has it that Nien Numb speaks a Kenyan dialect, and one of his lines is "One thousand herds of elephants are standing on my foot".
Lando Calrissian and The Millenium Falcon originally scripted to perish in the Death Star explosion, but this was changed after a poor preview audience reception. Note Han's line when Calrissian leaves in the Falcon: "...like I'm not going to see her again..."
It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and Han Solo. Dark Horse's Comic "Dark Empire" is based on that fact and presents Han and Leia as a married couple.
Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars (1977) and Empire Strikes Back, The (1980) plays Wedge in this film, despite the rumours to the contrary which were caused by his name being misspelt ("Dennis Lawson") in the credits of Star Wars (1977). Intense debate on Usenet prompted Jarod Nash to write a letter to Lawson, asking for clarification. Lawson confirmed that he indeed played in all three movies.
Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt's entourage are ones named "Klaatu," "Barada" and "Nikto," after the command given to the robot Gort in Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951). The aliens are not referred to by name in the film, nor do they have any lines. Klaatu is the character who tries to push Luke into Sarlacc.
The name "Ewok" is never used to refer to the teddy-bear creatures in the film, though it does appear in the credits.
The following characters "have a bad feeling about this": C-3PO, Han, and Lando.
The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewok's bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing "Revenge of the Ewok" t-shirts.
Darth Vader's body was played by David Prowse, his voice by James Earl Jones, and his face by Sebastian Shaw.
One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor har", which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." Another song sounds identical to a song sung in Caveman (1981).
The title "Revenge of the Jedi" was leaked early in production, so that pirated merchandise could be easily spotted when the film was released. The official reason for the change was that "...a Jedi would not take revenge". Some authentic pre-release movie posters actually had "Revenge", and are worth a lot of money today.
Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San Francisco skyline.
If you know another amusing thing about the Star Wars galaxy, then please send it to me.