Star Wars IV
Movie:
George Lucas started writing the screenplay in 1974.
Director George Lucas had trouble getting funding for this movie, most
studios (including Universal and United Artists) thinking that people wouldn't
go to see it.
Derived from (among other things) the Akira Kurosawa film _Kakushi toride
no san akunin (1958)_ (The Hidden Fortress) -- mostly in the characters of
R2D2 and C3P0. and C-3PO and R2-D2 are derived from the characters of
Matakishi and Taihei, two farmers/ne'er-do-wells Mifune's character, a
samurai general, conscripted to help ferry his princess out of enemy territory.
Two characters in the Japanese film were split to produce four in "Star Wars":
aspects of Toshirô Mifune's samurai character became Ben Kenobi and Han
Solo; and aspects of the Princess's character became Luke and Leia (early
production art exists showing a female lead character rather than Luke).
Stunt doubles were not used for the scene in which Luke and Leia swing to
safety. Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill performed that stunt themselves,
shooting it in just one take.
According to the commentary track on the 2004 DVD, Lucas and the
production team apparently had a series of running battles with the studio
cleaning service, which would continually clean and buff the floors on set,
even though Lucas had requested that they leave them scuffed and dull - part
of his idea that the world the characters inhabit should look "lived in".
Most of the Stormtroopers are left-handed. That is because of how the
weapons are constructed. Their weapons are based on a real weapon, where
the magazine is on left side of the weapons. This construction caused it to hit
the troopers in the chest. Therefore they have to switch grip of the weapon,
which made them look left-handed.
Was originally scheduled for a Christmas 1976 release, but was pushed back
five months as post-production (especially special effects) took longer than
expected. Studio executives were concerned that the new 25th May 1977
release date would put the film's box office chances at risk as Smokey and the
Bandit (1977) would come out that same week. However, by the end of its
initial theatrical run in the U.S., Star Wars had grossed over twice as much as
Smokey and the Bandit (1977).
When 20th Century Fox attempted to distribute the film in the U.S., fewer than
40 theatres agreed to show it. As a solution, Fox threatened that any cinema
that refused to show Star Wars would not be given the rights to screen the
potential blockbuster The Other Side of Midnight (1977) (which ended up
grossing less than 10% of what Star Wars did).
The film was initially budgeted at $8 million but production problems forced
the studio to contribute an additional $3 million.
The following characters "have a bad feeling about this": Obi Wan (Episode
I), Anakin (Episode II), Obi Wan (Episode III), Luke (Episode IV), Han
(Episode IV), Leia (Episode V), C3-PO (Episode VI).
In Italy, R2-D2 was renamed C1-P8 while Darth Vader became Dart Fener,
the reason being that "Vader" in Italian sounds too close to the common noun
for the toilet bowl (the "water", clearly from the English "water closet"). The
"clones" mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi became "quotes" (Italian:
"cloni"/"quoti").
According to an interview with George Lucas, originally Luke was a girl, Han
Solo was an Alien, the wookiees were called Jawas, and R2-D2 and C-3PO
were called A-2 and C-3.
In the scene where Luke is attacked by a Tusken Raider, the moment where
the raider waves his weapon over his head with both hands in an up-and-down
motion was actually created from a shot of him thrusting his weapon up once,
run backwards and forward several times.
The Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia. There is a town in Tunisia called
"Tataouine". Some of the interiors and the courtyard of Luke's house were
filmed in a hotel in Matmata, Tunisia. One can visit this 2 stars hotel and see
some pictures and the painted ceiling in the room used for the dining room in
the film. When Luke goes out of the farm, he appears in a flat deserted area,
while the reality when you get out of the hotel show a lot of other houses,
small stone hills and a lot of prickly peartrees (a variety of cactus very
common in Tunisia).
The sequence where Luke returns to the farm is identical to The Searchers
(1956), when the farm has been burned by Indians
Han and Luke "transfer" Chewbacca from cell block 1138, a reference to
Lucas' earlier film THX 1138 (1971). "THX-1138" was going to be the serial
number of the guard with the faulty transmitter on the Death Star, but this was
changed.
Lucas acknowledges his debt to Akira Kurosawa's _Kakushi toride no san
akunin (1958)_ "Hidden Fortress" in the first conference room scene on the
Death Star. Just as an Imperial Officer is saying the line "...the Rebel's hidden
fort..." he is telekinetically strangled by Darth Vader, shutting him up before
he can say the full title.
While filming, a fierce sandstorm destroyed several of the Tatooine sets in the
desert outside Tozeur, Tunisia, and filming resumed two days later. The same
thing would happen to George Lucas 22 years later while filming Star Wars:
Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
While Lucas was filming on location in Tunisia, the Libyan government
became worried about a massive military vehicle parked near the Libyan
border. Consequently, the Tunisian government, receiving threats of military
mobilization, politely asked Lucas to move his Jawa sandcrawler farther away
from the border.
FXes:
The shot where the escape pod leaves Leia's ship was the first ever done by
ILM.
The pulsating engine sound of the Star Destroyer is a manipulated recording of
a broken air conditioner.
The lightsaber sound effect is a combination of the hum of an idling 35mm
movie projector and the feedback generated by passing a stripped microphone
cable by a television.
The sounds of the lasers were made by striking one of the suspension wires of
the original Severn Bridge. The longer ones were used for the ships while the
shorter ones were used for the hand guns.
According to the exhibit at the Smithsonian, the sound of a TIE fighter is
created by combining the squeal of a young elephant with the sound of a car
driving by on a rain-slicked highway.
The model used for the rebel blockade runner (the first ship seen in the first
scene of the film) has a tiny Star Wars movie poster and a tiny Playboy
centerfold in its cockpit. These aren't visible on screen, though.
The Millennium Falcon was originally modeled after a hamburger with an
olive next to it.
Two different basic designs were created for the Millennium Falcon. The
rejected one became the Rebel Blockade Runner seen at the start of the film.
The famous opening title sequence of the Star Wars series was first used in the
The Phantom Creeps (1939) series which began in 1939.
The piece of equipment used to fire the Death Star's weapon is actually a
Grass Valley Group 1600-7K television production switcher.
The targeting grid used for the Millennium Falcon's canon is based on a
paperweight Lucas saw on Arthur C. Clarke's desk.
The language spoken by the Jawas was created by recording speakers of the
African Zulu language and electronically speeding it up. Greedo's language is
the Peruvian Indian language Quechua, played backwards.
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. George 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.
Dan O'Bannon and John C. Wash animated the Death Star schematics seen on
the computer screen as R2D2 searches the Death Star's computer memory.
They were influenced by similar sequences they produced for the filmDark
Star (1974).
In the Italian version of the trilogy, the Death Star is called Morte Nera (Black
Death).
The terms "X-wing" and "Y-wing" and "TIE fighter" were used by ILM
effects guys to distinguish the fighters. These terms are not used in this film,
though they were incorporated into the sequels. They also became popular
with the public after the toys and the Making of special aired on tv. In
addition, ILM's special effects staff nicknamed the Millennium Falcon "The
Porkburger" but this never caught on.
Obi Van:
Later in his life, Alec Guinness always recalled the experience of making the
movie as a bad one and consistently claimed that it was his idea to have his
character killed in the first film, so he "wouldn't have to carry on saying these
rubbish lines". He also recalled an occasion when he was confronted by a fan
who claimed to have watched the film many times. He said that he asked the
fan to do something for him, and that when the young man eagerly answered
that he would do anything for Obi-Wan Kenobi, he said, "I want you to
promise me that you will never watch it again."
Before Alec Guinness was cast as Obi Wan, George Lucas briefly considered
using Peter Cushing, who plays Tarkin.
When Ben Kenobi is turning off the tractor beam, the set Alec Guinness was
on was only six feet above the ground.
Han Solo:
James Caan, Al Pacino and Burt Reynolds turned down the role of Han Solo.
At one point, George Lucas had planned the character of Han Solo to be a
huge green-skinned monster with no nose and gills.
George Lucas based the character of Han Solo on his friend, director Francis
Ford Coppola.
Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Perry King were
all candidates for the role of Han Solo, as George Lucas wanted to stay away
from any actors he had previously used in his films. Harrison Ford (who had
played Bob Falfa in Lucas's American Graffiti (1973)) read the part of Han
Solo for screen tests of other characters but wasn't originally considered for
the part. During these tests George Lucas realized Harrison Ford was perfect
for the role.
George Lucas at one time considered making Han Solo black. He auditioned
several black actors and even musicians (including Billy Dee Williams) until
finally settling on Glynn Turman. But after this he decided to make the role
white and went with Harrison Ford.
Harrison Ford deliberately didn't learn his lines for the intercom conversation
in the cell block, so it would sound spontaneous.
Chewie:
Peter Mayhew worked as an orderly in a Yorkshire hospital prior to being cast
as Chewbacca.
Though the only thing Chewbacca can say from start to finish is a Wookiee
growl, he has the last line in the film.
Peter Mayhew and David Prowse were both given a choice as to which giant
character they wanted to play, Chewbacca or Darth Vader. Mayhew wanted to
play a good guy and Prowse wanted to play a bad guy, so they ended up
playing the matching characters.
According to Mark Hamill, studio executives were unhappy that Chewbacca
has no clothes and attempted to have the costume redesigned with shorts.
7 foot 2 Peter Mayhew got the role of Chewbacca 10 seconds after he met
George Lucas. All he did was stand up.
During the scene on the Death Star right after Ben leaves to shut down the
tractor beam, Chewbacca barks something to Luke to which Han says "Boy,
you said it Chewie". Backstage footage reveals that what Chewie says is "The
old man's gone mad".
Chewbacca was modeled after George Lucas's dog, Indiana. See also Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
The Chewbacca suit retained a bad smell for the duration of filming after the
trash-compactor scene.
The name Wookiee came about as a result of an accident. When San Francisco
DJ Terry McGovern was doing voice-over work on _THX 1138 (1970)_ for
George Lucas, he made a blunder and exclaimed, "I think I ran over a wookiee
back there." George Lucas, confused, asked what he meant by the term. Terry
McGovern admitted that he didn't know and added that he simply made it up.
George Lucas never forgot the cute word and used it years later in Star Wars.
Chewbacca's "voice" is a combination of several animals including bears,
badgers, walrus and camels.
The humorous moment when Chewbacca frightens a skittish mouse droid, was
improvised on set and not scripted.
During filming, Peter Mayhew actually spoke English dialogue for Chewbacca
so that his character's conversations with the actors would seem more natural.
In post production; his dialogue was dubbed into what we see now Chewie's
growls and barks. A clip of Chewbacca's voice before dubbing in the Death
Star control room scene is shown on the documentary included in the new
2004 DVD release.
Luke:
At one point, George Lucas planned for the characters of Luke Skywalker and
his aunt and uncle, to be dwarves.
Luke went through several changes. He started out as a woman, then he was a
dwarf, then he was a 60 year-old general then his name was changed from
Luke Starkiller to Luke Skywalker.
William Katt auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker.
The original name of the main character in this film was Luke Starkiller. It
was changed to Skywalker on the first day of filming. All early drafts of the
script still bear the name "Starkiller".
Darth Vader:
Darth Vader was the first character that George Lucas created for the story.
This is the only film in the series where David Prowse did the lightsaber
fighting on his own; he was doubled in the sequels because he kept breaking
the poles that stood in for the blades. This switch might explain why Vader
pivots on his feet in this film, but not in the others.
The famous Darth Vader suit was designed by production designer Ralph
MacQuarrie, who was concerned about the character being able to breathe
while he was traveling from his spaceship to Princess Leia's spaceship. It was
not explained why Darth Vader wears the suit at all times until Star Wars:
Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The look of the Darth Vader suit
was based on robes worn by Beduin Warriors.
Before casting Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, George Lucas considered
casting Japanese actor Toshirô Mifune.
Ben Burtt created the sound of Darth Vader's breathing by placing a small
microphone in the second stage (mouthpiece) of a scuba regulator, and then
recording the sound made by his breathing through the regulator.
"Vader" is Dutch for "father".
Leia:
Terri Lynn and Cindy Williams auditioned for the role of Princess Leia.
Carrie Fisher considered losing weight for the role of Princess Leia, but she
and George Lucas decided against it.
Terri Nunn of the band Berlin was in the running for the role of Princess Leia
and had readings with Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill.
James Earl Jones and David Prowse have never met.
C3PO:
During production, Anthony Daniels and all other actors playing "C-3PO"-
type droids had to lean against a board to rest, as his costume was not flexible
enough to allow them to sit. In scenes where C-3PO is required to sit, Daniels'
costume had to be partially disassembled to allow him to sit down. This was
hidden by using camera angles, and by having C-3PO sit behind things. This
inflexible costume problem was also experienced by actor 'Jack Haley' who
played the Tin Woodsman in 'Wizard of Oz, The (1939)'.
C-3PO was originally scripted as a "used car salesman" type, and designed
after the robot from Metropolis (1927).
R2D2:
After the sets were constructed, George Lucas went through them and had
every single one of them "dirtied up". The R2-D2s were all rolled in the dirt,
nicked with a saw, and kicked around a bit.
Misc. personages:
Peter Cushing found the boots that came with his costume extremely
uncomfortable to wear because they were too small for his feet. Thus he only
wore them in the few shots in which Tarkin's feet could be seen. In all other
shots, Peter Cushing wore a pair of fuzzy slippers.
Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles (his name is misspelt in the credits
as "Dennis Lawson"), is the uncle of Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan
Kenobi in the prequels. See also Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
(1983).
Star Wars V
Movie:
When shooting on location in Norway, a fierce snow storm hit the hotel where
cast and crew were staying. This would have normally halted filming, but
director Irvin Kershner thought these weather conditions were an excellent
opportunity to film the scene where Luke wanders through the snow after
escaping the Wampa cave. He did this by sending Mark Hamill outside into
the cold, while he and the cameraman stayed and filmed inside the hotel's
front hall.
The carbon freezing chamber is the only time in the original trilogy that Darth
Vader and C3PO are in the same scene together.
A total of 64 sets were constructed for the movie.
The scene where Solo was hit by the toolbox as well as hitting the control
panels were improvised on the set. At first, the crew were afraid of shooting it,
but Irvin Kershner finally persuaded them to do so, saying "Come on, that's
fun. Let's do it!"
The two other scenes, which are the swamps of Dagobah; and the asteroid's
creature (which has the Millenium Falcon) was done on the same sound stage
used for the interior backgrounds of the Echo base in Hoth
The scenes where R2-D2 is submerged in the mud pool were shot in George
Lucas' unfinished swimming pool. Most of the crew were hidden under the
water and the entire sequence was shot by George Lucas himself.
Luke cuts off the Wampa's arm. C-3PO loses an arm when blasted by the
Stormtroopers. Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand.
Luke is upside-down at the beginning (Wampa cave), in the middle (training
on Dagobah), and at the end (below Cloud City). He uses the Force each time.
Mark Hamill's wife gave birth to their first son (Nathan Hamill) early one
morning, and Mark went straight from the hospital to shooting. This was the
day they filmed the shots of Luke hanging by the weather vane below Cloud
City, on Bespin.
George Lucas decided that a battle on an ice planet was necessary because he
felt that it was easy to "cheat" in space, because the background was black and
you could hide errors easily. With a white background, the effects crews
would have to work much harder, and the effects would be much more
impressive.
When Luke and Han say their goodbyes before the Battle of Hoth, it is the last
time the two are onscreen together until they meet up in Jabba the Hutt's
palace in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
During the filming of the Battle of Hoth, the Echo Base troops were actually
Norwegian mountain-rescue skiers. In exchange for participation in the film,
Lucasfilm made a donation to the Norwegian Red Cross.
With the exception of being sucked out of a Cloud City window, Mark Hamill
did all of his own stunts.
Producer 'Gary Kurtz' came up with the title for the movie.
As Yoda and Obi-Wan urge Luke to stay on Dagobah to finish his training,
Luke pulls a snake from his spaceship. Irvin Kershner assured Mark Hamill
that the snake was harmless, though it did bite him during one take.
One of the bounty hunters that Darth Vader hires to find Han Solo, IG-88, can
be seen in the Cloud City. IG-88 is a droid, and his dead body is sitting next to
a furnace in the room where C-3PO is dismantled.
FXes:
In the asteroid scene, one of the asteroids is actually a shoe. The rumor is that
George Lucas asked the SFX people to redo the scene so many times that they
got annoyed and one of them threw in their shoe.
Another of the asteroids is actually a potato. It appears just as the Millennium
Falcon first enters the field. Two asteroids travel from the top left to the
bottom right corner of the screen. Just after the second asteroid leaves the
screen a third one appears in the top left corner. This is the potato.
The AT-ATs were inspired by the walking machines in H.G. Wells's "War of
the Worlds" and their appearance was based on gantry cranes which are used
in most shipping ports in the USA. Walking patterns of elephants were studied
to make the movements seem as realistic as possible.
The Dagobah set needed to be elevated to give Frank Oz and three other
puppeteers room to control the Yoda puppet from below. For proper
interaction, Mark Hamill was given an earpiece so he could hear Frank Oz
doing Yoda's voice. Mark Hamill reportedly had a hard time concentrating on
his dialogue, since his earpiece occasionally picked up a radio frequency
playing the Rolling Stones.
Mark Hamill had to bang his head 16 times on the ceiling of Yoda's hut before
the director was satisfied.
The sound of Darth Vader's shuttle door opening is reportedly a recording of a
whole block of Alcatraz cell doors slamming shut.
The voiceover line "The first transport is away" during the Rebel evacuation is
delivered by Mark Hamill.
The shots where Luke uses his Jedi powers to retrieve his lightsaber from a
distance were achieved by having Mark Hamill throw the lightsaber away and
then running the film in reverse.
The concept design for Cloud City was originally created for Star Wars (1977)
(as a floating Imperial prison), but was never used. The design was recycled
for use in this film.
The sound of R2-D2 moving was produced by recording the sound of a car
window motor in operation.
The sound of the Tuan-tuans was produced by recording the sound of an Asian
sea otter named Moda.
The entire sequence with the Wampa attack was designed to explain the
difference in appearance of Mark Hamill, who had been in involved in a car
accident in between shooting and had a large chunk of his nose missing.
Noticeably, Kershner does not show much of Hamill's nose before the Wampa
attack.
The film's most famous line is often misquoted. While many believe that
Darth Vader says; "Luke, I am your father." He actually says; "No, I am your
father." Even James Earl Jones, who provided the voice for Darth Vader,
misquoted the line on the _Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars
Trilogy (2004) (TV)_ documentary.
Han Solo:
Having Han Solo frozen in carbonite was (at least in part) due to the fact that
they were not sure that Harrison Ford would return for a third film. When the
original Star Wars (1977) was made Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were
signed for a three picture deal, but Harrison Ford refused.
When Han Solo is about to be frozen, Princess Leia says, "I love you." In the
original script, Han Solo was supposed to say, "Just remember that, Leia,
because I'll be back," but at the time of filming, Harrison Ford wasn't entirely
certain he did want to come back for a third film.
In the famous scene right when Han is frozen, he replies "I know" to her "I
love you". Originally, the scene was shot with Han replying "I love you, too",
however, Harrison Ford didn't think that it fit Han's personality. George Lucas
agrees, and Ford ad-libbed his now famous line.
Han Solo is the only non-Jedi/Sith in the entire trilogy to ever use a lightsaber
when he cuts open the tauntaun's belly.
Boba Fett:
Jeremy Bulloch, who plays Boba Fett, is producer Robert Watts's half-brother.
After an extra fell sick, Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) was called in as a
replacement to the Imperial Guard who escorts Princess Leia and pulls her into
the elevator after she screams "Luke! It's a trap!". He's the same Imperial
Guard who is captured by Lando Calrissian's men.
Leia:
Carrie Fisher stood on a box for many of her scenes with Harrison Ford in
order to make up for the height difference and have her appear in the frame
with him. Carrie Fisher is about a foot shorter than Harrison Ford.
Star Wars VI
Movie:
David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct this episode of the
series. He turned it down because he believed it was "Lucas' thing."
Director David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct.
The Huttese language spoken by Jabba the Hut was inspired by the Incan
language Quechua. The lines were conceived by linguist Larry Ward, who
also provided Jabba's voice (although enhanced electronically).
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.
The primitive warrior tribe at the end of this film was originally supposed to
be a tribe of Wookiees. In pre-production, though, the decision was made to
go to short creatures with short fur rather than very tall creatures with longer
fur and, hence, the Ewoks were created (Ewok may very well have been
created by rearranging the sounds in the word "Wookiee").
The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in.
According to Anthony Daniels, it only took him less than 10 minutes to put on
the C-3P0 outfit, unlike the last two films were it took him two hours.
At the end, when Luke cremates Darth Vader, he starts the fire at big toe of his
right foot. He also apparently walks around the pyre. Those details and the
style of the pyre correspond to Hindu tradition.
Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor) and David Prowse (Darth Vader) have never
met. Vader was played by Bob Anderson for all of the camera shots in which
Vader and the Emperor appeared at the same time.
The name Anakin is the accusative of the greek noun Anax, meaning "lord."
Robert Watts, a co-producer of the film, doubles as the scout walker driver
who is thrown out of the scout walker by Chewbacca.
One of the words C-3PO uses to communicate with the Ewoks is "naboo"
which is the name of Queen Amidala's planet in Star Wars: Episode I - The
Phantom Menace (1999).
Jabba the Hutt's death was inspired in part by a scene in The Godfather (1972),
in which Luca Brasi is choked to death with a garrote.
It was originally intended for the Millennium Falcon to not make it out of the
exploding Death Star. While this was eventually dropped, a fragment of the
idea remains when Han says, "I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see
her again."
Endor is the name of a place in the Bible; it's a village found in Biblical
Israel's territory of Isaachar, where king Saul went on the eve of his final battle
with the Phillistines and came across "The Witch of Endor". It also the Elvish
name for Middle-Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".
For security reasons, when the film was sent to the lab, it was sent under the
title "Blue Harvest". The title was inspired by the Dashiell Hammett story
"Red Harvest", which was the inspiration for Yojimbo (1961), directed by
Akira Kurosawa, one of the favorite directors of George Lucas. When you go
to www.blueharvest.com, you'll get the official Star Wars website.
Carrie Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies. She
said they were so long, you could not tell "she was a woman". Those
complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba's prisoner. The costume
became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal
framework that held the top together meant that the costume didn't move well
with her. Since Fisher didn't like the industry standard solution of using
double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe
person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top
(and several scenes had to be re-shot when "wardrobe malfunctions"
occurred).
FX:
Several Ewok lines are in the Filipino (Tagalog) language. Most Ewok lines,
however, were inspired by the Kalmuck language, spoken by nomadic tribes
living in Central China.
The raspy, labored breathing heard from Darth Vader after he kills the
Emperor was originally meant to be how his breathing sounded when he was
first introduced in Star Wars (1977). The sound of this labored breathing was
kept and used for this film.
Nien Numb, Lando's co-pilot, speaks a Kenyan dialect called Haya. According
to sound designer Ben Burtt, the lines were delivered by a Kenyan student
living in the US, and are actually correct Hayan translations of the English
text. Audiences in Kenya were reportedly very thrilled to hear their language
spoken in proper context.
One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor här",
which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." (In fact, that line's lyrics are
supposedly, "G'noop dock fling oh ah.") Another song sounds identical to a
song sung in Caveman (1981).
The growls and sounds of the Rancor in Jabba's Palace were actually made by
a dachsund.
Before filming began, it was discovered that all of Darth Vader's lightsaber
props had either been lost or stolen. Thus, one of Luke Skywalker's "stunt"
saber props from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) had
to be quickly cannibalized into a "Vader-esque" saber for this film.
The radiating shafts making up the floor of the second Death Star's reactor
core are actually 1,500 fishing rods.
The point-of-view shots for the speeder bike sequence were achieved by
having a camera operator walk through the forest at normal speed with a
camera filming at one frame per second. When the footage was played back at
twenty four frames per second, it gave the appearance of flying through the
forest at high speeds.
Darth Vader:
David Prowse only portrayed Darth Vader completely for the first half of the
movie. In the second half of the movie, the character was played by Bob
Anderson (stuntman) during the fight sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the
character is unmasked. James Earl Jones voiced the character throughout, with
the exception of the unmasking scene.