Since 1977, Star Ward has spawned an extensive media franchise including books, television series, computer and video games, theme park attractions, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series‘ fictional universe. Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the „Most successful film merchandising franchise“. You can find everything related to the film ready to be sold: from mugs to costumes, keychains to pillow cases. But what may be harder to find are these behind the scenes photos of the film and trivia and fun facts that you may not know – even if you are a movie Jedi.
Carrie Fisher napping in between takes.
James Earl Jones was not originally credited for either A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back because he only needed a few hours to record his lines. He did get a credit for Return of the Jedi.
Mark Hamill hanging with his puppet mentions
63-year-old Mark Hamill was the exact same age while filming the movie The Force Awakens as Sir Alec Guinness was when he filmed the original first Star Wars movie.
Talk about sacrifice: eating in costume every day.
„Ewok“ was never actually said in Return of the Jedi, the name was learned from merchandising. The plan was to have a wookiee army, but when the change was made, the ewoks were made small in contrast to the oversized wookiees, and they got their name from flipping around the name „wook-iee“ to „e-wok.“
Han and Greedo chilling
In an attempt to avoid spoilers the shooting script actually had Darth Vader telling Luke that Obi-Wan killed his father. It was only changed when James Earl Jones recorded his lines in post-production.
Carrie Fisher beautiful as always.
You probably have noticed that the beloved character Chewbacca doesn’t look like he has aged much in 30 years. That’s because wookiees tend to live over 400 years, and Chewie is only about 200-years-old. Still young.
Harrison Ford helping Anthony Daniels get up
Princess Leia never actually gets to ‚meet‘ Obi Wan Kenobi. She sees him from afar when she’s escaping the Death Star as Obi-Wan is about to let Darth Vader kill him but that’s it. Unless you count Obi-Wan being present for her birth in Revenge of the Sith…then she never met him.
Carrie Fisher toasting
Anthony Daniels, who voiced C3P0 and climbed into the tin suit, is the only actor to appear in all 8 Star Wars. Kenny Baker did not actually film anything for Revenge of the Sith, his parts were footage recycled from Attack of the Clones.
How this scene was filmed
Bail Organa and Yoda step into the hallway of Organa’s ship and have a nice chat about being rebels or something in Sith. It’s also the actual ship that Darth Vader boards to capture Princess Leia Organa in the start of A New Hope.
Luke and Leia having a blast.
Darth Vader has his own theme song, which was written by John Williams. It’s known as the Imperial March and was introduced in the Empire movie, then and used in Jedi and in the prequels to show when Anakin was turning to the dark side of the Force.
Harrison Ford not fixing, but laughing.
In The return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader picks up the Emperor and throws him down the Death Star shaft, listen carefully. This is the one and only time the Jedi theme music plays during a shot of Darth Vader, reflecting his return to the light side of the Force.
Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner, hanging with Boba Fett and Darth Vader
Wedge Antilles becomes the only X-wing pilot character (besides from Luke) who is able to survive all three major battles in the Star wars films. Luke of course only two part in two of those battles as a pilot.
Striking a pose with C3PO
On the Hoth planet Rebel base – do you remember that man to which Han Solo retorts, „Then I’ll see you in Hell!“ just before he heads out to find a certain missing Jedi? Seems familiar? That’s Cliff Clavin from Cheers AKA John Ratzenberger.
A tired Carrie Fisher in Cloud City
Anakin Skywalker truly is the ‚Chosen one‘. While Yoda and Mace Windu may have seem like they had mistaken the reading of the prophecy, Anakin was the one who reallykilled Sith Lord Palpatine by throwing him down the Death Star’s reactor shaft in Jedi and restoring the balance to the Force.
Too bad they were out of the final version of Empire Strikes Back
Harrison Ford never intended to be Han Solo, he was just around after American Graffitti and was helping other colleagues read their lines as Lucas was in the casting. Eventually the director wised up and noticed that Harrison already had the part down cold.
Backstage secrets
After Padme dies, she is properly returned to Naboo for her burial – and her body has been altered to make it look as she was still pregnant. Tis was all part of the ruse to keep the existence of Leia and Luke as a secret.
Turns out Grand Moff Tarkin was kinda cool.
The famous and forever remembered reveal line of the father and son relationship between Vader and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back is often misquoted as „Luke, I am your father“, when the line is actually „No, I am your father“.
Smiling at a storm on Hoth.
„It’s a trap,“ one of the most famous lines in the movie was incredibly, not originally in the screenplay. It was scripted as „It’s a trick!“ and then changed post-filming after a test screening because, let’s face it, „it’s a trick“ just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Anyway, Princess Leia said it first in The Empire Strikes Back.
A very thirsty and still in costume Anthony Daniels
James Earl Jones is famous for providing the voice for Vader even though he didn’t do the famous breathing effect in the making. This effect was done by Ben Burt placing a microphone inside the mouth of a breathing apparatus and recording it.
Harrison Ford with a ride
The idea that George Lucas had 12 films all mapped out before the first Star Wars was released is simply a myth, even though it has grown over the years with fans and media. The fact is that Lucas wrote a great deal of material when he was developing his little sci-fi adventure, but didn’t have it all figured out.
Stayin‘ cool on Tatooine
Jedi was going to be named Revenge of the Jedi until Lucas decided that Jedis actually do not seek revenge and changed the title. This was almost at the end of the production process so there was a lot of promotional gear with the title already printed that had to go to waste.
Darth Vader with no mask on
Actor Mark Hamill got a black eye when filming the famous ‚Dianoga‚ attack in the Trash Compactor scene from A New Hope, so to finish the production he was filmed from one side only of his face for the rest of the shooting of that scene.
Carrie Fisher and her stunt double
Carrie Fisher has spoken many times of her struggles with bipolar disorder. You wouldn’t wish this on any anybody. Harrison Ford and her had an affair during the film of A New Hope, even Harrison Ford was married at the time of the film.
Alec Guinness, being a diva
In the original drafts of Star Wars scripts, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker were two different people. It was during the development of the script for The Empire Strikes Back that the two thought as one character. That changed everything.
A helpful fingernail chewer
Boba Fett was first seen in The Empire Strikes Back right. Think again. His first appearance was in an animated segment of The Star Wars Holiday Special. Bobba also actually made his first public appearance in a Star Wars street parade before either movie. That’s what hype is all about.
Everyone goofing and relaxing
Frank Oz who is the voice for the most famous little green guy in movie history, Yoda was also the voice of the Muppet’s Miss Piggy. It was because of his talents that he developed with Jim Henson and also did the puppetry.
I see why they’d leave this take out
In the original drafts for Star Wars the Skywalker family was actually called Starkiller. They also featured a General Starkiller and really didn’t focus on the young farmer from Tatooine. His son was called Deak, who later became Luke.
Backstage love
In the early development, Luke Skywalker flies to the ‚Bog‘ Planet where he meets a frog-like Jedi named ‚Minch‘, that teaches him about of the force. You got it: Yoda was meant to be named Minch.
Santa Style
You may have thought all your life that C3PO is totally golden but his right leg is silver from beneath the knee joint. In The Force Awakens movie he had a red arm for a while but at the end of it went back to gold.
No props, no fun.
Director George Lucas made his first Star Wars cameo in the movie Revenge of the Sith. He was a Pantoran senator, Baron Papanoida. You may have not recognised him all in blue. His daughter also cameoed with him in the same scene.
Cheaper than extras
Both R2 and C3PO became so popular that they had their own animated television series for a short period of time and even made an appearance in episodes of The Muppets and Sesame Street.
George Lucas being George Lucas
R2D2 served a lot of masters: Padme, Anakin, Bail Organa, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and even for a short time, Jabba the Hutt. In the expanded universe R2 helps the descendants of Luke Skywalker on their many adventures.
Carrie Fisher hanging with Warwick Davis
The robots are the main subject of Obi’s most famous quote „These aren’t the droids you’re looking for“. The line became a phrase used in any situation to indicate that the matter discussed is not at all relevant.
Carrie Fisher and George Lucas
In Attack of the Clones movie, Jar Jar Binks stands in for Senator Amidala. This meant that the beloved and hated Jar Jar is pretty much responsible for the fall of the Old Republic and the eventual downfall of the Jedi.
Warwick Davis, 12 years old at that time.
The sound effect when Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber is kicked down is the exact same sound effect that is heard when Luke Skywalker throws his own lightsaber away in the Return of the Jedi movie.
Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill
R2D2 had the ability to fly in the prequel Star Wars films which made a lot of fans mad. It was roughly explained in other fiction that after the Clone Wars the company that was responsible for the development of his boosters was over. When the rocket boosters broke down, they couldn’t repair them.
Carrie Fisher and Chewie’s secrets off screen
The name „Phantom Menace“ was in fact the name of a villain in the „Flash Gordon“ comic series. It’s not really much of a shocker considering that George Lucas has often quoted Flash Gordon as one of his main inspirations for making Star Wars.
Carrie Fisher
Revenge of the Sith is the one and only movie in the saga story line that does not include R2D2 in the final movie shot. If you are thinking of The Force Awakens as well, he was (though not visible) on the island.
Mark Hamill being silly
Bobba Fett’s costume was supposed to be all white: it was only after a lot of screen tests that they decided to include its later iconic military green and rusty red details as we know them today.
Carrie Fisher was not taking the Stormtroopers seriously
Between the second and third draft of the movie A New Hope, George Lucas had the idea of replacing Luke Skywalker with a princess he had as well been working on. Lucas ditched that first idea and instead chose to keep both characters in the film.
Throwing snowballs with Carrie Fisher
In the first costume concepts, Jabba The Hut originally had a human face, legs and was taller and far slender. In fact, in the original filming of the movie he was played by a human actor, and the due to time and money issues that scene was cut.
Peter Mayhew’s probably smiling in there.
This Millenium Falcon fact will make you hungry for more: George Lucas based the famous ship by thinking in the shape of a hamburger. The rest of the vehicle was added to give it a different shape front and back.
Having a blast
Darth Vader’s sword wasn’t originally red: it was meant to be colorful. First sketches show the Lord carrying a very fun yet not so evil multicolored lightsaber. Hard to rule a galaxy with that much going on.
Mark Hamill, third wheeling
As per the famous book The Making of Star Wars by writer J.W. Rinzler, George Lucas first planned for Yoda to be played by not a human, but a monkey that would be wearing a mask and carrying its cane.
Harrison Ford telling stories
If you wonder how Boba Fett’s face looks like, I got news for you: You have already seen it. The actor who played him, Jeremy Bulloch, stands for an Imperial officer last minute, and it’s the only moment when his face shows during the trilogy.
What’s with that shirt?
Return of the Jedi could have ended completely different: George Lucas flirted for a session with the thought that once Luke removes dying Darth Vader’s helmet, he later puts it on himself proclaiming „Now I am Vader“ and turning to the dark side.
Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels
A Yoda or a Muppet? Frank Oz made the voice of Yoda and Jim Henson oversaw his creation and development, but he was not played but built by a member of the team.
Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker
How many toes does Yoda have? Well my friend, it will depend on which movie you are watching him on. In The Phantom Menace film, Master Yoda has only three toes, but in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, he seems to have grown one more.
Irvin Kershner’s forbidden affair
The famous and controversial movie director David Lynch decided to pass on the opportunity of directing the film Return of the Jedi, which George Lucas requested him to work on.
Mark Hamill seems to have soaked his hand on cake batter.
The sets made for The Phantom Menace were rebuild including all the door frames and added an approximate amount of $150,000 in production costs for the film. The reason? Liam Neeson was too tall.
