Part two of my retrospective/review of the timeless classic, Star Wars(1977) starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones.
Directed by George Lucas.
Trivia
Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) spent most of the production period in chaos, attempting to create special effects that had never been created before. They blew half their budget on four shots which George Lucas rejected. Ultimately, around $5,000,000 of the $8,000,000 budget was spent by ILM.
Alan Ladd Jr. was very anxious when he attended the premiere in Japan, only to be met by total silence at the end. What Ladd didn't realize was that silence is the greatest honor that a Japanese audience can bestow on a film.
The first film to make over $300,000,000.
The first feature film to be screened in Dolby Stereo. Previously, films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mr. Billion had made use of the sound system with disastrous results. However, technical minded George Lucas knew exactly how he wanted to incorporate the system and made it work for his picture.
Carrie Fisher's breasts were taped down with gaffer tape, as her costume did not permit any lingerie to be worn underneath. She joked later, "As we all know, there is no underwear in space."
George Lucas had ILM watch archival footage of World War II dogfights as reference material for the final battle over the Death Star. This method would evolve into pre-visualization "animatics" in common use today. (Former fighter pilots were also employed as technical advisors, and audio recordings of radio communications made during dogfights were studied, to help with the dialogue.)
Originally, C3PO, physically inhabited by Anthony Daniels was supposed to have his voice dubbed by another actor, since his character was supposed to be like a "used-car salesman". Ultimately, though, George Lucas was won over by the charisma of Daniels' reading of the part as a "snooty British butler" and so Daniels has done the voice for C3PO ever since.
The final version of the opening crawl for this movie was co-written by Brian De Palma after complaining that the previous (third draft) version was too difficult to understand.
Jabba the Hutt was originally supposed to appear in the film, dropped in optically on top of stand-in actor Declan Mulholland. However, the effect was not acceptable and the scene was cut until CGI allowed it to be completed for the 1997 'Special Edition'.
The pulsating engine sound of the Star Destroyer is a manipulated recording of a broken air conditioner.
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.
Luke went through several changes. Lucas toyed with the idea of changing him into a woman after cutting Princess Leia from the script. He also entertained the notion of casting the principal characters as a dwarfs. In an early screenplay, Skywalker was a 60 year-old general. In the shooting script, he was called Luke Starkiller but this was changed to Luke Skywalker during production.
Production was so laden with problems that George Lucas worked himself into poor health. He had to be checked into the hospital after suffering from hypertension.
George Lucas originally wanted Orson Welles to do Darth Vader's voice, but decided against it, feeling that Welles' voice would be too recognizable.
Before casting Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, George Lucas considered casting Japanese actor Toshirô Mifune. He also considered making casting a Japanese Princess Leia.
20th Century Fox was so sure Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was going to be a disaster that they came within a matter of days of selling off their stake in the film as a tax shelter. Positive feedback from an advanced screening made them change their minds, and the profits from the film ended up saving the studio from bankruptcy.
The Millennium Falcon was originally modeled after a hamburger with an olive next to it. Because the name of the ship had not been finalized at this time, storyboards refer to as the pirate ship. Some boards indicate for the first version of the pirate ship (which became the Blockade Runner) to be changed into the 'Hamburger Boogie' version.
Harrison Ford deliberately didn't learn his lines for the intercom conversation in the cell block, so it would sound spontaneous.
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.
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.
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13:19
Star Wars(1977)-A Retrospective 3/3by OcpCommunications127 views
14:40 I agree on that and everything eles you said cool 2nd part!
ILiveAgain1 1 month ago