Star Wars: rare behind the scenes "The Empire Strikes Back"
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Published 2020-12-15
Source: www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/rare-scen…
GMA By Clayton Sandell
It may be the best "Star Wars" holiday present since Obi-Wan Kenobi gifted Luke Skywalker his first lightsaber.
A collection of rare and never-before-seen outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage and bloopers from the making of “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back," has been delivered to "Good Morning America" by Lucasfilm elves to help celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary.
A majority of the clips are being seen publicly for the first time, and include many lighthearted moments shot during production featuring lead actors Mark Hamill (Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo).
In 1979, cameras captured Hamill and the crew on location in Finse, Norway,—doubling as the planet Hoth— during a major snowstorm that hampered the production. Wearing a blue crew jacket with a name tag that reads “HEY YOU," Hamill jokingly invents the Tautaun Dance, named after the planet’s furry lizards.
In an unused scene set inside the Rebel hangar on Hoth, Princess Leia asks Han Solo if the Millennium Falcon is having problems.
“Thanks for your concern,” Solo says sarcastically, giving her a playful smack on the shoulder.
The footage includes a mix of new and archival interviews with "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, Hamill, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan.
“Everybody is more enthusiastic than they were the first time,” Lucas says of coming back to shoot the sequel to his 1977 blockbuster. “The first time, everyone was very confused by the whole thing and didn’t know what they were up against. Now they had a better picture of what it was we were making. It was fun to get started again.”
The film has become a fan favorite partly because of what Hamill says was a darker tone, where the good guys didn’t win.
“It was so unexpected. Usually when you do a sequel, they just want to repeat the experience,” Hamill says. “It was so daring. I don’t think we were ever able to be that surprising again, because it was deeper, more cerebral, it was more spiritual.”
Lucasfilm produced a pair of new “featurettes” for "Empire"'s 40th anniversary. Part Two will debut tomorrow on “The Star Wars Show,” featuring new interviews with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, “The Mandalorian” executive producer Dave Filoni, directors Bryce Dallas Howard, Deborah Chow, Leslye Headland and Taika Waititi and actors Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian”) and Diego Luna (“Andor,” “Rogue One”).
Lucasfilm and “Star Wars” are owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
“Three steps like this, and then you fall over,” Hamill says with a laugh.
Fisher, looking almost like a tourist with a camera around her neck, came to hang out in Norway even though she didn’t appear in any of the outdoor scenes.
“I’m only up here to irritate the crew,” she quips.
All Comments (21)
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I remember my dad taking us to see ESB after it was released in May 1980. He had NO idea that it was going to be a bigger phenomenon than SW, so he bundled us up into the car and drove to the theatre. LOOOOOOOONG lines is an understatement! We took our place in line, while he inquired about the wait time: 3 HOURS! "Go or stay?" he asked 11, 9, and 6-year old kids. STAY! No running around. No fighting. Just sitting there and patiently waiting for our turn. And what a payoff it was! I will never ever forget that moment of sitting and watching one of the BEST movies ever put to celluloid! My generation was blessed!
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"The audience were so surprised that it wasn't just a carbon copy of SW. I think that's what really made it distinctive." –Mark Hamill, laying down some notes for 30 years in the future
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Carrie Fisher was just so adorable...Hard to believe she was taken from us at such an early age. RIP Princess
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I swear, at five-foot-one, Carrie stole every scene she was in. Just one of a kind. On another note, is there anything more epic than Mark Hamill going through his Jedi fencing training in bellbottoms...
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Thinking about how Carrie didn't have any scene to shoot in the snow but she still followed them
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Lando betrayed our friends. And yet, we forgave him and made him part of the family. THAT is not only good story writing, but excellent acting as well.
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Carrie's smile was the sweetest and most touching ever. I hope she's in a better world now.
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It doesn't matter what comes out now. We'll always have the original trilogy 🖤🖤🖤
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RIP Carry Fisher AKA Princess Leia. RIP David Prowse AKA body of Darth Vader RIP Peter Mayhew AKA Chewbacca RIP Kenny Baker Aka body of R2D2 RIP Alec Guinness AKA elderly Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi RIP Peter Cushing AKA Grand Moff Tarkin RIP Jeremy Bulloch AKA the original Boba Fett body actor RIP Jason Wingreen AKA the original Boba Fett voice.
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Carrie Fisher is such a gem <3
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Knowing now that Ford and Fisher had been involved in a torrid affair, their characters' relationship in this movie takes on a whole new meaning. The on-screen chemistry was definitely not just acting.
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Best of all the Star Wars films. Mark Hamill at the end of the video... "It was so daring, I don't think that we were able to be that surprising again because it was deeper, it was more cerebral, it was more spiritual." "The fact that we faced defeat at the end." Hits the nail on the head.
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It took me a minute to remember Carrie is no longer with us - hits hard. RIP Princess. You are missed.
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Carrie’s wink to Harrison Ford was the most attractive thing I’ve seen all year (2020).
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The feeling I first got at the end of this film was like nothing I'd ever felt again... It even still gets me emotional, all these years later. The cliff hanger, the view from space, the music... Truly awe inspiring
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They were all so young and this video just reminds us that life is so much shorter than you think it is. It seems like we go from being these young, healthy twenty-something kids to an elderly person in no time at all. You get old SO fast and it seems like the 1970's was a mere decade ago.
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who else gets chills when they hear the music for empire strikes back
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TESB still blows me away 40 years later. A magical time when good writing and screen craft was no easy task and it was done well.
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The Empire Strikes back was a brilliant film in story, character development, action and drama, and even visually stunning
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When I was a child I saw a double bill of Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back. It totally blew me away. It wasn't spoilt by Social Media or trailers that gave the whole story away.
