“The Story Behind The Empire Strikes Back”
For all you Star Wars fans, Total Film has a nifty retrospective of the film franchise, focusing on the development and production of the best of the lot in my estimation: The Empire Strikes Back (screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas):
Star Wars nearly killed George Lucas.
The director’s ambitious space saga, which nobody understood nor cared about (not even its cast) looked set to be a disaster of intergalactic proportions. During production in 1976, the special effects department was struggling with its groundbreaking technologies, while unbearable heat in Tunisia had tempers rising…
“People were looking at the first screenplay and saying, ‘What is this? Is this camp — or what is going on here?’ They didn’t get it and it’s not their fault,” star Mark Hamill said in an interview with Rona Barrett’s Hollywood Super Special: Winter 1978.
It came to a head when Lucas suffered chest pains during filming of his opus. The director, diagnosed with hyper-tension and exhaustion, was advised by doctors to take things easy. He all-but refused.
And, somewhat fortuitously, the 1977 release of the soon-to-be-retitled Episode IV gave Lucas a new hope. The cold cynicism and disheartening apathy that plagued the film ahead of its cinematic debut changed overnight as Star Wars was welcomed by movie fans of all shapes and sizes.
All setting the stage for Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back. How cool was the battle on the ice planet Hoth?
Yoda’s Zen philosophy and a paradigmatic Jung moment when Luke fights Darth Vader only to discover his own shadow?
The ending where Han gets frozen in carbonite?
Here is the original trailer from 1981:
What a terrific movie. And you can learn more about it via Total Film here.