Star Wars
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Star Wars (1977)
Production
Budget
$11 000 000
Revenue
$775 398 007
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Mark Hamill
Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford
Han Solo
Carrie Fisher
Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing
Grand Moff Tarkin
Alec Guinness
Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi
Anthony Daniels
C-3PO
Kenny Baker
R2-D2
Peter Mayhew
Chewbacca
Short description
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a civil war rages between the tyrannical Galactic Empire and a small band of rebels. When Princess Leia, one of the rebellion's leaders, is taken captive by the Empire's forces under the sinister Darth Vader, she has already hidden the stolen plans for a devastating battle station with the droid R2-D2. R2-D2 and his companion C-3PO end up on the desert planet Tatooine, where a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker dreams of leaving his home behind. After discovering the message carried by the droids, Luke seeks out the reclusive Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, and together with the mercenary pilot Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca, they set out to rescue the princess and strike a blow against the Empire.
George Lucas wrote and directed the film, his fourth feature after Herbie, THX 1138 and American Graffiti, and it was produced by Gary Kurtz and Rick McCallum for 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm Ltd. Mark Hamill plays Luke, Harrison Ford is Han Solo, Carrie Fisher is Princess Leia, and Alec Guinness appears as Obi-Wan, with Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. Made for about 11 million dollars, it took roughly 503 million dollars worldwide, an enormous return that turned a modestly budgeted adventure into a popular success.
Audiences rate it 8.6 out of 10 on IMDb across some 1.6 million votes and 8.2 out of 10 on TMDB. Film critics rated it 9.4 out of 10 from 206 reviews, placing it above both audience scores. Lucas later returned to the series with three further films between 1999 and 2005.
What's left behind the scenes
- According to research, the sound of the TIE fighter is a combination of the roar of a young elephant and the sound of a car speeding on a wet highway.
- Lucas had difficulty securing funding for this film, as most studios believed that no one would want to watch it.
- Everything old is new again: many elements of 'Star Wars' were borrowed from earlier films. For example, the characters Obi-Wan Kenobi and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are very reminiscent of the heroes of the Japanese film 'Kakushi toride no san akunin' (1958), where a samurai warrior rescues a princess with the help of two small-time swindlers. The appearance of the C-3PO droid was copied from a robot in the cult film Metropolis (1926). The final battle was borrowed from 'Dam Busters, The' (1954), but it is even closer to a similar scene in '633 Squadron' (1964). The final scene of honoring the heroes is almost shot-for-shot copied from 'Triumph des Willens' (1934).
- The word “Jedi” comes from the Japanese “Jidai Geki,” which translates to “historical drama”: this is how samurai-era television series were called in Japan. Lucas once mentioned in an interview that he watched “Jidai Geki” when he was in Japan, and he liked the word.
- Initially, Sissy Spacek was cast for the role of Princess Leia, but when Carrie Fisher refused to film nude in “Carrie” (1976), they switched roles. Jodie Foster was another candidate for the role of Princess Leia.
- Initially, Burt Reynolds was considered for the role of Han Solo, but he dropped out; Nick Nolte and Christopher Walken were also suggested.
- The episode and subtitle number “A New Hope” was not present in the original version of the film. It was added later upon re-release to indicate the sequence between the first “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980).
- The scene of the escape pod launching from Leia’s ship is the first work of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) – the special effects studio created by Lucas specifically for filming this movie.
- The scenes on Tatooine were filmed in Tunisia, where there is a place called "Tatahouine". Some interiors of Luke's home were filmed in a hotel in Tunisia, but its exterior is a real house in the village of Matmata, which is abundant with caves and craters.
- During the scene in the garbage disposal, Mark Hamill held his breath for so long when diving underwater that a blood vessel burst on his face. Subsequent filming was done from only one side.
- At a certain point in the film's creation, future prospects seemed so unpromising that it was suggested to remove the special effects and turn it into a television series.
- George Lucas began working on the script in 1974.
- Kurt Russell auditioned for the role of Han Solo.
- The most famous robots – R2-D2 and C-3PO – could have been called A2 and C3, but then George Lucas decided to give the droids more complete names. According to the director, their names are simply a pleasant-sounding combination of letters and numbers that doesn't mean anything and cannot be deciphered.
- In 1980, three years after the release of the first film in the Star Wars saga, “Star Wars-IV: A New Hope” (1977), the first pictures were taken of Saturn’s moon Mimas, which turned out to be very similar to the “Death Star” from George Lucas’s film. Astronomers believe that the similar indentation on Mimas is a crater formed as a result of a collision between a celestial body and a huge asteroid. George Lucas did not comment on this report.
- The character Luke Skywalker underwent many changes before becoming who he is. Initially, George Lucas wanted to make him a girl. Then he considered making Luke a gnome. According to the director’s next idea, Skywalker could have become a 60-year-old general.
- Chewbacca was modeled after Lucas’s dog, Indiana. Not only the appearance but also the name of this dog were immortalized: in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), Indiana Jones’s father clarifies the mystery of his son’s name: “Actually, he’s named Jones, we named the dog Indiana.” Indiana’s father was named Henry Jones. Henry constantly called Indiana “Junior,” which means that his name, like his father's, was Henry, and this is stated at the very end of the film.
- The special edition of the film had a runtime of 125 minutes.
- Towards the very end of filming the first episode of Star Wars, Mark was in a serious car accident where he severely injured his face. Therefore, in some final episodes, a stunt double was used for general shots, and in close-ups, you can see that the actor's face is slightly different from how it was at the beginning – this is the result of cosmetic surgery.
- "Vader" means "father" in Dutch.
- Han and Luke 'move' Chewbacca from prison block 1138: a reference to the film 'THX 1138' (1970), directed by George Lucas.
- Scenes involving Luke and his friend Biggs were cut from the film. Biggs is a young pilot who left the Imperial Academy and joined the Rebellion. Luke mentions him when telling his aunt and uncle about his desire to enter the Academy; and Biggs himself appears in the finale of the film, during the attack on the Death Star – he was one of the Rebel pilots who died in that battle.
- All scenes with spaceships were filmed using handmade models. For the final scene, with the destruction of the Death Star, a tunnel was also built to the size of the models.
- At the 31st minute of the film, upon Obi-Wan Kenobi's first appearance, he tells Luke that he stopped being called Obi-Wan long before Luke was born. This does not correspond with the events shown in the subsequently filmed prequels, particularly 'Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith' (2005), in which Luke is born.
- Filming took place from March 22 to July 16, 1976.
- The Directors Guild of America (DGA) disliked the fact that the film did not have standard opening credits. They "ordered" Lucas to re-edit the film and add credits to the beginning. Lucas refused, stating that it would ruin the film's opening. The DGA fined Lucas, who paid them and immediately left the DGA.
- The spaceship “Millennium Falcon” was conceived by Lucas in a diner: a hamburger with an olive seemed like a successful model for creating a spaceship.
- The name of the droid R2-D2 dates back to when Lucas was filming “American Graffiti”. Sound engineer Walter Murch stated that he was responsible for the utterance that gave the droid its name. Murch requested the second reel, second dialogue track, abbreviated “R-2-D-2”. Lucas, who was in the room at the time working on the script for “Star Wars”, heard the request and, learning the decryption, said “great name”.
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