Rare, behind-the-scenes look at 'The Empire Strikes Back'
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.
“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.
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.
