Buzz
Now that we’ve had time to reflect on the latest addition to the Star Wars franchise and compare it to both the original trilogy and the prequels, it’s become clear that there’s nothing really groundbreaking about The Force Awakens—it mostly reuses old Star Wars material. The first trilogy suddenly feels like a breath of fresh air. And with that original Star Wars film came a series of strange and amusing stories from its production.
10. Darth Vader’s Original Voice Was Surprisingly Funny
While filming the original Star Wars, Darth Vader didn’t have the imposing, deep voice we all recognize today. Instead, he spoke with a West Country English accent, which makes it hard to picture him as the menacing figure we know if you watch some of the unaltered footage. That was actually David Prowse’s voice, the actor who played Darth Vader under the helmet. Naturally, George Lucas never intended to keep Prowse’s voice for the character. Had he, Star Wars would’ve leaned toward comedy. Carrie Fisher even jokingly referred to him as “Darth Farmer” on set.
Instead, George Lucas brought in James Earl Jones to dub over Prowse’s lines in postproduction, creating the iconic, deep voice of Darth Vader. The combination of David Prowse’s imposing physical presence and James Earl Jones’s powerful voice turned out to be the perfect match.
Prowse didn’t gain much financially from Star Wars because he opted for a one-time cash payment instead of a royalty deal. These days, he makes a living by attending Star Wars conventions—though not at the official one, from which he is banned following a fallout with Lucas.
9. Grand Moff Tarkin Destroyed Alderaan While Wearing Slippers
Tarkin, a menacing figure in Star Wars: Episode IV, commanded such respect that even Darth Vader showed him reverence. However, the actor who portrayed him, Peter Cushing, was a kind and charming gentleman. Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia, had a hard time acting around him on set—partly because he looked quite silly wearing slippers while filming.
Indeed, Grand Moff Tarkin blew up Alderaan while wearing carpet slippers, not boots. The riding boots provided for Peter Cushing’s costume didn’t fit properly, so he pleaded with Lucas to let him wear slippers instead. Lucas agreed.
As a result, there are no full-body shots of Peter Cushing as Tarkin in the original Star Wars footage. The only available shots of him are from the waist up, due to the slippers. Now that Tarkin is set to be digitally recreated in the upcoming Star Wars movie Rogue One, it’s causing some logistical challenges for the production team.
The actors who portrayed R2-D2 and C-3PO famously had a strained relationship. Kenneth Baker, the man inside the R2-D2 costume, openly disliked Anthony Daniels, the actor behind C-3PO. Baker described Daniels as both dull and impolite, noting that Daniels often isolated himself from the rest of the cast and even dismissed Baker at one point. Their busy schedules, leaving little room for conversation, didn’t help their growing animosity.
Despite R2-D2's unassuming, round appearance, there was a human actor inside the robot suit. Kenneth Baker, the performer inside R2-D2, had a notoriously frosty relationship with Anthony Daniels, the actor playing C-3PO. Baker accused Daniels of being rude and antisocial, rarely engaging with other cast members, and even ignoring him during one interaction. Their grueling daily preparations offered little time for the two actors to bond.
Though their on-screen characters bickered like an old married couple, the real-life actors, Kenneth Baker and Anthony Daniels, couldn’t stand each other. Unlike his upbeat C-3PO character, Daniels was known for being more introverted. He viewed Baker as little more than a ‘prop’ who had no speaking lines on-screen. At one point, Daniels even compared Baker to a lucky charm, something trivial that Star Wars kept around as an accessory.
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, George Lucas walked away with a staggering $4 billion. But how did Lucas go from creating Star Wars to building a multimedia empire? And why did no other Hollywood executives or media companies share in that windfall?
The journey began with two of Lucas’s earlier films, THX 1138 and American Graffiti. After experiencing a string of frustrations with unhelpful and domineering Hollywood executives while making both films, Lucas grew disillusioned with the system. This led him to leave Hollywood behind and establish his own production company, Lucasfilm.
Before Star Wars took over the world, George Lucas had already directed THX 1138 and American Graffiti. His struggles with difficult Hollywood executives on those projects made him so disenchanted with the industry that he decided to leave it behind and found Lucasfilm, his own production company, where he could finally be in control of his creative vision.
By the time George Lucas began filming Star Wars, he had already earned a solid reputation as a director. Executives at 20th Century Fox feared he might demand an unprecedented $1 million salary to direct Star Wars. Instead, Lucas negotiated a deal where he only took slightly more than $100,000, but secured the exclusive rights to license Star Wars merchandise. This was a groundbreaking move, as merchandising tie-ins for films were virtually unheard of at the time. Lucas also gained full control over any sequels, which ultimately made him incredibly wealthy—not the films themselves.
6. The Darth Vader Father Reveal Was Kept Secret From Even The Actors Themselves
One of the most iconic lines in Star Wars history, 'I am your father,' remains one of cinema's greatest twists. The revelation that the dark, menacing Darth Vader is actually Luke Skywalker's father was kept secret until The Empire Strikes Back hit theaters. To ensure no leaks, the infamous line was never spoken by Darth Vader during filming. Instead, he delivered a different line, 'Obi-Wan killed your father,' which was later replaced with the shocking revelation in postproduction.
Mark Hamill’s reaction in the pivotal scene was completely genuine. Just moments before filming, he was told the true line, making him the only other person, aside from the producers and director, who knew the secret. Afterward, Hamill was warned that if the secret was leaked, he would be the one held responsible. The secret was kept under wraps until the film's release.
5. Lucas Fought Tooth And Nail For The Unique Opening Sequence
The legendary opening sequence of Star Wars, one of the series’ trademarks, nearly never made it to the screen. For starters, it was a technical challenge due to the limitations of 1970s technology. The creation of a computerized film camera to shoot the iconic crawl required complex equipment. Additionally, the Directors Guild of America posed a significant hurdle.
George Lucas believed that traditional opening credits were unnecessary and spoiled the cinematic experience. This view didn’t sit well with the Directors Guild of America, of which Lucas was a member. When The Empire Strikes Back was released, the Guild demanded a $1,000 fine and insisted that the film be pulled from theaters until an opening credit sequence was added. Outraged, Lucas sued the Guild, but when they countersued, he opted to pay the fine and resign from the Guild.
All subsequent Star Wars films would feature the ‘classic’ opening crawl, and for the final Star Wars installment, Lucas chose a British director who was not a member of the American Directors Guild.
4. Lucas Didn’t Want Harrison Ford As Han Solo At First
It’s now almost impossible to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford as the iconic smuggler Han Solo. However, Ford had to compete with several other actors for the role, including big names like Sylvester Stallone and Al Pacino. On top of that, George Lucas himself didn’t initially think Ford was right for the role of Han Solo.
George Lucas didn’t want to cast any actors who had appeared in his previous hit film, American Graffiti, including Harrison Ford. However, casting director Fred Roos had a different plan—he brought Ford onto the set of Star Wars to hang around in the hope that Lucas would change his mind. Eventually, Ford was hired by Lucas to assist with auditions for other actors vying for the role of Han Solo, with the understanding that he wouldn’t be considered for the part. After several impressive auditions, however, Ford ultimately secured the role of Han, partly because of his ability to switch from tough to humorous depending on the scene.
3. Steven Spielberg Has Earned Millions Of Dollars From Star Wars
In the 1970s, science fiction was not as widely loved as it is today. Into this landscape came George Lucas with Star Wars, a project that not many Hollywood studios were eager to back. The production was plagued with difficulties. During a break from filming, Lucas visited his friend Steven Spielberg, who was busy working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This visit turned out to be a blow to Lucas’s confidence, as he was so impressed with Spielberg's film that he feared Star Wars would never measure up.
In a moment of desperation, Lucas struck a deal with Spielberg: each would give 2.5 percent of their film’s profits to the other. Spielberg, taking a gamble, agreed to the deal, which turned out to be extremely profitable when Star Wars became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. It’s estimated that Spielberg has earned over $40 million from the Star Wars franchise and continues to receive royalties.
2. Lucas Copied World War II Dogfight Footage For Star Wars
The thrilling dogfights between rebel X-wings and Imperial TIE fighters were some of the most groundbreaking and dramatic sequences in Star Wars when it first debuted. Lucas was inspired to create these scenes because he wanted an epic space dogfight that was distinct from the space battles in Star Trek. However, when the first postproduction version came back with poor special effects, Lucas was unsatisfied. He replaced the original editors with a new team to bring his vision to life.
The new editors poured countless hours into sourcing dogfight footage from every possible source, including World War II propaganda reels and war movies featuring aerial combat. They then used these clips, combined with Lucas's detailed instructions, as references to craft their own sequences. Lucas also incorporated some real-life dogfight footage into an early rough cut of the film. When he showed this version to his friends, they were confused by the rapid transitions from Star Wars to war films like The Bridges at Toko-Ri. Despite the initial confusion, once the special effects were completed, the final result was spectacular.
1. Alec Guinness Hated The Film But Earned Millions From It
During the filming of Star Wars, Alec Guinness, who portrayed Obi-Wan, sent letters to a friend, criticizing the film as 'fairytale rubbish' and expressing his displeasure about working with a 'dwarf.' He also complained that the cast treated him as if he were an elderly man and felt the dialogue was subpar. However, Guinness did appreciate the quality of the food provided. Later, upon seeing the finished film, he became somewhat more appreciative, acknowledging it as a visual spectacle and 'technically brilliant.'
Although Guinness had a negative view of the film itself, he cleverly secured a deal for royalties amounting to 2.25 percent of the total franchise profits, which would eventually bring him tens of millions of dollars, unlike some co-stars who accepted lump-sum payments. His contract also stipulated that he only needed to make minimal public appearances. The royalties could have been 0.25 percent higher, but since Guinness never obtained a written agreement from George Lucas, the producers claimed that Lucas had agreed to the 2.25 percent figure, leaving Guinness without millions of dollars in additional earnings.
