On a blue screen stage at ILM, producer Gary Kurtz tends to the headgear of special effects designer/conceptualist Joe Johnston whilst director Irvin Kershner confers with matte painter/supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, both playing Rebel soldiers, for the filming of a last minute insert sequence needed for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK so as to bridge scenes on Hoth leading to the evacuation of our heroes away from Imperial Forces. One of the lost scenes in this change would be a moment previously shot at Elstree in the Rebel Hangar Bay where Han and Leia trade banter by the Millennium Falcon after its unsuccessful lift-off (a scene where the prop Falcon's landing struts, specially made in Wales, and for their one and only time, actually moved). The sequence, which ends with Leia giving Han a told you so look, ultimately didn't work when seen in either the dailies or in raw edited form.
This newly filmed sequence would also feature cameos from matte painter/conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie, as General McQuarrie, and Michael Pangrazio as an X-wing pilot.
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| The matte painting background of the transport ships used for the new scene. |
With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.
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