Wednesday 23 September 2015

BEHIND THE SCENES: INSIDE THE FALCON HOLD


Interrupted from his lightsaber training of Jedi-to-be Luke Skywalker within the hold of the Millenium Falcon, a subdued and momentarily stunned Obi-Wan Kenobi tells the Padawan of his instincts that "something terrible has happened" in the galaxy.

Unseen in these images are the seeker ball that Luke uses for lightsaber training. Set Decorator Roger Christian created a practical prop which was used for filming at Elstree, literally hung from fishing rod line. Presumably, the completed footage didn't work, as ILM later handled these scenes optically, filmed against Blu-screen during post production. In the 1st January, 1976 script for STAR WARS, after Han's "good against the living" scene, he quick draws his blaster and shoots the remote, in order to make a point to Ben (who'd earlier used the Force in mischief towards the smuggler) and show how good a shot he was to his new colleagues and the audience.

Peter Mayhew's original script pages from the scene, posted on his TWITTER account.

Below are a trio of Script Supervisor Ann Skinner's varying quality continuity Polaroids taken during the filming of these scenes in early Summer 1976, which were displayed in exhibition form at the UK's BFI last year.



Note the interesting set dressings at Han's control panel area- the red lifejacket-type items, side earphones and the bowl of food.

Clapperboard for filming, still bearing "The Star Wars" title! Image: LUCASFILM.

With thanks to Ann Skinner and the British Film Institute.

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