Tuesday 9 August 2016

BEHIND THE SCENES: SPECTRAL SKYWALKER!

The Skywalker lineage revealed?

Atmospheric, electric and very scary for young viewers, the scene where a revenge-fuelled Luke Skywalker confronts a spectral image of Darth Vader in the mysterious Dagobah Cave, then discovers the true identity of his soon fallen foe, was easily one of the best and most intriguing moments of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Mark Hamill was buried into the ground on a very small Elstree set in Summer 1979, wearing a damaged version of the Vader mask for close-in reveal shots, but a dummy face mould, created by Stuart Freeborn and his team, was also used for the lead-in moment where Vader's head explodes and the "ghost" Luke is briefly seen beneath the emergent smoke.

Freeborn team face mould of Mark Hamill.
The dummy Luke face in the Vader mask.
The dummy face, as briefly scene in Empire.

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