BACK TO THE "LOST" EMPIRE DOCUMENTARY!

A relaxed Carrie Fisher is interviewed in the STAR WARS production office at ELSTREE during 1979 filming of TESB. I can't confirm for sure but this could be French documentarian Michel Parbot seated opposite her.

Today, via a heads up from the JEDINEWS and MINTINBOX sites, more information and screengrabs have become available on the rarely seen French cameraman/director Michel Parbot's 1979/80 documentary charting the making of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, of which certain portions of his footage would go on to appear in other ESB related programmes of the time, like the BBC's STAR WARS: MUSIC BY JOHN WILLIAMS (aired the weekend leading up to the films London theatrical release) and the later Mark Hamill starring SPFX: THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Though not commercially released on VHS or DVD, and only shown a couple of times on overseas TV originally, the programme does exist in several private STAR WARS collectors hands, but in varying picture and sound quality. A few years back, Steve Sansweet confirmed that LUCASFILM also have a copy of the complete Parbot documentary on tape but not in great condition (and they do have portions of Parbot's raw footage, if not all of it, in good quality, as seen in various clips within the 2004 EMPIRE OF DREAMS DVD documentary). Gary Kurtz also has a copy in his collection, as well as the dedicated fan who heads the now relatively quiet STAR WARS ARCHIVES (of which portions of it have been tantalisingly put on his website from time to time as a taster of the shows wealth of behind the scenes material: The Star Wars Archives (the source who gave him a copy, however, did not ultimately want the full programme uploaded for viewing)). Several well-known fans would also contact the hard to find film-maker directly over the years to get their own copies, but either Parbot or his estate/management apparently asked for a small fortune every time!

With the excellent info and grabs put up on the MINTINBOX site (at this link: MintInBox.net - "The Making of The Empire Strikes Back" par Michel Parbot), I think this is the best we're going to get as a visual representation- for the time being- until it one day gets a release-another disappointing example of a major lost opportunity by LUCASFILM that could, and should, have made last years Blu-rays!

Carrie Fisher interview clip: ▶ Carrie Fisher - The Empire Strikes Back interview - YouTube