AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: A KISS (OR TWO!)

Han's hunch about Leia's hidden affections for him pay off, cornering the Princess in a quiet alcove whilst she makes repairs. Leia likes 'nice men', but the 'scoundrel' type more, as revealed in this classic romantic moment from the film, of which we later discovered that a second kiss was filmed in March 1979 but sadly cut, which saw Leia taking the initiative to Han before their smooching is ultimately interrupted by Threepio.

Having had a prior short-term affair on the original Star Wars, Fisher and Ford's reunion and friendship on and off set for Empire was to be a strange mixture of hot and cold incidents: 

"It got a lot hotter than it should have done between Harrison and Carrie, You read the gossip columns of that time, there was something obviously going on. There were certain references in certain papers. It was, let's get rid of it through performances in front of the cameras rather than keeping it bottled up. It would build up, build up, build up. Then one or the other would storm off. If you looked at Carrie's face there were one or two lovely moments where she could cheerfully have killed Harrison" 

Peter Mayhew - 1999 book interview quote.

A  selection of behind the scenes from the now classic scene.

Observing the Princess, the 'scoundrel' moves in...

"Stop that. My hands are dirty..."

The Princess and The Scoundrel.

Alternate take footage.

Only Threepio could come along and spoil things. Note Anthony Daniels is only partially in costume for this specific image- possibly taken during rehearsal.