AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!

They're hidden deep in the asteroid bolthole, but the TIE Bombers flying over the surface are doing their best to locate the Millennium Falcon. Inside its hold, Threepio and Chewbacca are distracted from their repair work with the worrying closeness of the enemy's explosive charges, of which the droid is then dislodged by unexpected ground tremors. A deleted scene moment.

Han and Leia stop working to hear the bombings overhead,

Publicity images of Leia taken during the sequence.

Threepio and Chewbacca knocked about in a deleted moment shown in an early release trailer.

Star Wars creator George Lucas would be at the studios for the first of three long bouts during the UK filming, offering technical advice and primarily warning Kershner that a lot of the practical effects would likely have problems of the kind he'd originally encountered whilst making the original 1976 movie. Empire has already had worrying outside factors and difficulties hampering its filming schedule, and is several weeks behind and the costs are mounting- a sign of worse problems to come by the summer of 1979. The original UK crew that have been specially requested to return to work on this first sequel are very happy to have Lucas's creative presence back on set.

Lucas would be present for the March 1979 Falcon interior filming, but only acting as an observer for the most part.

Having failed a previous interview with George Lucas to work on Star Wars in 1976, acclaimed British writer/producer/director David Tomblin is recommended to work on TESB by Irvin Kershner, who enjoyed working with the efficient and talented Tomblin during the challenging filming of The Return of A Man Called Horse. Soon enough, Tomblin becomes a vital member of the British Star Wars and Indiana Jones film-making family, and is ultimately highly regarded by Lucas.

Kershner confers with David Tomblin between filming.