Disembarking the Falcon to a quiet and eerie atmosphere, Han Solo and his party are wary at the reception committee now arrived to welcome them to Cloud City, led by the Baron Administrator himself, Lando Calrissian...
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Establishing storyboard showing Lando making his approach to the newcomers. |
In order to make up
time on the delayed
filming schedule
(and before Harrison
Ford has to return to
the US), it is
decided, whilst set
building is still going on for the Dagobah
swamp, that a portion of the Star Wars Stage will be used to create the Bespin
Cloud City landing platform 327, with a small
area of set (including a long walkway/
entrance area), built around the existing Millennium Falcon,
with a huge black backing/blue screen area
erected mostly behind it (to be replaced later in
the year with a matte painting/model
background which will be added in post
production). To give the scene further outdoor believability, the stage doors are opened to
let in natural light. For several close in
shots, with Lando talking to Han and his
group, only the bottom half of the Falcon
prop is shown (as it was beginning to be
dismantled due to Dagobah filming
schedule needs), with stills photographer
Keith Hamshere, not wanting to give the
game away about the set, having to be very
careful in his publicity photography taken of the
scenes involving the main characters in
front of the ship. For the later scenes,
showing Leia and her party escaping
Bespin, in a firefight with Imperials, the
Falcon’s underside would be fitted with
pyrotechnics that were detonated during
the action (the laser blasts hitting the hull
being added on in post production).
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Lando, with Lobot and his security aides in an unseen angle shown in an earlier film trailer. |
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Classic image taken between on set filming scenes. |
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The landing platform built around the Millennium Falcon prop- note the sky panorama behind its landing struts, and the remains of a Hoth Echo Base background. |
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A wary Solo goes out to meet his old buddy. |
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Ford enjoys a little dance clowning on set. |
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Hamill and Ford have fun with Eric Idle at the star's house during Empire's London filming, whilst Idle was in Tunisia filming Life of Brian. |
On the DVD commentary for
Empire, Carrie Fisher
relates that during some of the London
filming, she stayed at a house rented from Monty Python star/comedian/writer Eric Idle. Idle and the Pythons were
filming
Life of Brian at the time, then on location in Tunisia. Upon return Idle held a small party,
including Fisher, his friend Harrison Ford and
the Rolling Stones, of which he served them a
potent liquor (which the Pythons had
been distributing to extras on their
film, to help boost morale) called Palm Wine, but also referred to as "Tunisian Table
Cleaner". They all resultantly stayed up most of the
night drinking and having more fun than they should have. The off camera jolly first scenes ultimately shot the next day at Elstree were Han and Leia's arrival at Cloud City, of which the actress later recalled the reason why she and Ford had been so 'happy'. Idle was later said
to be pleased that he had a small hand
in how the finished film turned out!
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Ralph McQuarrie works on the establishing exterior matte painting at ILM. |
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