AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: THE DUEL BEGINS!

The moment has finally come for Luke Skywalker to face his demon, as personified by the brutal presence in the Dark Side of the Force that is his nemesis, Darth Vader, the man/creature who helped wipe the Jedi Knights out of existence and whom supposedly killed his father. This duel will not just be a test of Luke's skill, but also his character, physical and psychological strengths. He'll need all of that not just to stay alive against such an experienced and lethal duellist, but also for the disturbing and shocking revelation that the Sith Lord will impart to him at the worst possible time...

Superb Marvel Comics art by the legendary Daredevil writer/artist Frank Miller back in 1980, celebrating one of the The Empire Strikes Back's greatest and most intense-to-watch sequences.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: THE CARBON FREEZE NIGHTMARE!

The superb Carbon Freeze Chamber set designed by Norman Reynolds.

Darkness falls within the once beautiful Cloud City on Bespin, as our captured Rebel heroes face the worst of times under the brutal auspices of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, amidst his shocking plans to ensnare Luke Skywalker. But first off, as a trial run to the young Jedi's planned destiny at the captured hands of the fearsome Emperor, Han Solo must be put into a carbon freeze prison...

Ever loyal to his friends, Chewbacca must protect Leia in Han's absence.

Boba Fett and Darth Vader make their mark in this chilling sequence.

A last goodbye?

Leia prepares for the worst...

Han is prepared for Carbon Freeze by an Ugnaught.

The classic scene, which generated humour and sadness.

"It gave George pause. He had not written the scene with a laugh. But the laugh opens you up emotionally. You don't have another emotional outlet in that scene."

Harrison Ford on "I know" - Starlog interview - Issue 35, 1980

The terrifying process begins, as Chewbacca and Leia witness the fate of Han Solo...

The Carbon Frozen Solo is hauled up.

The shocking reveal...

"When the cast of Solo in carbon freeze was created the first time, he was standing straight up, looking normal. That's what the prop department thought I wanted. I said, 'No, he's got to be looking like he is fighting to get out; he has to look like he is in agony.' So we changed it to the way it looks in the film."

Irvin Kershner - Star Wars - The Annotated Screenplays - 1997

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: 'HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY' ISSUES...

Fun with Carrie and Gary in April, 1979.

Often seeming frail and acting erratically with the start of studio filming in London, Carrie Fisher's building drugs addiction off camera would become a serious health concern for the production team during The Empire Strikes Back. With such a delicate subject to broach to the mood-changeable Fisher, George Lucas is unable to get producer Gary Kurtz (at times acting on set as an unofficial kind of 'chaperone' to the actress) nor the film's unofficial shadow producer in Howard Kazanjian to converse with her about the problems. Thankfully, Marcia Lucas ultimately comes to her husband's rescue, cleverly using a screening of Fisher's dailies footage as Leia to subtly highlight her personal problems. The results are successful, with Fisher's health, improved weight and onscreen performance better by the mid-point of the film's shoot.

Make-up artist Kay Freeborn always found Carrie a mercurial figure on set.

Fisher was always fascinated by film camera technique during the shoot.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: INTRODUCING LANDO... KADAR?!

Super-smooth, with a smile like a supernova: introducing Billy Dee Williams as Baron Lando Calrissian, leader of Bespin's Cloud City realm. 

“He’s a very charming, cavalier, roguish character- he’s very much like Han. I think the difference between them is that Han in a pinch will use his guns and Lando will charm his way out of a situation.”

Billy Dee Williams interview - Starlog magazine - 1980

Originally starring life in George Lucas's storyline for Star Wars II as Lando Kadar, the Baron Administrator of Cloud City was originally a tougher, though charismatic, rival to Han Solo in many ways, of which respected actor Yaphet Kotto, who has just finished playing one of the lead parts in Fox’s other sci-fi hit then currently in 1978 production, Alien, is offered the role. Kotto turns Lando down, allegedly because of typecasting worries in the sci-fi genre - that it might be difficult for him to find work afterwards. 

"How ya doin' you old pirate?!" A warm greeting for Lando's old rival, Han Solo, at Cloud City.

With Lando beginning to evolve a few months later into a smoother type of character to the one previously created (soon conceived as an alternate version of what Han would be like had he not hooked up with the Rebellion), Lucas and Kershner look towards a different type of actor for the role. Billy Dee Williams, born and raised in New York City, where he studied at the Actors Workshop under the tutelage of Paul Mann (before receiving a scholarship to the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he won many awards, including the Hallgarten award for painting - an interest which he continues with to this day, alongside his acting), is soon right at the top of Irvin Kershner’s thoughts to play the new Lando (the actor having also been considered at one point to play Han Solo back in George Lucas’s 1975’s screen tests - the young Lucas prior impressed with his performance alongside Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues), seeing so many of Calrissian’s charming, adventurous traits in the actor. Visiting Williams at his US home, Kershner, after several hours discussing numerous topics (including European-Western philosophy) tells Billy Dee about the role and offers it to him, without the need for a screen test. Instantly falling in love with the name Lando Calrissian (a surname which is actually of American origin), and liking his character description, Williams accepts the role and will soon be on his way to London for costume tests and filming (though given an incomplete script at that time) by April 1979.

Interviewed in the Star Wars Office at Elstree Studios by French cameraman/interviewer Michel Parbot, for documentary/publicity footage. 

The first officially released photo of Billy Dee Williams as Lando, from the first teaser trailer for TESB. Image composition: Chris Baker.

Early costume concept for Lando Kadar by Ralph McQuarrie, back when Yaphet Kotto was originally being considered for the role in 1978.

Various early costume designs by John Mollo, as showcased by Star Wars Insider magazine back in 2020.

The striking TESB posed cover for Williams' acclaimed autobiography from a few years ago.

'THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU' - THE FIRST TRAILER DEBUTS!

The official teaser poster art composition by Daniel Landerman.

It's been a while now, but that dedicated Mandalorian Din Djarin and his beloved intergalactic foster child in Grogu are back for more diverse adventures, alien encounters, and battles against various Imperial Remnants within realms post Return of the Jedi. The first new Star Wars movie since 2020, this early trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu certainly looks like a fan pleaser after the underwhelmingly received third season of The Mandalorian, but fingers crossed that it will also attract the all-important general audiences worldwide at the same time...

Mandalorian & Grogu Trailer: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver Star Wars Film

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: INTRODUCING A BOUNTY HUNTER...

Ready to take the bounty, Boba Fett, as special art personified by his visual co-creator, Joe Johnston. 

"George (Lucas) wanted a new trooper. The original idea behind Boba Fett was that he was going to be an army of super troopers. There was going to be 40,000 of these guys. He's sort of a bad guy but he's not on the Empire's side and he's not on the rebels' side. He's like a free agent, and he goes around the galaxy arresting people and bringing them back to justice or bringing them back to Jabba the Hutt or whoever. He's a mercenary. He'll do anything for money, and his outfit, the way he looks, should reflect that."

Joe Johnston, on the conception of the greatest Star Wars saga bounty hunter, Boba Fett, who debuted in live action form within the drama of The Empire Strikes Back.

Empire at 40 | Designing an Icon: Joe Johnston on the Journey to Create Boba Fett | StarWars.com

Fett on a speeder bike, in another original art piece by Joe Johnston.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: BOUNTY HUNTER ASSEMBLY!

On the command deck of his Super Star Destroyer, much to the irritant of the Imperial Officers under his command, Darth Vader has put the call out to the deadliest group of Bounty Hunters in the galaxy to search for the Millennium Falcon and its occupants. Amongst them, and at the very top of the tree in his chosen specialist field of 'business', the totally lethal and resourceful Boba Fett, soon to be a legend of the Star Wars universe.

Left to right: Dengar (Moray Bush), IG-88 (a prop operated by UK Effects technician Bill Hargreaves), Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch), Bossk (Alan Harris), 4-Lom (Chis Parsons) and Zuckuss (Cathy Munroe).

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: THE KISS, AND THE SECOND ONE TOO...

She has seemingly resisted his charms with biting come backs and an aggressive air, but now, seeking refuge inside a massive asteroid whilst repairing the damaged Millennium Falcon, Princess Leia Organs can't help but start falling in love with that charming scoundrel Han Solo... 

The Scoundrel and the Princess...

The scene in rehearsal. Note Anthony Daniels only in the required top half of his costume for one take/angle.

"It's like in the 1930's films with Fred and Ginger fighting up to the last reel. It's Bogart and Bacall, Tracey and Hepburn. It's two independent people, quarrelling and fighting, and then they neck. That's what it is. It's romance in celluloid. Seriously though, I believe both characters are far more dimensional in The Empire Strikes Back..."

Carrie Fisher on Han Solo and Princess Leia - interviewed by Alan Arnold, Unit Publicist - 1979

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: WHEN VALLEJO MET 'STAR WARS'!

From escaping near death on the frozen realms of Hoth, to facing the trials and tribulations of becoming the first of an eventual new Jedi Order, The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and his galactic friends have never been better realised than during the chapter that is The Empire Strikes Back, as art rendered in these great concept pieces by the acclaimed Peruvian-American talent Boris Vallejo, for an eventual 1980 Coca-Cola poster promotion that would soon be a sell-out and become iconic. 

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: THE MAGIC OF YODA!

900 years old and as wise as ever: the inimitable Yoda.

“I wanted for him to be the kind of character you can find in fairy tales and mythology. A character that is usually a frog or a needy old man. In his path the hero sees this poor, insignificant person. The lesson the hero must learn is that he had to respect everybody beyond their physical appearance, since there may be the key to his success. He's a weird creature with a froggish look, half a meter tall. I wanted the public to see him as a funny creature, not as the most powerful of all the Jedi. I was looking for the opposite of anyone you would expect, since the Jedi based their beliefs in a philosophical idea, instead of a physical concept.” 

George Lucas on Yoda - 1997 interview

Inside Yoda's small home interior at Elstree, Lucas observes a dummy version of the character manipulated by Oz. 

Oz confers with Lucas, Kershner and Kurtz about the puppet.

The detailed puppet created by Stuart Freeborn and his team, though another was also created by Nick Maley and equally used on screen.

Oz manipulates the puppet with his small team at Elstree during August/September 1979.

Mark Hamill's acting skills help bring further believability to the character of Yoda, especially in this important scene with Luke, which also features the spectral voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Continuity Polaroids taken for reference.

With the film's release from May 1980 onwards, Yoda's visage is no longer a secret, with a special press release and photos sent out fully introducing the unique new character to the saga.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: DARTH VADER MAKES HIS ARRIVAL...

Darth Vader makes his presence felt within the near-abandoned Echo Base on Hoth.

"(Irvin) Kershner was a real actors director. Before we started shooting Empire, he told me,"I want you to be the thinking man's Darth Vader", and really took me through things. He was lovely."

Dave Prowse - Film Review magazine Star Wars Special - 1997  

The Rebel base's shield generator has been spectacularly destroyed, and the enemy forces have mostly been wiped out by the AT-AT's and Imperial Snowtroopers. Now, the immense dark presence that is Darth Vader has arrived to oversee the final capture of Luke Skywalker and his other friends who'd prior helped in destroying the Death Star. Sadly, such a visitation and plans of revenge by the ominous Dark Lord proves too late, as the Millennium Falcon speeds off the base just in time, heading into space... 

But Vader's hunt will continue...

Vader is soon angered that the Millennium Falcon and its passengers have escaped his grip.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: FILMING THE 'BATTLE IN THE SNOW'...

"And.... action!"

With the primary film unit now returned to the UK's Elstree Studios by April, 1979, Peter MacDonald, Bill Westley, Stunt Coordinator Bob Anderson and other talents, would continue location work for The Empire Strikes Back with their unique second unit, effectively handling the barely English speaking Red Cross Norwegian volunteers playing Rebel soldiers, detonating the many necessary pyrotechnics, and choreographing lots of action taking place in the specially built snow trenches, a site fortified with many distinctive-looking props, weapons, and even a rebel tank, at one of the most challenging locations for filming within the Original Trilogy: the Hardangerjokulen glacier.

Fire and Ice!

Sadly, despite their best efforts, bad weather and ever-changing, inconsistent natural lighting conditions would hamper the filming, which was never completed. Thankfully, there was enough footage shot for George Lucas to use multiple angles and even reversed footage, to be mixed with the upcoming ILM stop-motion animation footage being captured that Winter, for a spectacular and unforgettable sequence that looked superb on the big screen...  

Digging the Rebel trenches at the glacier site prior to filming.

Assembling the props for filming.

Great wide shot of the location filming: note the Rebel Tank on site.

A fun Birthday art piece for Continuity/Script Supervisor Pamela Mann on location. 

A sunny day for filming.

But not so good on other days, as the Red Cross extras gather.

The Rebel weapons assembled on location. Image: Pamela Mann.

The action filming begins. Image: Pamela Mann.

Filming Bob Anderson as the Rebel Commander soon contacting Echo Base about the approaching AT-AT's.

Ready for trench warfare!

Destroyed props during filming.