AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD!

Despite the serious nature of the scene and its important revelations about the Skywalker lineage, Mark Hamill still finds time to clown around for the on set photographers during filming of 'the cave' sequence. Though Graham Freeborn's face cast of Hamill had been filmed, it was barely seen on screen for a second or two, with the production team deciding to go with a more straight forward effect of filming Hamill's own face through the mask, the actor underneath the set, for the main reveal.

Hamill happily undergoes a face mask appliance session with Graham Freeborn at Elstree.

A half body cast of Hamill was also created for filming, but seemingly unused?

The ultimately unconvincing head as seen on film. Only the barest moment of it is seen before the use of Hamill's face in the mask.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: VADER DEFEATED?

 

A vengeance-fuelled Luke Skywalker successfully defeats Vader despite his inexperience duelling with a lightsaber. And as the lifeless body of the decapitated dark lord crumples to the floor, his rolling head soon reveals a shocking truth to the boy!

Stuntman Bob Anderson in the costume during the filming of the scene.

Substituting the headless dummy that will collapse on cue.

A light weight dummy Vader constructed by costumes and the on set practical effects department would be propped up and ready to detonate, lose its head and collapse once thrashed by Mark Hamill's swinging lightsaber.

One of the Vader helmets is rolled on the floor to camera, whilst a dummy one explodes to show its shocking face underneath it.

A group of set visitors (merchandise liaisons and public guests) witnessed the filming of this sequence, which soon lead to an apparent leak to a UK national newspaper that was trying to spoil the film's plot, saying, through witness assumption, that Luke would vanquish Vader for the upcoming sequel.

 

Ivor Beddoes storyboard of Vader's helmet opened up (rather than exploding) to reveal Luke's own face underneath.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: LUKE TAKES HIS REVENGE!

In a moment played with supernatural fury, Luke, clearly acting in deep-centred revenge for the death of his father and Obi-Wan Kenobi, takes on the figure of Darth Vader in lightsaber combat. But all is not what it seems. In post production editing, George Lucas had the sequence slowed down to give it further eerie atmosphere (whilst composer John Williams would also later bring-in a rare hint of electronic music to add to the strangeness of the conflict), having liked a similar duelling sequence heightened by that technique in his friend Roger Christian's sword and sorcery short film, Black Angel, a well received first production from the former set decorator that would show alongside Empire in key British cinemas during its original release. 

A selection of behind the scenes images on the small corner set build at Elstree, featuring Bob Anderson within a specially adapted Vader costume that gave him more freedom of physicality of movement and better helmet sight for duelling against Mark Hamill.

Bob Anderson in an adapted Darth Vader costume.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: A PHANTOM MENACE!

As Luke enters the heart of the Dagobah tree/cave of darkness, a dark apparition appears to block his way and confront him- his sworn enemy, Darth Vader! Soon enough, Luke has his father's lightsaber blade ready for conflict and revenge!

Ralph McQuarrie thumbnail sketches for the scene.

On set, Hamill enjoys a sneak peek of the camera lens view.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: INTO 'THE CAVE'

Armed with blaster and lightsaber, Luke braves the mysterious tree cave of Dagobah, to which Yoda has warned he must and will face his inner demons within the Dark Side of the Force. The environment, built on a small set at Elstree, would house several kinds of reptiles of which Mark Hamill was not a particularly huge fan of.

Ralph McQuarrie's concept idea for the mysterious tree exterior.

BEHIND THE SCENES: SPECTRAL SKYWALKER!

The Skywalker lineage revealed?

Atmospheric, electric and very scary for young viewers, the scene where a revenge-fuelled Luke Skywalker confronts a spectral image of Darth Vader in the mysterious Dagobah Cave, then discovers the true identity of his soon fallen foe, was easily one of the best and most intriguing moments of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Mark Hamill was buried into the ground on a very small Elstree set in Summer 1979, wearing a damaged version of the Vader mask for close-in reveal shots, but a dummy face mould, created by Stuart Freeborn and his team, was also used for the lead-in moment where Vader's head explodes and the "ghost" Luke is briefly seen beneath the emergent smoke.

Freeborn team face mould of Mark Hamill.

The dummy Luke face in the Vader mask.

The dummy face, as briefly scene in Empire.

CLASSIC IMAGE: VADER's HEADACHE!

Darth Vader's face of evil rolls to the floor of the Dagobah "cave", soon exploding to underneath reveal its true visage as the enemy that Luke Skywalker has fought. Years on, helped by John Williams subtle electronic music/orchestra hybrid, it remains an eerie and effective sequence from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

BEHIND THE SCENES: DARK LORD DETONATED!

On the small Dagobah cave set at Elstree, 1979,  a dummy version of Darth Vader is detonated to explode and collapse, for the dream sequence where Luke encounters the Dark Lord and instantly makes his retribution. At the time, visitors to the set leaked the duel encounter to a UK newspaper, unaware of the actual complexities of the scenes presence in the ultimate story.