The Making of Star Wars (Enhanced Edition)
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After creating the plaster molds from Daniels’s body, from which the metal pieces would be cast, the process hit a snag. “Unfortunately, a few days later they called me up and asked if I had a twisted spine,” he explains. “I didn’t think I had a twisted spine, but I went into the studio and there was this poor little warped me. The weight of the plaster had pulled me over. So I had to go through the whole body-cast process again. Fortunately Liz Moore was a love and made sure I was as comfortable as possible. She was very beautiful, and there I was wearing ladies’ tights wrapped up in sandwich foil, and she was slapping great jars of Nivea all over me. George kept coming in and fiddling around with my elbow or my knee or my shoulder, trying to work out how to make this garb work for a robot.”
A cover letter to Bunny Alsup, assistant to the producer, came with a copy of a press release sent out by Roadrunner Productions Ltd. in which they described, with breathless excitement, the departure of the first road trains—shown here waiting embarkation at Dover on their way to Tunisia—on February 16, 1976: “This is believed to be the first operation of its kind undertaken by a British haulier. Despite lack of time, the most meticulous planning has been necessary, particularly with regard to customs documentation … Within a matter of days, the first convoy of three drawbar pantechnicons and one specially constructed scenery van, with a combined capacity of 24,000 cu ft, was en route to Calais …”
DEBONAIR DIALOGUE
Throughout the first quarter of 1976, Lucas somehow managed to find time, as usual before dawn, to revise his fourth draft into what would be the shooting script. Most of his changes occur in the first two-thirds. However, no matter how much Lucas worked on the spoken parts, they failed to impress him. He decided to hire his screenwriting friends Gloria and Willard Huyck for their verbal expertise. “Just before I started to shoot I asked them to help me rework some of the dialogue,” Lucas says. “At the very last minute, when I’d finally finished the screenplay, I looked at it and wasn’t happy with the dialogue I had written. Some of it was all right, but I felt it could be improved, so I had Bill and Gloria help me come up with some snappy one-liners.”
“I met George at USC, when we were both in film school,” Willard Huyck remembers. “A friend of mine and I had made a short film and it got stuck in the lab because we didn’t have the $80 to get it out. George was working at a commercial house on weekends, and I didn’t know him that well—but out of nowhere, he said, ‘You know, I’ve got the $80 and I heard that you couldn’t get your film out of the lab.’ So I thought this was such a wonderful thing to do, and we became friends after that.”
Lucas and the Huycks had already collaborated on American Graffiti and the development of Radioland Murders, so they had a solid working relationship that was actually built upon, at least in Willard’s case, a similar upbringing. “Willard and I come from exactly the same background,” Lucas says. “He came from San Fernando Valley, and his father is almost like my father. Same small-business owner. Small town. Middle-class WASPs. We are of the same social, economic, religious group, and we therefore relate on a lot of levels; there are a lot of similar things we understand and are amused by.”
Already familiar with the film, having read several of the previous drafts, the Huycks tightened and lightened the dialogue, while Lucas remained fundamentally frustrated by the whole experience of authoring The Star Wars. “It’s very hard to write about nothing,” he says. “Graffiti, I wrote in three weeks. This one took me three years. Graffiti was just my life, and I wrote it down. But this, I didn’t know anything about. I had a lot of vague concepts, but I didn’t really know where to go with it, and I’ve never fully resolved it. It’s very hard stumbling across the desert, picking up rocks, not knowing what I’m looking for, and knowing the rock that I’ve got is not the rock I’m looking for. I kept simplifying it, and I kept having people read it, and I kept trying to get a more cohesive story—but I’m still not very happy with the script. I never have been.”
The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as Taken from the “Journal of the Whills” (Saga I) Star Wars, Revised Fourth Draft, Shooting Script, March 15, 1976
The roll-up is the same as in the third draft. Most of the developments in the revised draft are subtle or inherent in the dialogue polish. Biggs and Luke’s conversation is less confrontational. The homestead is now placed on a salt flat, in a hole, from where Beru calls Luke before the robot sale, reminding him to get a translator that speaks Bocce. In a now extended version of that scene, it is C-3PO who suggests they consider his astromech friend after the first robot blows his top (it was more arbitrary in the last draft, a result of haggling between Uncle Owen and the Jawas).
In the homestead garage, the conversation between the robot and Luke has been sharpened:
FOURTH DRAFT
LUKE
Not unless you can change the unchangeable or alter time.
THREEPIO
I’m sorry sir, I’m only a “droid” and not very knowledgeable of such things …not on this planet anyway. As a matter of fact I’m not even sure which planet we’re on.
LUKE
That’s all right. There is nothing anyone can do about it. You can call me Luke.
THREEPIO
Thank you, sir. I’m Threepio, Human Cyborg Relations and this is my counterpart, Artoo Detoo.
REVISED FOURTH DRAFT
LUKE
Not unless you can alter time … speed up the harvest … or teleport me off this rock.
THREEPIO
Uh—I don’t think so, sir. I’m only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things … not on this planet anyway. As a matter of fact, sir, I’m not even sure which planet I’m on.
LUKE
If there’s a bright center to this universe, you’re on the planet that’s the farthest from it.
THREEPIO
I see, sir.
LUKE
You can call me Luke.
THREEPIO
Yes, Sir Luke.
And now Leia’s message is addressed to “Obi-wan Kenobi … help me!” That is, Ben now has a full name “Obi-wan” (the “wan” resurfacing from the very first list of names Lucas had written). Other small but notable changes are: R2-D2, through C-3PO, suggests that Luke remove his restraining bolt; Owen tells Luke to have R2-D2’s memory “flushed”; and when Beru says Luke is too much like his father, Owen mutters, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your eReading device. The caption for this content is displayed below.”
On March 15, 1976, another batch of tests is shot, now with a more fully realized R2-D2 (remote-controlled by John Stears and then inhabited by Kenny Baker); also a couple of droids; and Anthony Daniels in the almost completed C-3PO costume. (No audio)
(1:45)
With the alteration of Ben’s name, Luke and Kenobi’s dialogue is different when they first meet; the fact that Luke now doesn’t understand that “Old Ben” and “Obi-wan” are the same person makes the scene play differently:
A blueprint by Alan Roderick-Jones for the cantina interior dated January 23, 1976.
BEN
Obi-wan Kenobi … Obi-wan. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time … a long time. Most curious …
LUKE
I think my Uncle knew him. He said he was dead …
BEN
Oh, he’s not dead, not yet … not yet.
LUKE
You know him?
BEN
Of course, of course I know him, he’s me: I haven’t gone by the name Obi-wan since before you were born.
Within Obi-wan’s cave dwelling, C-3PO now shuts down while they talk, and Ben introduces the “lightsaber” for the first time with new dialogue: “This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight … not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon … for a more civilized time.” And the connection he makes between the death of Luke’s father and Vader has beco
me more personal: “he was betrayed and murdered … by a young Jedi, Darth Vader.” Obi-wan then asks Luke to come with him and learn the ways of the Force, which, because he can’t commit to that, makes plain the farm boy’s indecisiveness and fear.
In Mos Eisley, Obi-wan does the Jedi mind trick on Imperial troopers, who let them pass without checking their identification papers. After the fracas in the cantina, we cut outside to the robots, who see stormtroopers approaching; in the previous draft, their activity was indeterminate. Back inside, the negotiations between Ben and Han are longer, and the pirate ship has a name: the Millennium Falcon.
HAN
It’s the ship that made the kessel run in less than 12 par-secs! I’ve outrun Imperial starships, not the local hulk-cruisers mind you. These are the Corellian ships I’m talking about. I think she’s fast enough for you, old man.
Mollo’s costume concepts for the cantina patrons.
(The “par-sec” is a navigational calculation, not a measurement of time; that is, the ship is fast because it’s smart.) Instead of cutting away from the cantina after Ben and Luke leave, Han is caught inside by an alien sent by one Jabba the Hutt.
ALIEN
That’s the idea, Solo. You will come outside with me or must I finish it here?
HAN
I don’t think they’d like another killing in here.
ALIEN
They’d hardly notice …get up. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time …
HAN
I bet you have …
Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patrons look on in bemused amazement.
HAN
…but it will take a lot more than the likes of you to finish me off.
Han gets up and starts out of the cantina, flipping the bartender some coins as he leaves.
HAN
Sorry for the mess …
A scene aboard the Death Star has been cut, as Vader no longer senses Obi-wan’s entry into the story. Now after Luke and Ben sell the speeder, we cut to Jabba the Hutt, who banters with Han about the money he owes Jabba—for dumping his illicit spice shipment, not for the building of his ship (“aura spice” was first mentioned in the treatment as a valuable commodity)—with the result that Han is given more time to pay. We then cut back to the Death Star, where Vader simply decides to send more men to the planet’s surface. The banter in the pirate ship as they try to escape Mos Eisley is different:
FOURTH DRAFT
HAN
Traveling through hyperspace is no mean trick. Without very accurate calculations we could pass through a star or near a supernova. And that would end our trip real quick.
REVISED FOURTH DRAFT
HAN
Traveling through hyperspace isn’t like dusting crops, boy. Without calculations we could pass right through a star or bounce too near a supernova. And that would end our trip real quick.
In the revised draft, when Tarkin threatens to blow up Alderaan, he actually does so in the same scene—and for the first time we see Alderaan blown to pieces, with the script cutting straight to Obi-wan, who senses it. The gunport scene has been moved from before their arrival at the Death Star to during their escape from it. Instead of Han, it’s Luke who says, “I have a very bad feeling about this,” when they approach the space fortress for the first time.
New dialogue indicates that Leia has lied about rebel bases on Dantooine, while the Death Star scenes are less numerous and the action tighter. Now when Luke enters the princess’s cell, she remarks, “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” Luke explains that he’s here with Obi-wan—which triggers the scene where Vader senses Ben’s presence, which used to come after Luke and Leia escaped from the prison cell. In the prison corridor shootout it’s Leia, not Luke, who blasts open a way out—straight into the garbage masher, which used to come much later in the story; moreover, the Dia Noga and garbage masher scenes of the second, third, and fourth drafts have been combined into one, more compact, scene.
In addition to being more active, Leia’s character is consistently strengthened with sassier dialogue. Upon seeing the Falcon, she says, “You came in that thing? You are braver than I thought”; and she gives Luke a kiss “just for luck” before they swing across the chasm.
When they arrive on Yavin, a new character, Willard—named for Willard Huyck—greets them. When Han leaves, it’s to pay off his debt to Jabba, not just because he doesn’t feel like fighting. During the attack on the Death Star, Leia is also given more prominence with a couple of lines and more written reactions to the fighting.
* * *
STAR WARS PROGRESSION
• Homestead is in hole
• C-3PO suggests to Luke that Owen purchase R2-D2 after first astromech droid blows its top
• Ben Kenobi now “Obi-wan Kenobi”
• Luke removes R2-D2’s restraining bolt
• Now Kenobi asks Luke to accompany him and learn the ways of the Force, and Luke hesitates
• Kenobi does mind trick on stormtrooper in Mos Eisley
• Pirate ship named Millennium Falcon
• Han shoots an alien in the cantina
• Han is in debt to Jabba the Hutt for dropping an illegal spice shipment
• Han Solo blasts off in ship after shootout with stormtroopers
• Alderaan is blown to smithereens on-screen
• Escape from detention area leads straight to garbage masher scene, which now has the Dia Noga in it
• Gunport battle follows escape from the Death Star
* * *
HIGH NOON
Two weeks before shooting was to begin, the last of the road trains left for Tunisia—without the landspeeder and robots, however, because they were still not ready. The first road train had departed the end of January, and the second in February. Each journey took five days, by ferry to France, by road to Italy, by ferry from Genoa to Tunis, then by road from Tunis to Djerba in trucks—twelve trucks total. The first construction crew was already in Tunisia for six weeks of prep.
The production crew brought with them four Land Rovers, a mobile kitchen, tons of equipment, and, of course, the sets. “I designed the sets that went out on location so that they nested one inside the other, so that we would get a lot on the trucks,” Barry says. “I made the track units of the sandcrawler in three sections so that we could get them one folded up inside the other—because if it won’t go on the truck and it won’t go over the hill, then it won’t be in the film. It’s those sorts of considerations that really pin you down.”
Three weeks before shooting began, all of this carefully if frenetically planned work almost became a lost cause. Because back in the United States, negotiations between the Star Wars Corporation and Fox were dragging on and on, up to the beginning of March—at which point Lucas had to call their bluff. A number of elements, which Kurtz characterized as “deal breakers,” were fueling the fire: 1) a dispute over who should pay $45,000 in legal fees; 2) still unsigned agreements that affected the chain of title to the picture; and of course 3) all of the details inherent in the production-distribution contract.
“About three weeks before we were going to shoot, I gave Fox an ultimatum,” Lucas says. “I said, ‘I’m not going to start shooting this picture until all these outstanding points are agreed upon.’ Because once I’d started the picture, they would’ve had me. Once you start shooting, you don’t have any more leverage.”
In late February 1976, Kurtz flew to LA and met with Alan Ladd. Following the meeting Kurtz called Andy Rigrod, telling him he wanted Tom Pollock and Jeff Berg to talk with Ladd and Dennis Stanfill, chairman of the board of directors, and obtain their verbal commitment that Fox would pay the $45,000. Rigrod’s notes reveal that, if these issues were not resolved, Kurtz and Lucas were ready to “fly back”—i.e., abandon the picture. Now that Fox had invested heavily in the film, this was a serious
threat—which was made doubly so given the last and most critical piece to the legal puzzle: the American Security Interest and the British “Charge”—two pieces of insurance essential to Fox’s ownership of the film, both of which were in peril because the studio had no signed agreements.
For two weeks, negotiations must have hit high gear—because seven days before Lucas was either going to shut down production or board a plane for Tunisia, Fox blinked. Compromises were reached, and though they didn’t have the exact language for the final production-distribution contract, the studio gave in to Lucas’s main demands. Pollock signed key papers on behalf of the Star Wars Corporation to help Fox, which agreed to pay the legal fees, and Lucas signed agreements formalizing his directing and writing services, which gave Fox its desperately needed “chain of title.”