by Dan Moren
The Making of the Empire Strikes Back
Recently unearthed documentary from 1980 about the making of The Empire Strikes Back1. It’s pretty low quality, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here that has probably not seen the light of day in years. (One highlight is a crew member swearing after dropping a particularly expensive piece of equipment.)
A few things I noticed: First, I think there were far more female extras playing pilots in the Hoth scenes than made it to screen in the final version. Also, you do get an idea of other scenes/takes that didn’t make it into the final version, and it’s always impressive to watch the diligence and work that went into the practical effects. (Stop-motion, motion-controlled cameras, layered shots, etc.)
- Which, perceptive readers know, is my favorite movie ever. ↩