Secrets of the Force

by Edward Gross

  CHRISTIAN GOSSETT

  (comic book artist, Tales of the Jedi)

  Creative limitation. The Death Star was one set. Ask the guys over there, and they’ll say, “You know the Death Star was one set? We reused things.” The pillars that Luke hangs his grappling hook on were in the Blockade Runner and turned sideways. When you’ve got to work like that, there’s a certain sense that comes to the artist and you get really interesting things. The great films you can predict. That’s just one thing, but also classic film is classic film. You never really know or people would make classics every time, but you can watch the great films and they don’t date like that. You look at Casablanca, and, sure, it’s a forties film, but you could watch it any day and it’s amazing. Star Wars has that, all three [original] Star Wars.

  * * *

  Lucas also turned down an offer to finally make Apocalypse Now with Francis Ford Coppola. After The Godfather Part II, Coppola could afford to finally make his film. Part of Lucas’s decision to reject the offer was based on the fan mail he was receiving in regards to American Graffiti.

  JONATHAN RINZLER

  At one point he was making Star Wars, and Coppola came to him and said, “You can make Apocalypse Now, you can get the money to make it.” So George had a choice between Apocalypse Now and Star Wars. George had done two films up to that point, he had done THX 1138 and American Graffiti. THX depressed everyone and no one went to go see it. American Graffiti was this huge sleeper-hit, and he was getting hundreds of letters from people saying that movie changed their lives and they had been suicidal and they wanted to go on living, so Lucas decided he didn’t want to make a depressing movie about the Vietnam War, he’d rather go on making a fairy tale, because he liked it better. So Coppola went off to make Apocalypse Now.

  * * *

  And Lucas’s decision to pursue a fairy tale paid off: on December 13, 1975, the 20th Century Fox board of directors officially gave the green light to The Star Wars and approved the $7 million budget. The film survived nearly entirely through the support of Alan Ladd, Jr., who still believed in the project.

  ERIC TOWNSEND

  At the start of 1976, Lucas was still refining the film’s screenplay, turning in a fourth draft titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as Taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga 1: The Star Wars. This draft features additional backstory for Darth Vader, including a connection to Ben Kenobi and Luke’s father. Meanwhile, casting got underway and so did preparations to organize things in England for the shoot. On top of that, the contract between Lucas and Fox was signed only a week prior to the commencement of shooting, driving home the fact that this whole thing could have fallen apart at any time.

  * * *

  As to the casting for the film, many of the actors were selected during a joint casting session for Lucas and Brian De Palma, the latter looking for actors for his adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie (the first movie made from the author’s work).

  BRIAN JAY JONES

  Lucas is like Jim Henson in the sense of finding solutions to weird problems hidden in plain sight, so much to the effect that people just take it for granted when they do it this way now. One of the things Jim Henson did was he would actually tape what the camera saw right next to the camera, in what they now call the Media Village, and he would never look through the eyepiece. He would just watch the monitor, so he knew exactly what the camera was seeing, and everybody does that now. And Lucas does this with casting in that he tapes everybody, which makes perfect sense, but wasn’t common back then. Now everybody is like, “You want to see how everybody looks thrown together and how they actually look on tape, not just sitting there in a room with them.” So that, I think, is one of the cool and weird innovations with him and casting. He’s like, “I’m taping them all,” and he sits there in a room for months and months running every Hollywood A- and B-lister and C-lister, even, through that room to read.

  It’s very interesting that he had two different final casts going. He’s got the one we know, then he’s got the one with Terri Nunn, Christopher Walken, and somebody else as Luke. He even got the two final casts of three to play off of each other, and asked his friends which they felt worked better. People were like, “Christopher Walken is a little too quirky. That other cast is a little more fun than that one. And with Terri Nunn, you’re dealing with a minor and will have to stop filming every day for a certain amount of time.” But it’s interesting to get down to basically two sets of finalists, which—and I hate to admit knowing this, because it’s a little bit embarrassing—is the same thing they did with The Brady Bunch. There were blonde kids and black hair kids and it was going to depend on who was cast as the parents. A dark-haired Joyce Bulifant could have been Carol Brady. So Lucas essentially has got two different versions of the “Brady Kids” going. He took the advice from his friends seriously. Thinking it through, sometimes you don’t know how much of it is apocryphal, like when he talked about casting Glynn Turman as a black Han Solo and a Japanese Princess Leia, and he’s like, “I knew I was going to put them together and thought that might be a little much.” And I’m like, “Did you really know that at the time you were making the first film?” I don’t believe that.

  CARRIE FISHER

  (actress, “Princess Leia Organa”)

  George cast an ensemble piece, the three of us together. Apparently, there were another three in case we didn’t work, but at no time would it have been mix and match. We didn’t get along just like that. We carefully psyched each other out. Harrison used to yell at me for not being able to decide where to eat and Mark and I used to sing TV jingles together, but with suspicion. It took us about a week to decide exactly what George saw in the three of us together.

  JOHN L. FLYNN

  The inspiration for many of the characters in the Star Wars saga comes from many of the sources George consulted while writing the first film. Whereas the characters themselves may have undergone various changes in gender and form, their basic personalities remain firmly rooted in mythic or literary traditions. Lucas studied dozens of ancient legends, including King Arthur; read a variety of fantasy and science fiction stories, including Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy; and isolated the most common elements of archetypal characters in an effort to produce a story that is somewhat universal. It’s fascinating to view these characters in hindsight, to see how certain premises and personalities were kept intact and how others were transformed or simply abandoned.

  DAN MADSEN

  When I interviewed [George Lucas]—I must have interviewed him … so many times for the Lucasfilm Fan Club—and every time I flew out to Skywalker Ranch, and met him in his office in the main house, we’d sit there for probably forty-five minutes to do the interviews. And he told me one time, that his initial concept for Luke and Leia—and this is in one of his interviews that’s in the Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine—he said, one of his original ideas for Luke and Leia, was that they’d be Little People. But he said, “I never could find actors that I thought could do the role justice.” So he said, “I decided to change that and make them average height people,” but his initial idea and concept for Luke and Leia was that they would be Little People. That blew me away when I heard that!

  * * *

  Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe) was born in London on April 2, 1914, to Agnes Cuff and a forever unidentified father. His early life was spent at boarding schools at Pembroke Lodge, in Southbourne, and Roborough, in Eastbourne. At the age of twenty, he entered the acting profession while still in drama school with a walk-on role in the stage play Libel, eventually being promoted to a small speaking role when the play moved to the West End’s Playhouse. Throughout the 1930s, Guinness’s stage roles continued to expand, until he eventually performed his own adaptation of Great Expectations in 1939, where he was noticed by the then film critic, and future film director, David Lean, which would prove to be the most important relationship in Guinness’s career.

  After serving in the Br
itish Navy during World War II, Guinness began taking on film roles, making a name for himself in Ealing comedies such as The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets. David Lean hired Guinness for leading roles in 1946’s Great Expectations and 1949’s Oliver Twist, before offering Guinness the role he would win an Academy Award for in the 1957 classic Bridge on the River Kwai. Future roles in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia and 1965’s Doctor Zhivago cemented Guinness as one of the finest actors of his generation. But by the mid-1970s, his career had slowed, which led to Guinness agreeing to star as the aged Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of course, Guinness only agreed once 20th Century Fox doubled their initial salary offer, and to pay him 2.25 percent of the royalties George Lucas made off the film—amounting to, in today’s dollars, over $95 million for all three films.

  JOHN L. FLYNN

  Throughout the many rewrites, Luke Skywalker’s thoughtful old mentor who appears as a “shabby old desert rat” was to have been the central role in the piece. Lucas saw the character of Ben Kenobi (aka Obi-Wan Kenobi) as a cross between Gandalf the Wizard in Lord of the Rings, Merlin the Magician, and the Samurai swordsman often played by Toshiro Mifune. In fact, Lucas first imagined Mifune in the role of Ben Kenobi, but later went with Alec Guinness when he realized that distinguished actor was available for the part. He wanted Ben to be a kind and powerful wizard who had a certain dignity and could influence the weak-minded. As first envisioned, Kenobi was probably the early General Skywalker and then, in later drafts, Kane Starkiller, an anonymous “seer,” and finally the crazed desert hermit who was also a Jedi Master.

  PETER BEALE

  (UK production executive, Star Wars)

  The person that I recommended—I wasn’t the only person to recommend—was obviously Alec Guinness. I had worked with him on Lawrence of Arabia and on Doctor Zhivago. He was amazing. On Zhivago, he had to play a range of people, so when he arrived in Madrid, he arrived with a chest wig, so that he could work as a young student with his shirt open (I don’t think he had any hair on his chest naturally), but he could do it. As you can see from the performance, he treated the performance with enormous respect and care.

  It wasn’t easy to get him, because up to that point space films and sci-fi were “B” movies. The only “A” movie was 2001 and that was intellect. That was different. It was put in a special category. The word was that we were making a “B” special effects cowboy movie. Alec Guinness’s agent didn’t want him to be in a “B” movie. It took a lot of careful negotiation and careful meetings and saying we hoped to make something better than that, and obviously financial terms. Later on, he was asked about the part, and he said it wasn’t his favorite part, when you look at his body of work, which was so extraordinary. The fact that we remember him for Star Wars irked him a little bit, but his Star Wars earnings gave him the ability to decide what he wanted in the future.

  MARK HAMILL

  I asked Sir Alec one time, “Why would you want to do a movie like this?” I couldn’t believe that we were able to get an actor of his stature. And he said that he always imagined himself playing a wizard in a film for children. I think you noticed the influence, because later when they did Superman, they used that same predicate for an actor with gravitas, Marlon Brando, and then you get away with casting a bunch of unknowns in the leading roles.

  DAVID PROWSE

  (on-set actor, “Darth Vader,” Star Wars)

  I did all the sword fighting. Alec Guinness did it all as well. We rehearsed it and rehearsed it and rehearsed it for about two weeks. And every five minutes we had, we used to go off and rehearse it a little bit more. It was actually filmed in three specific sequences. We did it three or four times, then we did a master shot. And then his close-up and my close-up. Also, I think we had a long shot of the fight going on. The main problems were that every time the swords [lightsabers] touched, they broke. So, of course, all of that was done practically with the swords hardly touching at all.

  ALEC GUINNESS

  (actor, “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Star Wars)

  My role in Star Wars had been described as a blend of the wizard Merlin and a Samurai warrior, and you can’t beat that. Unlike most space fantasy, the characters George Lucas has created aren’t cardboard. And the story is gripping. There’s a quest, encounters with other forms of life, and conflict between good and evil.

  ANTHONY FORREST

  (actor, “Stormtrooper,” Star Wars)

  The part of the stormtrooper mind-manipulated by Ben Kenobi was really a last-minute request from George, as he needed someone to play the scene with Alec Guinness. I was at the hotel when they came to get me and the next thing I knew, I was on the set in a stormtrooper costume and working with Alec Guinness. As an actor, he was a true Jedi and gentleman. Well, Mark Hamill and I had gotten to know each other at the hotel, but working with Alec Guinness out of the blue, that was very special. Even years later when we were both working at the BBC on different projects he remembered, and we would chat. I remember George wanting more dirt on my costume and doing it himself. George has great detail in his work, he was so immersed in the story and what he was looking for visually, something he didn’t always share, but he knows what he wants and stays true to his vision.

  * * *

  Carrie Frances Fisher was born on October 21, 1956, in Burbank, California. Daughter to the legendary film actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, Carrie’s young life was spent as a part of the Hollywood elite. A natural bookworm, Carrie spent her early life writing poetry and short stories—a talent that would come in handy during her second career as Hollywood’s unofficial go-to script doctor for everything from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones to The Wedding Singer.

  After dropping out of high school to pursue an acting career, Carrie Fisher attended London’s Center for Speech and Drama, where she stayed for eighteen months. Fisher’s first taste of acting came in 1974, when she appeared as a debutante and singer in the hit Broadway revival Irene in 1973, alongside her mother, who was in the starring role. Her first on-screen film role came with the 1975 Warren Beatty subversive satire Shampoo, which, although it only amounted to two scenes, showcased her ease and charisma in the acting world. But her big break came in 1975, when a young director named George Lucas saw in this diminutive five-foot-two member of Hollywood royalty the makings of the most important war hero of the Rebel Alliance.

  JOHN L. FLYNN

  Leia was first conceived by Lucas as an amalgamation of Dejah Thoris from A Princess of Mars, Lady Galadriel of Lothlórien from Lord of the Rings, and Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz. Never really named in the original story treatment, she was an eleven-year-old princess with “goddess-like” powers, who needed rescuing from Imperial troops. Subsequent drafts of the screenplay portrayed her as a sixteen-year-old princess who fell in love with Han Solo, the central male figure, and finally the twin sister to Luke Skywalker. At one point in the third draft, George Lucas even gave Leia the mind-control powers of a witch, but later revised that when she became Luke’s long-lost sibling.

  PETER BEALE

  Obviously one imagined that Princess Leia would have to look attractive, but a lot of the costumes weren’t; they were sort of semi-military, disorganized, almost Carnaby Street. We chose John Mollo as costume designer. I first met him when we did Doctor Zhivago. He was the expert consultant, he consulted for David Lean in all things to do with the communist revolution. The Soviets, the Russian military, the Cossack military, etc. He became a costume designer and because of his military background, we felt that he would bring something special to that area, and of course, he did.

  TODD FISHER

  (Carrie Fisher’s brother)

  Carrie got her first part in Shampoo and my mother, of course, didn’t like the idea that Carrie was going to say to Warren Beatty, “Wanna fuck?” So my mother went over to renegotiate that deal and said to Warren, “Can’t we change that line to like, ‘Do you wanna screw?’” And Warren said, “No, Debbie, it’s shoc
k value here.” At that point, she gave up on trying to change his mind, but she turned to Warren and said, “If you touch my daughter, I’m going to kill you.” And Warren confirmed that story to me. After that, Carrie went in to audition for this little B science fiction movie going to be called Star Wars.

  CARRIE FISHER

  I don’t remember when I decided I wanted to get into show business, but it was always assumed that I would do it. So I kind of went along with that assumption.

  TODD FISHER

  Here’s the thing: Carrie was being groomed by my mother in a lot of different ways, but first and foremost, even if it was by accident, she was a bit of a Beverly Hills princess. She was born into Hollywood royalty and was raised in a very affluent, privileged life. We both were. So she walks into the room and George Lucas immediately sees a princess. The attitude is all there. I mean, make no mistake, the attitude that Carrie has in life is from my mom. It’s her own version of it, because she puts her edge in it. And, of course, Carrie had evolved into an amazing intellect in her own right, but Debbie is Molly Brown. She was brought up a tomboy and punched men in the face. I saw it happen! Ninety-five pounds and knocked a man to his ass with one blow. Carrie grew up around that and you couldn’t help but have it rub off on you. So Carrie does this little audition and, of course, later in the film you see it when she steps up into Moff Tarkin’s face and says, “I’d recognize that foul stench anywhere.” That attitude comes from her upbringing.