(reproduced
from an insert included in an order of Star Wars postage stamps from the International
Collectors Society in 1996)
1.Before
his role as Han Solo, Harrison Ford worked as a carpenter.
2. After filming Star Wars, 7'2" Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) returned to his job as a London hospital porter.
3. "Star Wars: The Cantina Band" by Meco stayed at the top of the pop single charts all summer in 1977.
4. George Lucas' first script for Star Wars featured the adventures of two androids.
5. Star Wars earned over four times as much as 1977's #2 hit, Smokey and the Bandit.
6. "May the Force be with you" quickly became commonly heard in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Holland.
7. Crews filmed in the Tunisian desert for Luke's home planet of Tatooine despite sandstorms and temperatures of 110 degrees.
8. Skywalker Ranch in California is home to Lucasfilm Ltd. offices, production facilities and archives.
9. Early in George Lucas' career, he entered into a short-lived partnership with Francis Ford Coppola.
10. When 20th Century-Fox executives started losing interest in Star Wars, the colorful paintings of former NASA illustrator Ralph McQuarrie revived their enthusiasm.
11. George Lucas' first movie was THX 1138, a thriller about a futuristic police state filmed in 1971.
12. Working on American Grafitti, Lucas declined the opportunity to direct Lady Ice starring Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall. His movie was a huge hit, its success paving the way for Star Wars; Lady Ice died at the box office.
13. When Lucas' movie THX 1138 was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, he sneaked into the screening because he didn't have a pass.
14. Star Wars' spacecraft were amazingly different from the shiny starships of previous science fiction movies in that they were aged, weathered and battered from hyperspace travel and battles.
15. Illustrator Ralph McQuarrie's vision of Lord Darth Vader was based on a medieval Japanese samurai warrior.
16. Because the technology did not exist for what Lucas envisioned, he created his own special effects unit which later became "Industrial Light & Magic".
17. Many workers in the special effects unit were only in their 20s and had never worked in movies before.
18. Supplies for the movie's models and special effects were often purchased from a nearby government supply store.
19.
The special effects unit had a screening room furnished in "Early Goodwill,"
complete with an old mattress with springs poking through.
20. After working for more than a year and spending over $1 million, the visual effects group had only three usable shots out of hundreds.
21. After returning from filming in England, Lucas suffered from hypertension and exhaustion, bringing on a heart attack.
22. The 28 films Harrison Ford has made since Star Wars have put him at the top of international top-grossing actors, passing even Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
23. For the Rebels' secret base, a crew of three was sent to Guatemala to film an overgrown ancient temple where human sacrifice was practiced.
24. Star Wars utilized discarded technology such as Vista-Vision, which was used for The Ten Commandments and later abandoned because of technical demands.
25. Several models of the Millenium Falcon were built for the movie, ranging in size from a silver dollar to life-size.
26. As work progressed, nobody knew if Star Wars was going to be a classic or a disaster, but some confident workers invested in 20th Century-Fox stock, which later doubled in value!
27. Whle heading to a hamburger joint in Hollywood, Lucas was astounded when he saw the long lines and general commotion at a nearby theatre were Star Wars had just opened.
28.
Since Star Wars, Mark Hamill has starred in eight Broadway plays
and several movies, and provided voices fo rmore than 400 cartoons.
29. Nicknamed The Country Club, the special effects unit worked without a dress code or time clock.
30. Carrie Fisher is now a best-selling writer and is in demand as one of Hollywood's best script re-writers.
31. The map location of Steven Spielberg's local post office (C3-PO) provided a name for one of the androids.
32. When Anthony Daniels was first approached, he wasn't interested in being C-3PO. However, when he saw Ralph McQuarrie's paintings, he fell in love with the character.
33. Given the choice of being either Lord Darth Vader or Chewbacca, former professional weightlifter David Prowse joined the Dark Side of the Force.
