The backstage of Star Wars

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Out this month, the slick coffee-table tome The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back chronicles the complete tale—from pre-release to blockbuster success—of what’s become the fan favorite of the Star Wars series. Released in 1980, George Lucas’s Episode V pushed the boundaries of special effects and left audiences with one of cinema’s most epic cliffhangers. To mark the film’s 30th anniversary, VF.com presents an excerpt from the book: rarely seen photographs from the Empire Strikes Back set, annotated with behind-the-scenes details. 

When Darth Vader (David Prowse) revealed his secret to Luke, Hamill was hanging onto a pinnacle above mattresses placed on cardboard boxes about 30 feet off the ground.

What has become an iconic photograph of Hamill, George Lucas, Fisher, and Ford (in the background are chief hairdresser Barbara Ritchie; Michael J. Duthie, an editor who happened to be visiting the set that day; and assistant to director Debbie Shaw, daughter of actor Robert Shaw).

Mark Hamill at EMI Elstree Studios, where by September 1979 two Star Wars films had been shot.

The opening crawl was filmed at Industrial Light & Magic, circa March 1980.

Phil Tippett and Jon Berg stop-motion animate a shot with all three walkers (the background walkers are cutouts). Originally the plan had been to photograph the walkers against four-by-five Ektachrome transparencies shot in Norway; when these didn’t work as planned, matte artist Mike Pangrazio copied select Ektachromes onto large scenic backings.

Harrison Ford sitting behind an X-wing.

On September 5, 1979, renowned actor Sir Alec Guinness arrived at Elstree Studios, in Hertfordshire, England, where Mark Hamill greeted him. Though not on camera, Hamill would feed his character Luke Skywalker’s lines to Guinness, who played Ben Kenobi.

At the dining-room door, unit publicist Alan Arnold, director Irvin Kershner, Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Billy Dee Williams.

Peter Mayhew, as Chewbacca, with Fisher.