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RETURN OF THE JEDI was released 42 years ago today. The final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy, the making of story is as epic and spectacular as you might expect…

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George Lucas originally wanted his old pal Steven Spielberg to direct ROTJ. As Spielberg was a member of the DGA he had to decline as Lucas had dropped his DGA membership after disagreements over the credits on The Empire Strikes Back.

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David Cronenberg was asked to direct Jedi but he said no so he could direct Videodrome and The Dead Zone. David Lynch was also offered the chance to direct the film but said no as it was “Lucas’ thing”.

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Lucas turned to Richard Marquand to direct after seeing his work on spy thriller Eye Of The Needle. Because of Marquand’s lack of experience with effects, Lucas was on set a lot and Marquand said, "It’s like trying to direct King Lear with Shakespeare in the room!"

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Marquand was not overly popular. Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill said he treat them very badly on the set. And at the same time, he would fawn all over Harrison Ford, a Hollywood superstar by this point.

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Two big Star Wars names did not return. Producer Gary Kurtz left because Empire had run way over schedule and budget. And concept artist Ralph McQuarrie walked away as he felt burned out, and hated the idea of the Ewoks (though he did design them).

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Luke’s lightsaber in Jedi is green, but it was originally blue like the first two movies. However, when Luke lit his lightsaber it blended in with the blue sky so had to be changed to green. In the trailer for the film below, it’s still blue.

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Carrie Fisher returned as Leia. Lucas told her he didn’t want her to be an “eye candy damsel in distress”. Fisher was pleased but also said you couldn’t tell “she was a woman” in Empire. These complaints led in part to the slave bikini Leia wears.

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Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers said the inspiration for Leia's famous slave outfit came from the artwork of Frank Frazetta, which often focused on the female form in fantastical illustrations.

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Warwick Davis played Ewok Wicket and said Carrie Fisher would give him cookies and chocolate milk between takes as he had to wear a hot costume. He later said "She was everything an eleven-year-old Ewok could possibly wish for."

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Leia being revealed as Luke’s sister wasn’t always the plan. Lucas was planning a sequel trilogy where Luke went on a journey to find his long-lost sister, but was exhausted from the first two films so decided against it.

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Carrie Fisher first shows up as Boushh, the bounty hunter. Fisher’s voice was dubbed for the character. The voice was provided by Pat Welsh, who also did the voice of E.T. a couple of years later.

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Harrison Ford retuned but wanted to kill Han off. Writer Lawrence Kasdan agreed and wanted to kill Han in the first act to make audiences unsure who would survive. Lucas said no and Ford later said “George didn’t see a future in dead Han toys.”

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Originally, Yoda was not in the script. He was added when Lucas decided Yoda was the best person to confirm to Luke and the audience that Darth Vader really was his father.

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The final act in the Emperor’s throne room was supposed to take place on the Imperial Home World called Had Abbadon. It was designed as a city planet by Ralph McQuarrie but proved to be impossible to create with effects limits at the time.

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Warwick Davis played the Ewok Wicket. He auditioned after his grandmother heard a London radio station announce a casting call. Kenny Baker (who played R2) was due to play Wicket but got food poisoning, so the part went to Davis. Baker played Ewok Paploo instead.

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Lawrence Kasdan returned from Empire to write the script. He, Lucas and Marquand spent 2 weeks in a meeting discussing ideas. Kasdan recorded those meetings then used that to put the script together.

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Many ideas from the original script were left out or changed. For example, the Ewoks were going to be Wookiees, the Millennium Falcon would be used in the arrival at Endor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi would return to life from his existence as a force ghost.

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The name ‘Ewok’ came from Native American tribe Miwok, indigenous to the redwood forests where the Endor scenes were shot. "Endor" comes from the Bible and is a village visited by King Saul before his final battle with the Philistines.

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One of the most famous lines is in the space battle when Admiral Ackbar's exclaims "It's a trap!" It was originally scripted as "It's a trick!" but was changed in post-production after a negative test screening.

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Fake scripts were distributed to cast members Lucas thought might leak information to the media, like David Prowse. Some of phony story elements were leaked, like Lando being revealed as the "last hope" for the Jedi mentioned by Yoda in Empire.

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The original title was Revenge of the Jedi. Lucas thought Jedi wouldn’t seek revenge though so changed it to Return of the Jedi, influenced by Lord of the Rings. Kasdan told Lucas at the time that the new title was “weak.”

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For secrecy, the working title was Blue Harvest with the tagline "Horror beyond imagination", and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. The title was inspired by novel Red Harvest, which inspired Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961).

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John Williams returned to write the score and was joined by his son, Joseph Williams. Joseph was also lead singer of the rock band Toto, and wrote some of the lyrics for the Ewoks songs, including the famous “Yub Nub.”

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The speeder bike POV shots were done by having a Steadicam operator walk through the forest with the camera filming at one frame per second. When the footage was played back at the normal 24 fps, it gave the appearance of flying through the forest at high speeds.

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Filming the scene where Salacious Crumb chews C-3PO’s eye, 3PO actor Anthony Daniels had a panic attack in the suit. He said "Get me up. Get me up." and dubbed Daniels’ voice in later. The shot was used by Marquand in the final cut.

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Ben Kingsley, David Suchet and Lindsay Anderson were considered for the role of Emperor Palpatine. Alan Webb was originally cast, but had to pull out because of Ill health and sadly passed away while Jedi was mid-production.

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Second choice Ian McDiarmid was then cast as the Emperor. McDiarmid’s voice was originally going to be dubbed but he practiced using a Japanese acting method of using your stomach to project your voice. When Lucas liked what he heard, he let McDiarmid play the full part.

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Lucas originally wanted to have a recognizable face appear when Vader removes his helmet and thought about Laurence Olivier or John Gielgud. He changed his mind and thought an unknown person would be better so cast RSC actor Sebastian Shaw.

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When Shaw arrived on the set, he ran into his friend, Ian McDiarmid. When McDiarmid asked what he was doing there Shaw replied, "I don't know, dear boy. I think it's something to do with science fiction."

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The Jabba the Hutt animatronic took Stuart Freeborn's team three months to build, cost $500,000 to make, and weighed 2,000 pounds.

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It took 6 people to work the Jabba animatronic. 3 were inside operating the arms, head, tongue and tail. A man below pulled strings to move Jabba's mouth. And two radio operators controlled Jabba’s eyes. A final crew member used gel to give Jabba his slimy look.

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To create the Rancor monster, Lucas wanted a performer in a suit. The production team made several attempts, but were unable to create an adequate result. They decided to try filming the Rancor as a high-speed puppet, which worked perfectly.

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The film included some fantastic used of matte painting and scale model effects too. Below is Christopher Evans creating some of the artwork. Did you realise it’s a matte painting?

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Sound design guru Ben Burtt returned. The growls of the Rancor were made by a dachshund. The slithery noises when Jabba moves were made by Burtt running his hand through cheese casserole. Speeder bike sounds were made by splicing thunder sounds with a P-38 airplane.

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At the end, Darth Vader gets electrocuted by the Emperor's Force lightning. When he does his skeleton is visible showing several replacement vertebrae, a respirator, and a mechanical right arm.

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Gary Kurtz said the original story ended with Luke Skywalker walking off alone and exhausted like the hero in a Spaghetti Western, going into seclusion by walking out into the Tatooine desert. Lucas opted for a happier ending to encourage higher toy sales.

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The film grossed $418m on a £32m budget, the biggest movie of 1983. And the video below shows audience reactions at the time. Things have changed a bit…

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RETURN OF THE JEDI was released 42 years ago today. The final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy, the making of story is as epic and spectacular as you might expect…

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Our latest podcast is on SICARIO. Full of big laughs and opinions so please check it out 😀
alltherightmovies.com/podcast/sicari…

RETURN OF THE JEDI was released 42 years ago today. The final entry...

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