The Making of Star Wars

Lucas supervised a team of four editors working under extreme deadlines to get the film out on time.

Although ostensibly an exterior, the Mos Eisley street was built on Stage 8. Extras were suited up in alien costumes and masks.
Carrie Fisher tries on John Mollo's design for Princess Leia for the first time.


Anthony Daniels on being C-3PO: "I saw a chair one day and it said 'Anthony Daniels' on the back of it, and I was very excited about that. But I never got to sit in the chair because I could never sit down. I had this terrible leaning board, a kind of medieval thing with arms that allowed me to recline at about 70 degrees, which was very little use at all, because the weight still went down to your ankles.

Stormtroopers wore all-in-one black leotards over which the front and back of the body clasped together.

George Lucas directs the stormtroopers.
Sir Alec Guinness and George Lucas on the set.


Harrison Ford clearly enjoyed playing the trigger-happy Han Solo.
Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill on the set. Early character sketches had Han Solo sporting a cape and beard.


Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels (in C-3PO costume) and Sir Alec Guinness stand in front of the cantina exterior.

Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew (in Chewbacca outfit), Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford on the set. Leia's "earmuff" hairstyle was inspired by photographs taken by Edward S. Curtis of Native Americans and photos of Pancho Villa's rebel women.

David Prowse prepares to play Darth Vader.

George Lucas and Anthony Daniels (in the C-3PO costume) on the sandcrawler set, which cost $128,000 and was placed on the Tunisia-Libya border.

George Lucas survived filming in Tunisia, but was unhappy with what had transpired there.

George Lucas shows Carrie Fisher how to hold and shoot a gun.

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.

George Lucas demonstrates to Sir Alec Guinness how to surrender himself to the Force.