David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct this episode of the series. He turned it down because he believed it was "Lucas' thing."
Director David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct.
The dual stripes painted on rebel A-wing fighters were originally blue, but were changed to red because the blue made it a problem when filming blue-screen effects.
SFX crew claim to have included a "sneaker" as one of the spaceships in a complex dog-fight scene (see also trivia for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)).
The Huttese language spoken by Jabba the Hut was inspired by the Incan language Catua.
Luke's hand gets shot. Leia gets shot in the shoulder. Luke cuts off Darth Vader's hand. See also Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Characters who have "a bad feeling about this": C-3PO, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. See also Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Luke and Han's meeting in Jabba's palace is the first time the pair have been onscreen together since saying their goodbyes in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called "Blue Harvest (Horror beyond your imagination)", and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.
The main chamber of Jabba's palace is connected to the entrance by a short flight of steps. When filming the scene where R2-D2 enters the chamber it was discovered that the droid could not roll down the stairs. In the movie we see R2-D2 approaching the stairs, then the camera moves to the left past the steps and the droid re-enters the field of view, having been manually hauled down the stairs.
The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewoks' bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing "Revenge of the Ewok" t-shirts.
The primitive warrior tribe at the end of this film was originally supposed to be a tribe of Wookiees. In pre-production, though, the decision was made to go to short creatures with short fur rather than very tall creatures with longer fur and, hence, the Ewoks were created (Ewok may very well have been created by rearranging the sounds in the word "Wookiee").
Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt's entourage are ones named "Klaatu," "Barada" and "Nikto," after the command given to the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The aliens are not referred to by name in the film, nor do they have any lines.
Jabba the Hutt's full name is Jabba Desilijic Tiure.
At the time, the climactic battle in outer space featured more optical effects in one scene than had ever been previously committed to film.
In the DVD 2004 release, Sebastian Shaw (older Anakin Skywalker) is replaced in the celebration scene by Hayden Christensen.
Co-producer Robert Watts has stated before that his cameo is actually General Veers, who was played by Julian Glover in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Watts' character, however, is credited as "Lieutenant Watts."
The title of "Revenge Of The Jedi" was purposely leaked by George Lucas to catch people making bootleg merchandise. He explained in the Special Edition of "Return Of The Jedi" that a true Star Wars fan would know it was a false title, because a Jedi would never take revenge.
The raspy, labored breathing heard from Darth Vader after he kills the Emperor was originally meant to be how his breathing sounded when he was first introduced in Star Wars (1977). The sound of this labored breathing was kept and used for this film.
Several Ewok lines are in the Filipino (Tagalog) language.
The film originally included a sandstorm scene that occurred after Han's rescue. It was cut because it was unnecessary and was hectic to shoot.
The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in.
Carrie Fisher's birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a mounted laser gun.
Rumor has it that Nien Numb speaks a Kenyan dialect, and one of his lines is "One thousand herds of elephants are standing on my foot". Nien Nunb had only one long lone in ROTJ. It was something like "Atiriri inyui mwi haria muke haha." which is roughly translated from the African tribal language Kikuyo, meaning, "You guys over there, come over here."
It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and Han Solo. Dark Horse's Comic "Dark Empire" is based on that fact and presents Han and Leia as a married couple.
Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) plays Wedge in this film, despite the rumors to the contrary which were caused by his name being misspelt ("Dennis Lawson") in the credits of Star Wars (1977). Intense debate on Usenet prompted Jarod Nash to write a letter to Lawson, asking for clarification. Lawson confirmed that he indeed played in all three movies.
David Prowse only portrayed Darth Vader completely for the first half of the movie. In the second half of the movie, the character was played by Bob Anderson (stuntman) during the fight sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the character is unmasked. James Earl Jones voiced the character throughout, with the exception of the unmasking scene.
In addition to the pilot of the "chicken walker", Richard Marquand also performed the voice of the droid in Jabba's slave yard.
Pat Welsh performed the voice of the Bounty Hunter Boush (Princess Leah in disguise)
According to Anthony Daniels, it only took him less than 10 minutes to put on the C-3P0 outfit, unlike the last two films were it took him two hours.
One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor här", which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." (In fact, that line's lyrics are supposedly, "G'noop dock fling oh ah.") Another song sounds identical to a song sung in Caveman (1981).
Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San Francisco skyline.
At the end, when Luke cremates Darth Vader, he starts the fire at big toe of his right foot. He also apparently walks around the pyre. Those details and the style of the pyre correspond to Hindu tradition.
David Prowse, who played Darth Vader's body in three films, was unaware of the planned unmasking scene in which a different actor, Sebastian Shaw, played Vader's face.
Michael Carter was cast as Bib Fortuna in this movie after casting director Mary Selway saw him appearing in the play "The Streets of London" in 1981. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform him into Jabba the Hutt's Twi'lek advisor. By the end of his five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes.
The Millenium Falcons used for this movie were either models or matte paintings. The full-sized mock up used for the other films was only used for the deleted sandstorm scenes and therefore doesn't make an appearance in this movie
When Vader throws the Emperor into the shaft, the brief image of a skull can be seen superimposed on his visor.
In the part where Paploo was barely hanging onto the speeder bike, Paploo was played by stuntman Tony Cox.
Cameo: [Ben Burtt] the Imperial officer in the bunker who says "Freeze!" and gets knocked into the generator room by a thrown satchel
The growls and sounds of the Rancor in Jabba's Palace were actually made by a dachsund.
Ernie Fosselius, creator of the Star Wars (1977) spoof Hardware Wars (1977), appears as the voices of the rancor's keepers.
Chris Parsons played C-3PO in 3 or 4 scenes, including the part where 3PO was carried on the chair by the Ewoks.
Billy Dee Williams's stunt double was Julius LeFlore. LeFlore wears black gloves in the Sarlacc fight. Williams does not.
Peter Mayhew had a stunt double for the part of the Sarlacc fight in which the skiff jolted, causing Han Solo to hang upside down.
Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor) and David Prowse (Darth Vader) have never met. Vader was played by Bob Anderson for all of the camera shots in which Vader and the Emperor appeared at the same time.
Director Richard Marquand did the voice for the interrogator droid EV 9D9
The name Anakin is the accusative of the greek noun Anax, meaning "lord."
The name Palpatine was based on the name Palatine in the film, Taxi Driver (1976). It was changed to avoid legal problems.
Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas initially wanted to include the "victory over the Empire" shots on the imperial city. However, they were unable to get a satisfactory name for the capital planet of the Empire. In May 1991, author Timothy Zahn wrote a Star Wars spin-off book, Heir to The Empire, and came out with the capital planet's name as Coruscant. Lucas was happy with the name and as the result, CG shots of victory celebration sequences of other cities, including Coruscant (where the statue collapsed) was included in the 1997 Special Edition.
Robert Watts, a co-producer of the film, doubles as the scout walker driver who is thrown out of the scout walker by Chewbacca.
One of the words C-3PO uses to communicate with the Ewoks is "naboo" which is the name of Queen Amidala's planet in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
The victory trumpet call that the Ewoks used at the end of the Battle Of Endor was the same as the trumpet call that was used in The Ten Commandments (1956) (1955). It can be heard when the Jews are about to leave Egypt for the Promised Land.
The sounds of the "speederbikes" were used in Daisenki (1993) (V) in the final battle as the UFO's sounds.
Princess Leia, is the best shot. She almost never misses. See Star Wars (1977).
Before filming began, it was discovered that all of Darth Vader's lightsaber props had either been lost or stolen. Thus, one of Luke Skywalker's "stunt" saber props from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) had to be quickly cannibalized into a "Vader-esque" saber for this film.
At one point during the battle on Endor, Leia turns towards a Scout Walker and shoots a man who is either standing on or leaning out of the top. This man is rumored to be none other than the director, Richard Marquand.
The design of Luke's new lightsaber is directly based on the one used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977). In fact, one of Obi-Wan's "stunt" saber props was reused in Return of the Jedi as Luke's.
Stuntwoman Tracey Eddon wore a rubber replica of C-3PO for the tumble off of the sail barge. She then donned a metal bikini to swing with Mark Hamill's stunt double onto the escaping skiff.
Jabba the Hutt's death was inspired in part by a scene in The Godfather (1972), in which Luca Brasi is choked to death with a garrote.
Darth Vader's funeral pyre was added at the very last minute, long after principle photography and pick-ups had wrapped. The scene was thrown together and shot near the hills of Skywalker Ranch.
The radiating shafts making up the floor of the second Death Star's reactor core are actually 1,500 fishing rods.
The shot of Paploo the Ewok riding a stolen speeder bike, the crew propped the bike up vertically and filmed the actor dangling from the handlebars, then simply rotated the camera.
Unlike other Star Wars installments, Episode VI was shot and completed in less than one year. Photography was done within June 1982-September 1982
When preparing to work on the special edition one of the ILM employees was talking to a friend and mentioned in passing that they were extending the musical number in Jabba's palace. The friend happened to be the brother of Femi Taylor, the dancer that played Oola (the slave girl/dancer who is fed to the Rancor) and suggested that they get in contact with her as she was in even better shape than she was when they originally shot the scene. They ended up using her, and the scene is a combination of footage that they already had and the new footage recorded 15 years later. Femi Taylor also has the distinction of being the only cast member from the original movies to reprise her role for the special edition.
David Prowse has said that he did not take part in any of the lightsaber-fighting sequences. As with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the film's sword master, Bob Anderson played Darth Vader during the duel sequence, wearing platform shoes and careful filming to make up for the height difference.
The deleted sandstorm scene involving all the actors was the first scene shot on the first day of shooting. This made Mark Hamill the only Star Wars actor to work the first full day of shooting on all three Star Wars movies.
It was originally intended for the Millennium Falcon to not make it out of the exploding Death Star. While this was eventually dropped, a fragment of the idea remains when Han says, "I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see her again."
Endor is the name of a place in the Bible; it's a village found in Biblical Israel's territory of Isaachar, where king Saul went on the eve of his final battle with the Phillistines and came across "The Witch of Endor". It also the Elvish name for Middle-Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".
Originally, George Lucas was disapproving of Richard Marquand's choice in casting Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor. The choice eventually grew on Lucas, as he eventually went on to cast McDiarmid as the younger version of the same character in the next three episodes of the Saga.
According to a magazine interview with Irvin Kershner in May 2004, Kershner states that Richard Marquand didn't direct all of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), it was Kershner's assistant director and Lucas who took over after the actors didn't respond very well to Richard Marquand. The relationship between Marquand and Lucas was said to be bad.
Cinematographer Alan Hume had a falling-out with the producers late in production, mainly owing to the fact that he felt they were mistreating Richard Marquand. Hume was never officially sacked, but most of the photography in the last month of production was supervised by camera operator Alec Mills.
For security reasons, when the film was sent to the lab, it was sent under the title "Blue Harvest". The title was inspired by the Dashiell Hammett story "Red Harvest", which was the inspiration for Yojimbo (1961), directed by Akira Kurosawa, one of the favorite directors of George Lucas.
According to the documentary "Empire of Dreams", Steven Spielberg was George Lucas's first choice to direct, but Lucas could not get Spielberg due to problems with the director's guild.
Sound designer Ben Burtt plays an Imperial officer in the Endor shield generator. When he's knocked over the ledge by Han, he does an imitation of the Wilhelm Scream, a sound effect he has used in all the Star Wars films.
In the original script, the final lightsaber duel between Darth Vader and Luke started with, "Vader says something to make Luke angry." It was only on the set that the idea came up of Vader attempting to turn Leia to the Dark Side of the Force that prompted Luke to finally fight him.
In the theatrical trailers, Luke's new lightsaber had a blue laser blade instead of the green that appears in the finished film, as it had been in the first two movies.
Kenny Baker's Ewok character, Paploo, was supposed to find Princess Leia unconscious after the speeder bike sequence, but Baker got a case of food poisoning before the scene was going to be filmed so Warwick Davis's character, Wicket to be the Ewok that finds Leia
Harrison Ford suggested that Han Solo sacrifice his life to save his friends, but George Lucas disagreed with him.
"I'm for it so we can put Nuclear power plants up there, and then beam the power back to earth on a laser beam." ~ Whidden
03-17-2005 05:33 AM
