One of the most famous and large-scale projects of "all times and peoples" - the fantastic saga "Star Wars" - began to be created by American director George Lucas in the early 1970s. To realize what he had planned, it took tremendous efforts to ensure the triumph of the first picture, which was released in May 1977. Moreover, according to the testimony of those who participated in the creation of this epic, what happened in the process of work could very well become the plot for a separate fascinating film. So where and how was Star Wars filmed?
A few words about George Lucas
Before you begin the story of how Star Wars was shot, a little attention should be paid to the personality of the director.
Today George Lucas is one of the wealthiest representatives of his profession with a capital of $ 5 million, and at the time when he came up with the idea of the project, he was not even 30 years old, and he had only two feature films in his asset. In fairness, I must say that he already shot a movie in the genre of science fiction, but it did not have a resounding success. The plot of this picture, known as "THX 1138", is a story about the world of the future, where humanity, forced to live underground, is ruled by computers. The film, of course, is inferior in entertainment to Star Wars, but its heroes are still fighting for their right to remain human and make all decisions independently.
What formed the basis of the script
At one time, George Lucas was greatly impressed by Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress. As a result, he wrote a 12-sheet script with a long name that mentioned the Great Jedi.
In subsequent years, Lucas was busy working on The Apocalypse Today, but the picture was shot without him. Nevertheless, many of the scenes he invented were later used to create the Star Wars.
The South Asian theme did not let Lucas go, and he rewrote his first script and was determined to invite actors from Japan to all roles. However, at the final stage of the work, the director radically changed his mind, and a story appeared that fans of the saga know by heart in great detail.
Ralph McQuarrie
After completing a long and painstaking work on the script of the picture, Lucas was going to present a thick folio to potential investors and several film studios. It contained all the events of the Star Wars universe with a trilogy of modern times and a detailed description of hundreds of characters, with names and biographies.
Being a realist, George Lucas understood that in order to present his project to film bosses with great success, an enthusiastic story alone is not enough. He began to think about how to better present Star Wars. The film, as he intended it, required a lot of investment, so the director decided to order a few illustrations to the famous industrial designer Ralph McQuarrie from Boeing. His choice was not accidental, since the artist at one time drew famous images of the landing of Americans on the moon. The collaboration between Lucas and McQuarrie turned out to be fruitful, and the director received excellent concept films for Star Wars.
Colin Cantwell
Talking about how Star Wars was shot, one cannot but mention the person who created the models of space transport and infrastructure. For the role of co-author in technical matters, Lucas was invited by Colin Cantwell, who had already worked on the films “Strain of Andromeda” and “2010: Space Odyssey” and kept an extensive collection of models in his house. Together with McQuarrie, they came up with the appearance and motion characteristics of the speeder, ships and the Death Star station.
How Star Wars was filmed: background
Today it’s hard to believe, but in the mid-70s it was extremely difficult to find those who wanted to start production of a science-fiction film, and it took Lukas about six months to do this. As a result, the 20th Century Fox agreed to start shooting, but set the director several conditions, including the refusal to receive an advance payment and the publication of a book on the plot of the fourth episode of the space saga. The latter, according to the studio’s management, had to be done in order to find out how much the scenario of the future film is able to interest the audience.
Lucas drew Alan Foster to collaborate on his science fiction novel, and soon America was already reading about the adventures of Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.
The creation of the book is the main reason why Star Wars was filmed out of order. This tradition of throwing from end to end of the script was preserved in the future, as it generated intrigue and fueled interest in the subsequent parts of the movie saga. It also caused confusion over the issue of which year Star Wars was filmed. After all, the first episode was presented to viewers only at the end of the 20th century.
Where Star Wars was filmed (fourth episode)
Director George Lucas had hatched the idea of his film for so long that he had a clear idea of how this or that character should look and in what way it is better to realize the necessary special effects.
As a place for the creation of the world where the heroes of the saga were supposed to exist, they chose Tunisia, or rather, the vicinity of the city of Tatooine. Moreover, its name was so liked by the filmmakers that it was used to designate the planet where the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 fell, sent for help in the fight against the forces of the Empire.
For two months, decorators built the city of Mos Astley in the desert. In addition, 25 models were brought to Tatooine, including radio-controlled ones, which were designed by Carlo Rambaldi.
What countries of the planet did Lucas's creative team visit to create the Star Wars movie saga
The picture was shot in various parts of the Earth, for example:
- The Skywalker igloo was also built in Tunisia, but on the dried salt lake of El Jerid. Interestingly, after filming in 1977, the scenery was dismantled, but then it was rebuilt for the filming of Attack of the Clones.
- The hotel in the Tunisian city of Matmata, which was rebuilt from an old Berber dwelling, is the place where Star Wars was filmed when it was necessary to show Skywalker's house.
- In nature for the scenes unfolding on the planet Yavin, ruins were selected in the Tikal Guatemalan park.
- The scene at Palace Square in Teed was filmed in Spain, in the territory where the Ibero-American Exhibition was held in 1929.
In addition, cameramen, actors, and other members of the director's team, Lucas, during work on Star Wars, visited the Norwegian village of Fins, Thai Phuket, Chinese Guilian, and many other interesting places. Thus, they proved that our planet has such a diverse landscape and landscapes that it can become a decoration for the whole Universe.
Where was the shooting of the last episode
Each part of the space epic of George Lucas was more spectacular and perfect in terms of technical solutions and special effects. The countries where they were looking for nature also changed, and usually many times per picture. For example, the places where Star Wars. Awakening of power ”is:
- the vicinity of the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, where they created a market and parking for spacecraft, which, according to the plot of the picture, are on the planet Daku;
- a forest on the border of the English counties of Wales and Gloucestershire, in which the creators of the painting hid Grand Master Yoda from the enemies;
- on Skellig Michael Island in Ireland, where an ancient monastery is located, which is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site;
- Newbury airfield, from which fighters of the Rebel Alliance flew;
- in the Pinewood Pavilion, in a suburb of London.
By the way, since the epic consists of 7 episodes, before answering the question of which year Star Wars was shot, it should be clarified which one is being discussed. It is also worth noting that "Awakening of Power" was the first film of the saga, which was already filmed by another director - J. J. Abrams. At the same time, George Lucas, who transferred his achievements to Walt Disney for the scenario of the seventh episode, subsequently told reporters that the story presented to the audience has nothing to do with what he wrote for the sequel trilogy.
How long has Star Wars been shot
Those who saw the first part of the cinema saga of George Lucas during the years of their childhood, today are already far beyond forty or even fifty.
If you ask how much Star Wars was shot, you should consider the period of time that has passed since the release of the first episode (1977) to the completion of work on the last part of the film at the moment (November 2014).
What special effects were used
Today it is computer graphics and a variety of digital technologies that allow you to create realistic images of any fantastic worlds, and 40 years ago, directors and cameramen had at their disposal only stuntmen, pyrotechnics and about a dozen methods of conducting combined filming.
That is why the special effects of Star Wars, which many people look at with a smile today, at one time amazed the audience. However, many did not know what tricks the film crew had to go to capture a particular episode lasting 20-30 seconds. For example, to make a “lightsaber,” they took an ordinary long wooden stick and covered with a reflective composition, and the space station “Death Star” was a model the size of a ... desk. Along it, workers dragged a miniature camera on a cable, controlled by a self-made computer created specifically for this.
Interesting facts about filming
Lucas' fantasy was truly inexhaustible, and not even “cosmic” objects were used to create special effects. So, to shoot a flight through the asteroid belt, ordinary potatoes were used as heavenly rain. The span of each "space object" was shot separately against a blue screen, and after that all the fragments were mounted together with the image of "flying starships". All this required a lot of work, but the result was no less impressive than what is removed today using computer graphics.
In addition, Lucas used a war chronicle from the Second World War as a model for filming battle scenes. It’s possible to list interesting facts about films from the Star Wars saga for a very long time, since at some point the space epic so captured the consciousness of its creators that they began to come up with solutions that no one had used before.
"Heritage"
After the release of the first episode of the Star Wars saga, the film became truly cult. The lines at the cinemas were longer than ever before. Most US boys wanted to buy a lightsaber, and instead of toys depicting the heroes of the movie saga, they began to give children certificates for their purchase on Christmas. As it turned out, the factory, which acquired the right to release them, did not manage to satisfy the ever-growing demand for such figures.
In addition, the space epic "Star Wars" marked the beginning of the subgenre of the same name in cinema. Its popularity turned out to be so great that the name of the saga was transferred by the US public to the US defense program “SOI - Star Wars”. A new type of fencing also appeared - saberfighting and even the original religious movement “Jedaism”.
Now you know why Star Wars filmed out of order, where it happened and how long it took. It remains only to say that in 2017 and 2019, two more episodes are expected to be released, the director of which, most likely, will be Ryan Johnson.