The creation of a saga as big and iconic as Star Wars has led to many tall tales about its production. While there’s a certain romanticism to the making of a series like Star Wars, not every behind-the-scenes story is true, as pointed out in this excellent video by WhatCulture.
The video gathers 10 of the most common myths from Star Wars‘ production, from Carrie Fisher’s infamous “coke nail” to Mark Hamill accidentally crying out his co-star’s name in A New Hope, even right up to Harrison Ford’s injury on the set of The Force Awakens, dispelling the rumours that have come to be taken as Star Wars fact. It’s a pretty interesting insight into some of the strange myths that have built up around the making Star Wars over the years.
If you can’t watch the video above, here’s a quick breakdown of the myths collected:
10) A door on the Millennium Falcon didn’t break Harrison Ford’s leg on the Force Awakens set, it was a garage door.
9) You can’t see Carrie Fisher’s “coke nail” during Return of the Jedi. The actress herself said that while she did do drugs on the set of the films, she used dollar bills and small spoons, like “any other respectable former drug addict”.
8) George Lucas didn’t have all of Star Wars planned out from the get-go. Is anyone really surprised?
7) Mark Hamill never shouted “Carrie!” when Princess Leia runs towards Luke during the ending of A New Hope. It was dialogue dubbed over in ADR.
6) Scenes of Luke and Biggs on Tatooine cut from the film never made it into early theatre showings, although footage was shown in an early behind-the-scenes documentary on TV.
5) The famous rocket-firing Boba Fett action figure never made it into the wild, although a handful of prototypes of the abandoned action feature do exist.
4) Harrison Ford did want Han Solo killed off in the original Star Wars trilogy — however, George Lucas flatly refused. Han’s being frozen in carbonite was never a plan for just in case Ford didn’t return.
3) Empire Strikes Back‘s asteroid field does indeed contain random real-world objects like potatoes and shoes as background elements.
2) The Wampa clawing Luke’s face off wasn’t specifically written to cover up injuries Mark Hamill received after a car crash in 1977. Lucas has always denied this.
1) A Topps trading card allegedly featuring C-3PO’s, err, droid penis was made by an angry artist rebelling against his managers. It’s repeatedly been claimed instead as a trick of the light on a piece of Anthony Daniel’s costume.