Star Wars hidden details from the original 1977 film

Star Wars hidden details: the sounds

Sound designer Ben Burtt built what Lucas called an organic soundtrack, recording real things instead of using electronic noise.

• Blasters: a hammer striking a tensioned steel cable
• Lightsabers: the hum of a projector motor mixed with interference from a TV
• Chewbacca: a blend of several animal recordings
• Darth Vader's breathing: a scuba regulator

Two men played Darth Vader

Bodybuilder David Prowse wore the suit on set, but Lucas felt his West Country accent did not suit the character. James Earl Jones recorded all of Vader's lines in a single day and went uncredited in the films until 1983. Prowse had earlier turned down the role of Chewbacca.

Kurosawa and the used future

An early treatment borrowed story beats from Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958). Later drafts reduced the similarities.

Lucas also wanted the galaxy to look lived in. Rebel ships appear patched together, while the Empire's are sleek and clean. That worn look, now standard in science fiction, was unusual at the time.

Prowse's casting meant every Vader scene was effectively performed twice, once on set and once in the recording booth, which is why the voice and body can feel slightly apart.

Real places behind the planets

Tatooine was filmed in Tunisia from March 1976, starting at Chott el Djerid. Luke's underground home is the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata. A rare winter rainstorm hit the desert during the shoot.

The rebel base on Yavin 4 was filmed at the Mayan temples of Tikal in Guatemala after Lucas saw them on a travel agency poster.

How the effects were invented

When Fox had closed its own effects department, Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic in 1975 in a warehouse in Van Nuys. John Dykstra's team built a computer-controlled camera system, known as the Dykstraflex, that could repeat the same slow move again and again, making small models look enormous.

The 1997 Special Edition added new scenes and effects, and changed the cantina scene so Greedo shoots at Han first. Fans disliked the change so much it inspired the phrase "Han shot first." John Williams's score, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in March 1977, was named the greatest film score by the American Film Institute in 2005.

Money was tight throughout. Fox approved $5 million in 1975, later raised to $8.25 million, and the production still went about $3 million over because of delays such as the rain in Tunisia. The film's six Oscars covered art direction, costume design, editing, score, sound and visual effects, and John Dykstra's team received a separate Scientific and Engineering Award for their camera system.

The Episode IV: A New Hope subtitle was added for the 1981 re-release to line it up with The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas has said the numbering was intended from the start but left off to avoid confusing audiences.

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