Star Wars (film)

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Directed by	George Lucas
Written by	George Lucas
Produced by	Gary Kurtz George Lucas (executive)
Starring	Mark Hamill Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher Peter Cushing Alec Guinness
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Richard Chew Paul Hirsch Marcia Lucas
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	May 25, 1977 (USA) December 27, 1977 (UK)
Running time	121 min. (original) 125 min. (Special Edition)
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as simply Star Wars, is a 1977 science fantasy film written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first film to be released in the Star Wars saga, and the fourth in terms of internal chronology. Among fans, the title is commonly abbreviated as "ANH".^[1]

Nineteen years after the formation of the Galactic Empire, development has been completed on a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, the Death Star. After the Princess Leia, leader of the Rebel Alliance, steals the plans in the hope of finding a weakness, she is captured and forced aboard the Death Star. Luke Skywalker meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived in seclusion for years on the desert planet of Tatooine. When Luke's home is destroyed, Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as they travel on a daring mission to rescue the Princess from the clutches of the evil Empire.

Produced with a budget of $11 million, the film was released on May 25, 1977, and went on to become one of the most successful films of all time, earning $798 million worldwide during its original theatrical release. It was re-released several times, sometimes with significant changes in its later releases. Most notable were the 1997 Special Edition theatrical re-release and the 2004 DVD version, which were modified with CGI effects and re-done scenes.

During post-production on his previous film American Graffiti, George Lucas began to discuss the concept of a "space opera" with producer Gary Kurtz.^[2] In May of 1973, Lucas had prepared a 14-page story treatment for distribution among film studios. The concept was not well received. Because of the film's space setting, it was viewed as a science fiction film, which drew relatively low numbers at the box office. Science fiction films of the 60s and 70s were generally stories of apocalyptic views of death and destruction, rather than uplifting coming of age stories. Lucas would later reject title of "science fiction" proposing a better title being "space fantasy" or "science fantasy". ^[2] Lucas brought the story to Universal Studios and United Artists, both rejected the project outright. Lucas disliked the studio system, as his previous two films American Graffiti and THX 1138 were both reedited without his consent. Still, aware that there was no way around it, he pursued Alan Ladd, Jr., the new head of 20th Century Fox at the time. While he was unable to grasp the technical side of the project, Ladd Jr. believed that Lucas was talented. Lucas would later state that Ladd Jr. "invested in me, he did not invest in the movie."^[2]

Lucas began writing the screenplay, finishing a rough draft in May 1974. Over the course of the year, the characters had undergone signifigant changes. At one point, Luke Skywalker was to have been a 60-year-old General and Han Solo a green-skinned alien with gills. The Force was developed originally as the Kyber crystal, a "galactic holy grail".^[2] Eventually the script became very large, around 200 pages. Having spent a full year writing the story, Lucas refused to condense it, and instead decided to expand the first third of the screenplay into one film and, later, to expand the remaining two thirds into two additional films, effectively creating the Star Wars trilogy.^[2] He enlisted the help of conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie, to create paintings of a number of scenes during the screenwriting process. When Lucas turned in his screenplay to the studio, he also turned over a number of McQuarrie's paintings. 20th Century Fox soon approved a budget of $8,250,000. After American Graffiti debuted as the third highest grossing film of the year, Lucas received rave reviews. Having originally made a preliminary deal with Alan Ladd, Jr., before American Graffiti was released, Lucas was able to secure higher benefits for "Star Wars." However, instead of choosing better immediate financial rewards, he requested the sequel rights to the film to protect the unwritten segments of the Star Wars saga and a large portion of the merchandising profits.^[2]

In 1975, after finding that the 20th Century Fox's visual effects department had been disbanded, Lucas founded the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic or as it was later known "ILM". The company began its work on Star Wars in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California. A relatively old concept known as "motion control" was implemented for the majority of the visual effects. The concept uses the ability to duplicate camera motion a number of times to allow multiple elements in layers of film. At the same time, multiple model spaceships were constructed based on drawings by Joe Johnston, paintings by Ralph McQuarrie, and general input from George Lucas. Abandoning the conventions of science fiction designs being sleek and flawless, he opted instead to create a "used universe" in which all devices, ships and buildings could be seen as having been logically built.^[2]

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Shooting began on March 22, 1976 in the North African Tunisian desert for shooting of the scenes on the planet Tatooine. A large number of problems during the film's production began. One day into filming in Tunisia, the country had its first major rainstorm in fifty years. The first week of filming featured a number of weather problems, malfunctioning props, electronic breakdowns and Lucas falling behind schedule. One day before Anthony Daniels was to begin shooting, he was dressed in the C-3PO costume for the first time. Within two steps in the suit, the left leg shattered down into the plastic of the left foot and began to stab Daniels in the foot. After Tunisia, the production was lucky enough to move into a more controlled environment inside Elstree Studios, outside of London, home to sound stages that were among the largest in the world. However, the production was still not safe from signifigant problems, such as an uncaring British crew that had little interest in the film.^[2] Much of the crew believed the film to be a "children's film," and rarely took their work seriously. At times the cast also found the work unintentially humorous. Kenny Baker later confessed that he thought the film would be a failure. Even Harrison Ford found the film "weird," as there was a Princess with buns for hair and what he called a "giant in a monkey suit" named Chewbacca. Carrie Fisher found the dialogue difficult, saying "You can type this stuff, but you can't say it." Lucas clashed on set with the Director of Photography Gilbert Taylor whom Gary Kurtz refered to as "old-school" and "crotchety". Having spent the majority of his filmmaking career working on independent films, Lucas was accustomed to creating most of the elements of the film himself. Lucas's camera suggestions were cut-down by an offended Taylor who felt that Lucas was over-stepping his boundaries by giving specific instructions. Lucas eventually became frustrated that the costumes, sets and other elements were not living up to his original vision of "Star Wars." Lucas rarely spoke to the actors, who felt that he expected too much of them while they received little or no direction whatsoever. He would most often use two specific directions to his actors: "faster" and "more intense." At one point, when Lucas temporarily lost his voice, the crew attempted to acquire a board for him with just these three words. Meanwhile, Alan Ladd, Jr. continued to offer Lucas some of the only support from the studio. Ladd, Jr. was often scrutinized in board meetings because of the rising budget and drafts of the screenplay that was difficult to grasp. After the film went two weeks over schedule, Ladd, Jr. called Lucas saying that he had to finish production within the next week or else he would be forced shut the production down. The film split into three units with Lucas directing one, Kurtz directing another, and production supervisor Robert Watts the third. The remaining scenes were filmed at break-neck speed in order to meet the studio's deadline.^[2]

Star Wars was originally slated for release in Christmas 1976, however because of massive delays, the film was pushed back to Summer 1977. Already anxious about meeting his deadline, Lucas was shocked when his first cut of the film was complete disaster. After attempting to persuade the original editor to cut the film his way, Lucas was forced to fire the editor and instead hire editors Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew to recut the film, as well allowing his then wife Marcia Lucas aid editing process while she was cutting New York, New York with Lucas' friend Martin Scorsese. Richard Chew found the film to lack an energetic pace, having been cut in a by-the-book manner, of playing scenes out in master shots then flowing into close-up coverage. He also found the pace of the scenes to be dictated by the actors, rather than the cuts dictate the pace. The pair, Hirsch and Chew, would "leap-frog" by one grabbing reel one and the other grabbing reel two, whoever would finish their reel first would grab reel three. Guerilla techniques were often used, such as the editors using shots up until the very last frame. When the Tusken Raider (played by stuntman Peter Diamond) attacks Luke, the shot was filmed with the character raising his weapon over his head only once. The editors the reel back and forth, allowing the Raider to raise his weapon several times.^[2]

Meanwhile, ILM was in chaos from trying to achieve special effects that had never been attempted before. The company had spent half of its budget on four shots that Lucas refused to accept. In the course of the production, the cast would often attempt to make Lucas laugh or smile as he often appeared depressed. Post-production was not proving to be much less anxiety ridden, with evergrowing pressure from 20th Century Fox. Lucas began to visit ILM as much as possible. Some hyptothesized that the workers at ILM lacked disicipline and by Lucas stepping in they were forced reach their quota.^[2] With hundreds of shots that had been left uncompleted, ILM would have to do a year's work in half the time. To provide inspiration for ILM, Lucas edited together aerial dogfights from old war films; an example of early animatics which were later created with CGI effects in the production of the prequel films. The dogfights provided a pacing that the script, storyboards, and Lucas could not describe.^[2]

While the chaos of production and post-production was taking place, sound designer Ben Burtt had spent his year creating a library of sounds, which Lucas refered to as a "organic soundtrack". For Chewbacca's growls, Burtt recorded various sounds made by dogs, bears, lions, tigers, and walruses, editing them together to create phrases and sentences. The voice of R2-D2 was said to be the most difficult sound to develop. Lucas and Burtt eventually found themselves making their own "beeps and boops". Burtt ran "beeps and boops" of his own voice with an electronic synthesizer. Darth Vader's breathing was achieved by placing a miniature microphone into the regulator of a scuba tank, then by Burtt breathing through the mask itself. George Lucas never intended to use the voice of David Prowse, who portrayed Darth Vader in costume, because of Prowse's West Country British accent. He originally wanted Orson Welles to provide Darth Vader's voice. However, he felt that Welles' voice would be too recognizable, so he cast James Earl Jones, who was not as well known. Lucas also did not intend on using Anthony Daniels voice for C-3PO. It had been suggested that C-3PO should sound like a used-car salesman, whereas Daniels's voice evoked an anxious, over-the-top British butler. Thirty well-established voice actors were brought in to read for the voice of the droid, such as Stan Freberg. According to Daniels, one of the major voice actors was impressed by his voice and recommended to Lucas that it be left in.^[2]

With the sound, special effects, and editing back on track, the film began to take shape. However, when Lucas screened an early cut of the film for a number of his friends, the reaction was disappointing. Among them were Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, who claimed to have been the only person in the audience to have enjoyed the film,^[2] believed the lack of an enthusastic response was do to the lack finished special effects. Lucas later said the group was honest and seemed bemused by the film. In contrast, the Alan Ladd, Jr. and the rest of 20th Century Fox loved the film, even causing one of the executives to become so emotional that he began to cry. Lucas found the experience shocking and rewarding, having never gained any approval from studio executives before.^[2]

Because of serious delays throughout production and post-production, the budget ballooned from $8,000,000 to $11,000,000. Still the film was the least expensive of the entire saga. At one point the project became so stressful that Lucas began to have sharp chest pains. Fearing a heart attack, the director checked himself into a nearby hospital and was diagnosed with hypertension and exhaustion and was warned to reduce his stress level.^[2]

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The opening crawl reveals that the galaxy is in a state of civil war. The Rebel Alliance has stolen secret plans to the Galactic Empire's secret weapon, the Death Star, an extremely powerful space station capable of annihilating entire planets. In a series of transmissions, the plans were beamed to the rebel blockade runner Tantive IV, a ship in the service of Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Stormtroopers take control of the ship, and Darth Vader arrives to assess the damage. While hiding on the ship, Leia is taken in as a prisoner. However, before being transferred to Vader's Star Destroyer, Princess Leia is able to place the plans onto a small droid named R2-D2 and record a holographic message. The droids R2-D2 and C-3PO use an escape pod which brings them to the planet Tatooine.

On Tatooine, the droids are captured by Jawas while wandering the desert. They come into the possession of Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Luke accidentally triggers part of the holographic message, causing him to suspect that the R2-D2 may have been stolen, and that it really belongs to an "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Returning to his garage before nightfall, Luke discovers that R2-D2 has escaped. After finding him, Luke and C-3PO are attacked by Sandpeople, but rescued by the arrival of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke and the droids are brought to Obi-Wan's hut, where Obi-Wan tells of his days as a Jedi Knight and reveals to Luke that his father was a Jedi as well. When Luke asks how his father died, Obi-Wan replies that he was "betrayed and murdered" by Darth Vader. He then instructs on a mysterious energy field called the Force. Finally, Obi-Wan and Luke see the holographic message from Princess Leia, who asks for Obi-Wan's assistance to take the droid and the plans to the planet Alderaan. Obi-Wan invites Luke to come with him to Alderaan, but Luke refuses, citing his responsibilities at home. After returning home, Luke discovers his family murdered and his home destroyed by the Imperials looking for the droids. He returns to Obi-Wan and decides to go to Alderaan and become a Jedi. The group travel to Mos Eisley Spaceport, where they encounter a smuggler named Han Solo who agrees to transport them on his ship, the Millennium Falcon. As the old Jedi and his companions make their way to the ship, they are attacked by Stormtroopers. They hastily board the Millennium Falcon and make a speedy launch. After leaving the planet's surface and dodging attacks, the ship and its crew escape.

On the Death Star, Leia remains imprisoned and has resisted interrogation. However, when threatened with the destruction of her home planet of Alderaan, she discloses that the Rebel Base is on Dantooine. Grand Moff Tarkin destroys Alderaan anyway, as a display of the Death Star's power. En route to Alderaan, Obi-Wan instructs Luke in the ways of the Force. When they arrive at where Alderaan should be, the crew discovers only a hail of debris and a moon-sized space station - the Death Star. A tractor beam takes hold of the Falcon and pulls it into the Death Star. Inside, Obi-Wan attempts to disable the tractor beam holding them there. The rest of the group learns that Leia is being held in a nearby cell awaiting execution. They make their way through the station and rescue the Princess. After switching off the tractor beam, Kenobi encounters Vader, and a lightsaber duel ensues. The duel distracts the guards long enough to allow Luke and his companions to board the Falcon. Once he sees that they are safely near the ship, Obi-Wan allows himself to be struck down by Vader. Luke screams in horror, gaining the attention of the Stormtroopers, who attack Luke and his companions.

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The group escapes; unknown to them, the Empire allowed the escape in order to track their ship to the Rebel Base. They finally reach the Rebel hideout, on Yavin IV where they pass the plans on to the Rebel leadership. The Rebels retrieve the Death Star plans from R2-D2 and make preparations to assault it. The tactic involves flying along a canyon-sized groove in the station's surface, then firing a torpedo down a narrow ventilation shaft. Luke and a group of Rebel fighters begin their assault on the approaching Death Star. Several squadrons of Rebel ships are destroyed by Imperial fighters and Luke's "Red" group begin their run down the canyon towards the ventilation port. As Luke makes his run down the canyon, he hears the voice of Kenobi, instructing him to use the Force. Vader closes in on Luke. Just as he is about to deliver a fatal blow on Luke's X-Wing, Han Solo and Chewbacca fly in, shooting and destroying one of Vader's wingmen. Panicked, the second wingman hits Vader's and sends it flying out of control into deep space. Luke, hearing Obi-Wan's voice, turns off his targeting computer of the Rebel fighter, and successfully launches torpedoes down the shaft, destroying the Death Star and scoring a huge victory for the Rebellion against the Empire. In a civil ceremony at the Massassi Temple rebel base on Yavin IV, Luke and Han are awarded medals by Leia for their valor in the battle.

Template:Infobox movie certificates 20th Century Fox gave little support for marketing beyond licensing T-shirts and posters. Charles Lippincott was hired by Lucasfilm Ltd. as marketing director for Star Wars. Being a science fiction fan himself, Lippincott had many connections to the science fiction community, a group he felt was the key target audience to start with. Lippincott also secured a comic deal with Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, to create a comic book adaptation. He also was able to secure a deal with Del Rey Books to publish a novelization of Lucas' screenplay. Wary that Star Wars would be beaten out by other summer films, such as Smokey and the Bandit, 20th Century Fox moved the release date to Wednesday before Memorial Day: May 25, 1977. However, few theaters ordered the film to be shown. To counter this problem, 20th Century Fox demanded that theaters order Star Wars if they were to order an eagerly anticipated film based off of a best-selling novel titled The Other Side of Midnight.^[2]

When the film was released it became an instant sensation. Within three weeks of the film's release, 20th Century Fox's stock price doubled to a record high. At the time, the greatest profit 20th Century Fox had made in one year was $37,000,000. In 1977, because of Star Wars, 20th Century Fox made a profit of $79,000,000. Because the film's universe was not imbedded with any paticular earthly culture or nationality, the film as successful around the globe. However, Alan Ladd, Jr. became anxious when he attended the premiere in Japan. After the screening of the film, the audience sat in total silence, Ladd, Jr. feared the worst and felt the film would be a flop. He was later told that silence was the greatest honor that a Japanese audience could bestow a film. By the time a ceremony was held for C-3PO, R2-D2 and Darth Vader to be allowed their footprints in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre forecourt, thousands showed up to get a glimpse of the characters.^[2] Among the most enthusastic fans were children, who were eager for whatever merchandise they could find. However, little Star Wars merchandise was available in the first few months after its premiere. Lippincott had attempted to gain as many licensing campaigns as possible. However, prior to Star Wars there had been few successful campaigns. Only one company signed to Lippincotts many offers: Kenner Toys. Kenner did not believe the film would be successful, but was interested in creating a line of space toys. When the film became a hit, Kenner taken completely by surprise. Because of the sudden need for hundreds of toys, Kenner resorted to selling boxed vouchers in their infamous "empty box" Christmas campaign, that could be redeemed for the toys in March of 1978.^[2] At the height of the film's immense popularity, Smith-Hemion productions approached Lucas in 1978 with the idea of doing a Star Wars-themed holiday special. The end result, simply titled The Star Wars Holiday Special is universally looked upon as a disaster.^[3]

When originally released in 1977, the film was released simply as Star Wars, both on promotional material and during the opening crawl of the film itself. For this reason, this film, more often than its sequels, is often referred to as Star Wars, instead of by the Episode IV number or the subtitle A New Hope. In 1980, the sequel, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was released with the episode number and subtitle in the opening crawl. In a re-released version a year later, Episode IV: A New Hope was added above the original opening crawl. The film became the fourth chronologically and first released in the series of six to date. While Lucas claims that only six films were ever planned, representatives of Lucasfilm mentioned in early interviews plans for nine or twelve possible films. The film was re-released theatrically a total of 5 times including the 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1997 releases.

Over the course of the following two decades after the film's release, Lucasfilm Ltd. and ILM pushed to revolutionize filmmaking. After ILM used digitally created computer generated effects for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Lucas concluded that digital technology had caught up to his original vision for Star Wars.^[2]

A New Hope was digitally remastered along with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as apart of the 1997 re-releases under the campaign title The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition, or SE, for the 20th anniversary of the original film's release. The Special Edition versions contained shots and scenes not capable of being achieved in the original release, most notably a conversation between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt, as well as numerous other small changes and visual additions. Some of the added scenes were intended for the original version of the movie, but were not feasible without a bigger budget, more time for shooting, and newer advances in special effects technology.^[2] Further changes were made in 2004 for the film's debut on the DVD format. With a few exceptions, most of these were minor or cosmetic in nature. These changes to the film's have been met with some backlash from the fans, who believe Lucas is tampering with the film with negative results.^[4] Notably a change of allowing Greedo to shoot first when confronting Han Solo has been met considerable backlash, inspiring a number of T-shirts brandishing the phrase "Han Shot First".^[5]

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope debuted in 37 theaters and broke 36 house records, effectively becoming the one of the first blockbuster films. It still remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. Some of the cast and crew would note seeing lines stretching around theaters as they would drive by. Technical crew members like model makers were asked for autographs. Cast members became instant household names.^[2]

It's original total U.S. gross came to $307,263,857 and earned $6,806,951 it's first weekend in wide release. The film eventually becoming the highest grossing film of 1977 and for the time, the highest grossing film of all time until it's record was overthrown by Titanic in 1997. It was the first film to reach the $300 million mark and earned $797,900,000 worldwide.^[6]

Star Wars won many awards at the 1978 Academy Awards, including Best Art Direction-Set Decoration which went to John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Roger Christian. Best Costume Design was awarded to John Mollo. Best Film Editing went to Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew. John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack all received awards for Best Effects, Visual Effects. John Williams was awarded his third Oscar for Best Music, Original Score. With Best Sound going to Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball. And a Special Achievement for sound effects went to Ben Burtt. Additional nominations included Alec Guinness for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, George Lucas for Best Screenplay and Best Director and Gary Kurtz was nominated for his producing duties in Best Picture.^[7] The film was nominated for four Golden Globe awards: Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness), and Best Score. It only won the award for Best Score.^[7] It received six BAFTA nominations: Best Film, Best Editing, Best Costume, Best Production/Art Design, Best Sound, and Best Score. The film won in the last two categories.^[7] John Williams' soundtrack album won the Grammy award for Best Album of an original score for a motion picture or television program.^[7] The film was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.^[7] In 1997, the MTV Movie Awards awarded Chewbacca (played by Peter Mayhew) the lifetime achievement award for his work in the Star Wars trilogy.^[7]

In 1989, the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress selected this film for inclusion as a "culturally, historically, or esthetically important" film.^[8] In 2006, George Lucas' original screenplay was selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 68th greatest screenplay of all time.^[9] The American Film Institute (or AFI) listed it 15th on a list of the top 100 films of the 20th century;^[10] in the UK, a poll created by Channel Four named A New Hope (together with its successor, The Empire Strikes Back) the greatest film of all time.^[11] In addition, the AFI has named Star Wars or various elements of the film to several of its "top 100 lists" of American cinema, compiled as a part of the Institute's 100th anniversary celebration. These include the twenty-seventh most thrilling American film of all-time,^[12] and the thirty-ninth most inspirational American film of all-time.^[13] Darth Vader was ranked as the third greatest film villain of all time, and Han Solo as the fourteenth greatest American film hero of all time, with Obi-Wan Kenobi thirty-seventh on the same list.^[14] The oft repeated line "May the Force be with you" was ranked as the 8th greatest quote in American film history.^[15] John Williams' score was ranked as the greatest American film score of all time.^[16]

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• Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Skywalker is a young man who lives with his aunt and uncle on a remote planet who dreams of something greater than his current position in life.

• Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Solo is a self-centered smuggler who Obi-Wan and Luke meet in a cantina and later travel with. Solo, who owns the ship known as the Millennium Falcon, is good friends with Chewbacca, who is the co-pilot of the ship.

• Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa. Organa is a member of the Imperial Senate and a primary member of the Rebel Alliance. After discovering the Death Star plans, she hopes to find its weakness.

• Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. Kenobi is an aging man who was once a Jedi Knight who served as a general in the Clone Wars. Kenobi serves as a mentor to Luke in the ways of the Force.

• David Prowse as Darth Vader. Vader is a prominent figure in the Galactic Empire who was once the apprentice of Obi-Wan, but turned to the Dark Side of the Force. He is an evil individual who hopes to destroy the Rebel Alliance. James Earl Jones provided the voice.

• Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. C-3PO is an interpreter droid who falls into the hands of Luke Skywalker. He is friends with fellow droid, R2-D2.

• Kenny Baker as R2-D2. R2-D2 is a mechanic droid who also falls into the hands of Luke. He is carrying a secret message for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

• Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca. Chewbacca is the Wookiee co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon and close friend with Han Solo.

• Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin is Vader's superior in the Galactic Empire. He leads the search for the Rebel Base, in hopes of destroying it.

• Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles. Wedge is a starfighter pilot who fights alongside Luke in the Battle of Yavin. In the ending credits, Lawson's first name is misspelled "Dennis."

Lucas shared a joint casting session with long-time friend Brian De Palma who was casting his own film Carrie, as a result Carrie Fisher and Sissy Spacek auditioned for both films in each other's respective roles. Lucas favored casting young actors without long-time experience. While reading for Luke Skywalker (then known as "Luke Starkiller"), Mark Hamill found the dialogue to beat extremely odd because of its universe-imbedded concepts. He chose to simply read it sincerly and was cast in favor of William Katt who was subsequently cast in Carrie.^[2] Lucas initially rejected the idea of using Harrison Ford as he had previously worked with him on American Graffiti, he instead asked Ford to assist in the auditions by reading lines with the other actors, as well as explaining the concepts and history behind the scenes that they were reading. Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and instead cast him over Kurt Russell and Perry King. Virtually every young actress in Hollywood auditioned for the role of Princess Leia, including Terri Nunn, Jodie Foster and Cindy Williams. Carrie Fisher was cast was the condition that she lose 10 pounds of weight for the role. Aware of the studio's disagreement over Lucas' refusal to cast big-name stars, he signed veteran stage and screen actor Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi.^[2]

Additional casting took place in London, England, where Peter Mayhew was cast as Chewbacca after Mayhew stood up to greet Lucas. Lucas immediately turned to Gary Kurtz, and requested Mayhew to be cast. Anthony Daniels was cast as C-3PO, who auditioned after seeing a Ralph McQuarrie drawing of the character. Struck by the vulnerabliity in the robot's face, he instantly wanted to help animate the character.^[2]

The film drew inspiration from a number of sources. This was conscious and has been acknowledged by George Lucas in interviews, who looked for inspiration in works such as Beowulf and King Arthur for the origins of myth and world religions.^[2] George Lucas stated numerous times that his original concept of the project that became Star Wars was to remake the 1930s Flash Gordon film serials. Because the license wasn't available, Lucas moved on to other concepts such as Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress and Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces.^[17] The scene where Princess Leia gives Han and Luke medals is very reminiscent of a long scene in Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 film Triumph of the Will. Both scenes have large and enthusiastic crowds seated in a shallow amphitheatre bounded by columns, with a low dais where the leader stands.^[18]

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Star Wars parallels Flash Gordon, including the conflict between Rebels and Imperial Forces, the "soft wipes" between scenes, and the famous "opening crawl" that begins each film. The concept borrowed from Flash Gordon entitles that inside of a fairytale technology plays the traditional role of magic. This concept was originally developed by H.G. Wells who arguably invented the "science fiction" genre with his first novel, The Time Machine. Wells believed the Industrial Revolution had quietly destroyed the idea that fairytale magic might be real. Thus, he found that plausibility was required to allow myth to work properly, using the Industrial Era to substitute the original myths: time machines instead of magic carpets, Martians as dragons and scientists as wizards. Wells, however, called his new genre "scientific fantasia".^[19]

1958 Kurosawa film The Hidden Fortress was a strong influence, many elements are included such as the two bickering peasants (who evolved into C-3PO and R2-D2), elements of the Obi-Wan/Luke relationship and the Darth Vader-like evil general wears a kamon, and a Japanese family crest seen in the film is similar to the Imperial Crest. Star Wars borrows a heavily from another Kurosawa film, Yojimbo. Including the cantina scene where in both films, several men threaten the hero, bragging how wanted they are by authorities. The situation ends with an arm being cut off by a blade. Mifune is offered "Twenty-five ryo now, twenty-five when you complete the mission." whereas Han Solo is offered "Two thousand now, plus fifteen when we reach Aldreaan." Lucas' affection for Kurosawa may have influenced his decision to visit Japan sometime in the early 1970s, where he would borrow the name "Jedi" from "Jidai Geki". Translated to english it reads "period dramas", or films about samurai.^[20]

Lucas also drew inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, such as the similarities between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Gandalf as well as Darth Vader and the Witch-King. Obi-Wan and Luke's lightsabers glow blue, whereas Vader's glows red in the spirit of Bilbo's and Gandalf's swords glowing blue and the Balrog's magic sword flaming red. Luke watches the duel of Obi-Wan and Vader from across a chasm as Frodo witnessed the duel between Gandalf and the Balrog; both feature there respective blue and red lightsabers/swords. Obi-Wan retrieves Luke's lightsaber from an old wooden box, Bilbo does the same for Frodo's magic sword.^[21]

The planet Tatooine is similar to Arrakis from Frank Herbert's book Dune, although desert worlds were not original to Herbert. In general, the Star Wars movies have followed the convention, common in space opera. In addition, the planet Arrakis is the only known source of a hallucinatory drug called the Spice Melange. In A New Hope, Han Solo is a spice smuggler who has been throug the spice mines of Kessel. The original treatment for the film submitted by Lucas dealt heavily with the transport of spice, though the nature of the material remained unexplored. Furthermore, in the conversation at Obi-Wan Kenobi's home between Obi-Wan and Luke, Luke expresses a belief that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. Other similarities include Princess Leia and Princess Alia (pronounced a-leia), Jedi Mind Tricks and "The Voice" an ability of Bene Gesserit which controls the actions of others. In passing, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are "Moisture Farmers". In Dune, Dew Collectors are used by Freman to "provide a small but reliable source of water."^[22]

The climactic scene in which the Death Star is assaulted was modeled after the 1950s movie The Dam Busters, in which RAF Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim "bouncing bombs" at their manmade dams in a bid to cripple the heavy industry of the Ruhr. Some of the dialogue in The Dam Busters is repeated in the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope climax and in fact Gilbert Taylor also filmed the Special Effects sequences in The Dam Busters.^[23] In addition, the climax was also partially inspired by the climax of the film 633 Squadron directed by Walter Grauman.^[24]

The opening shot of A New Hope, which shows an intricately detailed spaceship filling the screen overhead, is a nod to the scene introducing the interplanetary spacecraft Discovery One in Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The earlier big-budget science fiction film inspired the look of A New Hope in many other ways, including the use of EVA pods, hexagonal corridors and primitive computer graphics. Also, the orbiting space station in 2001 has a docking bay eerily reminiscent of the one on the Death Star.^[25]

On the recommendation of his friend Steven Spielberg, Lucas hired composer John Williams who had recently worked with Spielberg on the film Jaws for which he won an Academy Award. Lucas felt that what was seen in the film would represent worlds that had not been seen, but musical soundtrack would give the audience an emotional familiarity. In March 1977, Williams conducted the Star Wars musical soundtrack with the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded over 12 days.^[2]

For A New Hope, Lucas wanted a grand musical sound for Star Wars, with leitmotifs where distinction was necessary. He therefore assembled a number of his favorite orchestral pieces for the soundtrack, until he was convinced by John Williams that should the entire score be written by the composer it would allow the music to feel more unified yet unique. However, a few of Williams pieces were influenced by the tracks given to him by Lucas. Such as the "Main Title Theme" being inspired by the theme from the 1942 film King's Row, scored by Eric Wolfgang Korngold. The track "Dune Sea of Tatooine" drew from the soundtrack to the Vittorio de Sica directed Bicycle Thieves, scored by Alessandro Cicognini.^[17]

The novelization of the film was published in December 1976, six months before the film was released. The credited author was George Lucas himself, but the book was later revealed to have been ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, who went on to write the first Expanded Universe novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The book was first published under the title Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker but later editions were titled simply Star Wars and, later, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope to reflect the retitling of the film. Certain scenes deleted from the film (and later restored or archived in DVD bonus features) were present in the novel, such as Luke at Tosche Station with Biggs and the encounter between Han and Jabba in Docking Bay 94. Also, some scenes from the movie were included in a photo insert added to later printings which never made the original film (such as a close-up of a stormtrooper riding on a Dewback).

Various smaller details were also changed, such as the callsigns used by the Rebels in the Death Star assault, e.g. Luke's callsign is Blue Five as opposed to Red Five in the film. Charles Lippincott secured the deal with Del Rey Books to publish the novelization in November of 1976, by February 1977 half a million copies had been sold.^[2]

A radio drama adaptation of the film was written by Brian Daley, directed by John Madden, produced for and broadcast on the National Public Radio in 1981. It was adapted with the full cooperation of George Lucas who donated the rights to NPR. In terms of Star Wars canon, it is given the highest rated section, G-canon.^[26]

Music composed by John Williams was carried over, as was sound design by Ben Burtt. The radio drama featured a number of scenes deleted from the film, including scenes of Luke Skywalker observing the space battle above the planet of Tatooine through binoculars, a skyhopper race, and Darth Vader interrogatting Princess Leia. Only two of the film's cast members returned for the radio play, Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels as Luke Skywalker and C-3PO, respectively.

A New Hope was released on DVD in September 2004 in a box set with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi along with a bonus disc of supplemental material. It was digitally restored and remastered, with more changes made by George Lucas (see List of changes in Star Wars re-releases).

The DVD features a commentary track from George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The bonus disc contains the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy and the featurettes: The Legendary Creatures of Star Wars, The Birth of the Lightsaber, The Legacy of Star Wars. Much of the Star Wars media is included, such as the teaser and theatrical trailers, TV spots, and still galleries. An exclusive preview of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, a playable Xbox demo of the new Lucasarts game Star Wars Battlefront, and a "Making Of" documentary on the Episode III videogame are featured.

The set was reissued in December 2005 as part of a three-disc "limited edition" boxed set that did not feature the bonus disc. The entire trilogy will be re-released on separate 2-disc Limited Edition DVD sets in September 2006, this time with the original, unaltered versions of the films as bonus material.

• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope at StarWars.com
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope at IMDb
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope at Rotten Tomatoes
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope at MovieMistakes.com
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