This Is How A Heat Wave In England Changed ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’
Image Source: Wallpapers.net
From time to time Mark Hamill shares behind-the-scenes facts about productions he has been involved in over the years. In 2019, on National Trivia Day, a Twitter user asked Hamill, “Seeing how it’s ‘national trivia day’, do you have any little-known facts to bestow upon us?” Hamill did share some information regarding the temperature while filming A New Hope.
The original Star Wars movie was filmed in 1976 in England. The temperatures that summer were so extreme that the summer has earned its own Wikipedia page titled “1976 British Isles Heatwave.” During that summer, temperatures hit the mid-90s, which is not common for the region. The heat was accompanied by drought, and ultimately there were sixteen consecutive days above 86 degrees Fahrenheit in July.
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Clearly, the temperatures would not make the full-body pilot suits very comfortable on set, and the lighting made the experience even hotter. In response to the Twitter inquiry, Mark Hamill revealed: “Because of a record heatwave in England when we filmed the original #StarWars, most of the pilots wore only the top-half of their costume, attacking the Death Star wearing shorts. #TrueStory”
This is not the first piece of amusing trivia shared about A New Hope; in the past, fans of Star Wars have learned that creator George Lucas was so sure that the movie would flop that, instead of attending the premiere, he went on a vacation with friend Steven Spielberg, where they ultimately came up with the idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Another example is that in early drafts of the script for the film, R2-D2 could speak English, and had a rather rough vocabulary, and although the English words were removed, many of C-3PO’s reactions were left in.
This information will certainly make A New Hope hit different for fans the next time they watch, especially the Death Star scenes!
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Sources: Slash Film
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