What is it? [R2-D2 BEEPING]
It's your father's lightsaber.
This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight, not as clumsy or random
as a blaster.
[LIGHTSABER BUZZES]
An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What's up, everyone.
This is "Disney+ Deets," where we break down everything
you need to know about your favorite
Disney+ movies and series.
I'm Kenneth.
MARCELLUS KIDD: And I'm Marcellus.
And not to toot our own horns, but we're pretty
much the biggest Disney+ fans out there.
No, let's do it!
Toot, toot!
Beep, beep!
That's right!
Let's get into it.
KENNETH BROWN: A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away, I saw "Star Wars:
A New Hope" for the first time, and my mind was 100% blown.
MARCELLUS KIDD: This movie changed the game forever.
I can't even imagine a world without "Star Wars"!
I quote it literally all the time.
KENNETH BROWN: Like when you tell me,
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
MARCELLUS KIDD: Exactly.
KENNETH BROWN: "Star Wars" is a huge part of the culture,
and it all started with "A New Hope."
Writer/director George Lucas had the idea
for "Star Wars," even before he made his first feature
film, 1971's "THX 1138."
He always loved "Flash Gordon," a space
opera comic strip about a heroic young adventurer.
Lucas was also impressed by Akira Kurosawa's
classic samurai movies.
MARCELLUS KIDD: And what do you get
when you combine interplanetary adventures with samurai moves?
Jedi Knights.
By 1973, Lucas had handwritten a 10-page
treatment for "Star Wars," which he
called an epic space fantasy.
KENNETH BROWN: To sell his idea, Lucas needed to show people
how the movie would look.
So he added NASA photos of satellites and spaceships
to his treatment as well as hand-drawn illustrations
of a goggle-based alien and a group of warriors
fighting a furry creature!
Early drafts of the script confused
Lucas's filmmaker friends.
Screenwriter Willard Huyck thought
nobody would understand the "Star Wars" universe just
from the screenplay.
Huyck didn't get it until Lucas personally explained his ideas
and acted out some of the scenes!
MARCELLUS KIDD: I would have loved to see that.
[LAUGHTER]
My favorite fact about the movies'
early days was the characters' original names.
At first, Luke was Captain Starkiller.
Princess Leia Organa was Leia Aquilae.
And Obi-Wan Kenobi was Kane Highsinger.
KENNETH BROWN: Uh, yeah.
I'm glad they went ahead and changed those.
"Help me, Kane Highsinger!
You're my only hope."
It just isn't the same!
Lucas went into the casting process
with a strong idea of how his characters should look and act.
Mark Hamill landed the role of Luke, the unlikely hero who
came from humble beginnings.
Harrison Ford was cast as Han Solo, a cowboy--
but instead of the fastest horse in town,
he has the Millennium Falcon, the ship that made the Kessel
run in less than 12 parsecs!
MARCELLUS KIDD: For the princess,
Lucas wanted viewers to see a strong, independent leader
fighting for her people, as opposed
to some fragile fairy tale kind of princess.
And he found that in Carrie Fisher.
KENNETH BROWN: Rounding out the cast
was Alec Guinness as Ben Kenobi, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca,
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Kenny Baker as R2-D2.
MARCELLUS KIDD: And one of the most iconic villains
of all time, Darth Vader!
He was played by two people.
David Prowse physically portrays him,
but that menacing voice that terrifies us all
is none other than James Earl Jones,
who recorded all of his lines in one 2 and 1/2-hour session.
KENNETH BROWN: So Darth Vader and Mufasa
in Disney's "The Lion King" have the same voice.
Talk about having range as an actor!
Jones played two of the most iconic dads
in cinematic history.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Wait, are you telling me that Darth
Vader is Luke's father?
KENNETH BROWN: Marcellus! MARCELLUS KIDD: I'm joking!
[LAUGHTER]
I just like the suspense.
Production Illustrator Ralph McQuarrie built out the look
and feel of the movie with 21 concept art paintings
and hundreds of sketches.
Planets, vehicles, animals, robots--
basically everything about how "Star Wars" looks
goes back to him.
KENNETH BROWN: Thank you, Ralph McQuarrie
for giving us banthas.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Seriously?
The whole "Star Wars" universe at your fingertips?
And you shout out to the hairiest beasts on Tatooine?
KENNETH BROWN: Hey!
They provide blue milk.
They're adorable and useful.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Speaking of Tatooine,
desert scenes were shot on location
in the North African republic of Tunisia
and in Death Valley, California.
KENNETH BROWN: Look at how close C-3PO was walking.
He was walking like my auntie. MARCELLUS KIDD: Yes!
[LAUGHTER]
They just got somewhere to be, but they're
going to take their time.
KENNETH BROWN: Oh!
Look at Grand Moff Tarkin!
He is one heartless man and one of my favorite "Star Wars"
villains, played by Peter Cushing.
Would you fear him less if you knew
that he was wearing house slippers in the scenes
that you don't see his feet?
The boots he got for wardrobe were too small.
so he changed into comfy shoes whenever he could.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Listen, Kenneth, I would do the same thing.
[LAUGHTER]
And what about this death-defying swing?
They did it in a single take and were actually only swinging
and a few feet above a soundstage floor.
Fisher was nervous about the scene,
but not because of a fear of heights.
She was afraid her hair would fall off.
KENNETH BROWN: [LAUGHS] Hold that hair, girl!
Let's talk about my favorite sidekick.
On set, R2-D2 was a real working robot.
Whenever he rolled around on three legs,
that was a radio-controlled prop.
But when R2 was on screen with only two legs,
believe it or not, actor Kenny Baker
was actually inside the droid!
MARCELLUS KIDD: Wow.
And we can't talk about a galaxy far,
far away without mentioning the making of the iconic opening
crawl itself.
The studio pushed Lucas to have a narrator read the opening
text out loud, but he refused.
It wasn't a part of his vision.
KENNETH BROWN: Lucas made "Star Wars:
A New Hope" with none of the advanced digital tools
filmmakers have today.
What he did have was a vision of the future of movies.
He hoped that someday directors would
be able to create anything they could imagine
just like writers and painters.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Lucas didn't direct again for 21 years
after this movie.
Instead, he dedicated his life to building
digital tools for filmmaking.
He ultimately helped to create digital editing,
new sound techniques, and digital cameras.
KENNETH BROWN: And that's our show for today.
In making this episode, we found "The Making of Star Wars:
The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film" by JW Rinzler
especially helpful.
OK, I'm not going to lie, but when I was on my bike,
I just knew I was an X-wing.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Oh, Ken!
KENNETH BROWN: I'm just going to say that right now.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Tell me about it!
KENNETH BROWN: I rode all over my neighborhood,
and I was in a galaxy far, far away.
You couldn't tell me nothing even though I
was right on the street. MARCELLUS KIDD: Yes.
KENNETH BROWN: Be sure to like, subscribe, and check
out "Star Wars: Episode IV
A New Hope," now streaming on Disney+.
MARCELLUS KIDD: Take care of yourselves and the planet,
and we'll see you next time.
Marcellus and Ken signing off.
KENNETH BROWN: So you think I got
what it takes to become a Jedi?
MARCELLUS KIDD: The Force is telling me I
shouldn't answer that question.
KENNETH BROWN: That's not how the Force works!
MARCELLUS KIDD: [LAUGHS]