There have been 12 Star Wars movies over a span of 42 years. The first movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, came out in 1977 and today it has become one of the most successful - both commercially and critically - film franchises in history. While we are sure that you have seen the movies (or at least one of them), here are some fun facts about that galaxy far, far away that you probably don’t know:
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Han Solo was supposed to die.
Han Solo, ever since he appeared in the first film, quickly became a fan favorite and in the process, catapulted Harrison Ford’s career to new heights. But did you know that Ford wanted the character to be killed off in Return of the Jedi? He wanted the character to sacrifice himself. The character was even killed off in the original script.
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Luke Skywalker was almost a girl.
One thing that sticks out in all the Star Wars movies is a serious lack of female characters. George Lucas saw that too. So, he did something profound: he rewrote Luke Skywalker’s character as an 18-year-old girl. Even though this gender swap was short-lived, it exists as a concept drawing.
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The now-iconic opening crawl was manually shot over three hours.
Something that can now be done at the click of a mouse took three hours to shoot. Manually. The iconic text crawl that first appears in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was shot using die cut yellow letters over a black background. A camera was used to make a slow pass over them to mimic the crawl.
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One of Han Solo’s most famous lines was an ad lib.
One of the most famous lines by Han Solo is his “I know” is response to Princess Leia’s “I love you” before he is frozen in carbonite. While the original script demanded him to say, “I love you, too,” the director, Irvin Kershner, and even Ford felt that it did not quite suite Han Solo’s nature. That’s why Ford improvised on the spot and said “ I know”.
What do you think would have happened had Han Solo died in the Return of Jedi? Let us know in the comments down below.
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