Trivia for
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) More at IMDbPro »

• David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct this episode of the series. He turned it down because he believed it was "Lucas' thing."
  
  
• Director David Cronenberg was offered the chance to direct.
  
  
• The dual stripes painted on rebel A-wing fighters were originally blue, but were changed to red because the blue made it a problem when filming blue-screen effects.
  
  
• SFX crew claim to have included a "sneaker" as one of the spaceships in a complex dog-fight scene (see also trivia for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)).
  
  
• Co-producer Robert Watts has stated before that his cameo is actually General Veers, who was played by Julian Glover in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Watts' character, however, is credited as "Lieutenant Watts."
  
  
• Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) plays Wedge in this film, despite the rumors to the contrary which were caused by his name being misspelt ("Dennis Lawson") in the credits of Star Wars (1977). Intense debate on Usenet prompted Jarod Nash to write a letter to Lawson, asking for clarification. Lawson confirmed that he indeed played in all three movies.
  
  
• Luke's mechanical hand gets shot. Leia gets shot in the shoulder. Luke cuts off Darth Vader's hand. See also Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  
  
• According to the documentary "Empire of Dreams", Steven Spielberg was George Lucas's first choice to direct, but Spielberg had to decline because he is a member of the Directors' Guild (Lucas dropped his Guild membership over disagreements about Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). As a result, Lucas hired the relatively unknown (and at the time non-union) Welsh director Richard Marquand.
  
  
• According to a magazine interview with Irvin Kershner in May 2004, Kershner states that Richard Marquand didn't direct all of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), it was Kershner's assistant director and George Lucas who took over after the actors didn't respond very well to Richard Marquand. The relationship between Marquand and George Lucas was said to be bad. On the DVD commentary, however, George Lucas claims he worked quite well with Marquand.
  
  
• Characters who have "a bad feeling about this": C-3PO, Princess Leia and Han Solo. See also Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  
  
• Luke and Han's meeting in Jabba's palace is the first time that Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill have been on-screen together since saying their goodbyes in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  
  
• Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called "Blue Harvest" with the tagline "Horror beyond imagination", and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.
  
  
• The main chamber of Jabba's palace is connected to the entrance by a short flight of steps. When filming the scene where R2-D2 enters the chamber it was discovered that the droid could not roll down the stairs. In the movie we see R2-D2 approaching the stairs, then the camera moves to the left past the steps and the droid re-enters the field of view, having been manually hauled down the stairs.
  
  
• The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewoks' bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing "Revenge of the Ewok" t-shirts.
  
  
• The primitive warrior tribe at the end of this film was originally supposed to be a tribe of Wookiees. In pre-production, though, the decision was made to go to short creatures with short fur rather than very tall creatures with longer fur and, hence, the Ewoks were created (Ewok may very well have been created by rearranging the sounds in the word "Wookiee").
  
  
• Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt's entourage are ones named "Klaatu," "Barada" and "Nikto," after the command given to the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The aliens are not referred to by name in the film, nor do they have any lines.
  
  
• At the time, the climactic battle in outer space featured more optical effects in one scene than had ever been previously committed to film.
  
  
• In the DVD 2004 release, Sebastian Shaw (older Anakin Skywalker) is replaced in the celebration scene by Hayden Christensen.
  
  
• The raspy, labored breathing heard from Darth Vader after he kills the Emperor was originally meant to be how his breathing sounded when he was first introduced in Star Wars (1977). The sound of this labored breathing was kept and used for this film.
  
  
• Several Ewok lines are in the Filipino (Tagalog) language. Most Ewok lines, however, were inspired by the Kalmuck language, spoken by nomadic tribes living in Central China.
  
  
• The film originally included a sandstorm scene that occurred after Han's rescue. It was cut because it was unnecessary and was hectic to shoot.
  
  
• The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in.
  
  
• Carrie Fisher's birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a mounted laser gun.
  
  
• It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and Han Solo. Dark Horse's Comic "Dark Empire" is based on that fact and presents Han and Leia as a married couple.
  
  
• In addition to the pilot of the "chicken walker", Richard Marquand also performed the voice of the droid in Jabba's slave yard.
  
  
• Director Richard Marquand did the voice for the interrogator droid EV 9D9. His voice was run through a ring modulator to give the proper mechanic-sounding effect.
  
  
• In the familiar theatrical one-sheet poster advertising the film, forearms assumed to belong to Luke Skywalker are shown raising an ignited light-saber upward toward the starry sky. But the unidentified arms pictured are not those of actor Mark Hamill, they belong to George Lucas.
  
  
• According to Anthony Daniels, it only took him less than 10 minutes to put on the C-3P0 outfit, unlike the last two films were it took him two hours.
  
  
• One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: "Det luktar flingor här", which is Swedish for "It smells of cereal here." (In fact, that line's lyrics are supposedly, "G'noop dock fling oh ah.") Another song sounds identical to a song sung in Caveman (1981).
  
  
• Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San Francisco skyline.
  
  
• Michael Carter was cast as Bib Fortuna in this movie after casting director Mary Selway saw him appearing in the play "The Streets of London" in 1981. It took over eight hours of make-up to first transform him into Jabba the Hutt's Twi'lek advisor. By the end of his five-week shoot, make-up artist Nick Dudman had streamlined the process down to 58 minutes. Removing the make-up took another 25 minutes.
  
  
• The Millenium Falcons used for this movie were either models or matte paintings. The full-sized mock up used for the other films was only used for the deleted sandstorm scenes and therefore doesn't make an appearance in this movie
  
  
• When Vader throws the Emperor into the shaft, the brief image of a skull can be seen superimposed on his visor.
  
  
• In the part where Paploo was barely hanging onto the speeder bike, Paploo was played by stuntman Tony Cox.
  
  
• Cameo: [Ben Burtt] the Imperial officer in the bunker who says "Freeze!" and gets knocked into the generator room by a thrown satchel. When he falls over the edge, he attempts to emulate the Wilhelm scream, which he made famous.
  
  
• The growls and sounds of the Rancor in Jabba's Palace were actually made by a dachsund.
  
  
• Ernie Fosselius, creator of the Star Wars (1977) spoof Hardware Wars (1977), appears as the voices of the rancor's keepers.
  
  
• Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma) had to re-record her dialog after it was discovered that her microphone had picked up the sound of pigeons roosting in the set ceiling.
  
  
• Chris Parsons played C-3PO in 3 or 4 scenes, including the part where 3PO was carried on the chair by the Ewoks.
  
  
• Billy Dee Williams's stunt double was Julius LeFlore. LeFlore wears black gloves in the Sarlacc fight. Williams does not.
  
  
• Peter Mayhew had a stunt double for the part of the Sarlacc fight in which the skiff jolted, causing Han Solo to hang upside down.
  
  
• The name Palpatine was based on the name Palatine in the film, Taxi Driver (1976). It was changed to avoid legal problems.
  
  
• Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas initially wanted to include the "victory over the Empire" shots on the imperial city. However, they were unable to get a satisfactory name for the capital planet of the Empire. In May 1991, author Timothy Zahn wrote a Star Wars spin-off book, Heir to The Empire, and came out with the capital planet's name as Coruscant. Lucas was happy with the name and as the result, CG shots of victory celebration sequences of other cities, including Coruscant (where the statue collapsed) was included in the 1997 Special Edition.
  
  
• Robert Watts, a co-producer of the film, doubles as the scout walker driver who is thrown out of the scout walker by Chewbacca.
  
  
• One of the words C-3PO uses to communicate with the Ewoks is "naboo" which is the name of Queen Amidala's planet in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
  
  
• The victory trumpet call that the Ewoks used at the end of the Battle Of Endor was the same as the trumpet call that was used in The Ten Commandments (1956). It can be heard when the Jews are about to leave Egypt for the Promised Land.
  
  
• The sounds of the "speederbikes" were used in Daisenki (1993) (V) in the final battle as the UFO's sounds.
  
  
• Before filming began, it was discovered that all of Darth Vader's lightsaber props had either been lost or stolen. Thus, one of Luke Skywalker's "stunt" saber props from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) had to be quickly cannibalized into a "Vader-esque" saber for this film.
  
  
• At one point during the battle on Endor, Leia turns towards a Scout Walker and shoots a man who is either standing on or leaning out of the top. This man is rumored to be none other than the director, Richard Marquand.
  
  
• The design of Luke's new light saber is directly based on the one used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977). In fact, one of Obi-Wan's "stunt" saber props was reused in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) as Luke's.
  
  
• Stuntwoman Tracey Eddon wore a rubber replica of C-3PO for the tumble off of the sail barge. She then donned a metal bikini to swing with Mark Hamill's stunt double onto the escaping skiff.
  
  
• Jabba the Hutt's death was inspired in part by a scene in The Godfather (1972), in which Luca Brasi is choked to death with a garrote.
  
  
• Darth Vader's funeral pyre was added at the very last minute, long after principle photography and pick-ups had wrapped. The scene was thrown together and shot near the hills of Skywalker Ranch.
  
  
• The radiating shafts making up the floor of the second Death Star's reactor core are actually 1,500 fishing rods.
  
  
• The shot of Paploo the Ewok riding a stolen speeder bike, the crew propped the bike up vertically and filmed the actor dangling from the handlebars, then simply rotated the camera.
  
  
• Unlike other Star Wars installments, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) was shot and completed in less than one year. Photography was done within June 1982-September 1982
  
  
• When preparing to work on the special edition one of the ILM employees was talking to a friend and mentioned in passing that they were extending the musical number in Jabba's palace. The friend happened to be the brother of Femi Taylor, the dancer that played Oola (the slave girl/dancer who is fed to the Rancor) and suggested that they get in contact with her as she was in even better shape than she was when they originally shot the scene. They ended up using her, and the scene is a combination of footage that they already had and the new footage recorded 15 years later. Femi Taylor also has the distinction of being the only cast member from the original movies to reprise her role for the special edition.
  
  
• The deleted sandstorm scene involving all the actors was the first scene shot on the first day of shooting. This made Mark Hamill the only Star Wars actor to work the first full day of shooting on all three Star Wars movies.
  
  
• Another reason for filming under the guise of nondescript horror movie title, "Blue Harvest" was partly to put off any snoopers and also because the production found that if they mentioned they were working on the next Star Wars film, suppliers would automatically ramp up their prices, assuming that money was no object for Lucasfilm.
  
  
• The Ewoks are never referred to by name.
  
  
• The biggest grossing film of 1983.
  
  
• Darth Vader's footsteps were recorded in underground tunnels by the Golden Gate Bridge to help create an ominous effect.
  
  
• As the Californian forest location the production was using was due for logging, the special effects crew were allowed to knock trees down in the Battle of Endor.
  
  
• It took six people to work the full-sized animatronic of Jabba the Hutt.
  
  
• The film grossed more than $250 million from a $32 million budget in 1983, and then another $40 million in its 1997 re-release.
  
  
• Before the Millenium Falcon leaves for the final battle with the Death Star, Han says, "I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see her again." This would seem to foreshadow the Falcon's demise in battle. But it doesn't. Researchers have looked into the matter from the first scripts of this movie, and have found that in all drafts of the script, Lando and the Falcon survive. All claims that the Falcon would not survive are urban legends, forgeries, or mistaken assumptions.
  
  
• Endor is the name of a place in the Bible; it's a village found in Biblical Israel's territory of Isaachar, where king Saul went on the eve of his final battle with the Phillistines and came across "The Witch of Endor". It also the Elvish name for Middle-Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".
  
  
• Originally, George Lucas was disapproving of Richard Marquand's choice in casting Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor. The choice eventually grew on Lucas, as he eventually went on to cast McDiarmid as the younger version of the same character in the next three episodes of the Saga.
  
  
• Cinematographer Alan Hume had a falling-out with the producers late in production, mainly owing to the fact that he felt they were mistreating Richard Marquand. Hume was never officially sacked, but most of the photography in the last month of production was supervised by camera operator Alec Mills.
  
  
• For security reasons, when the film was sent to the lab, it was sent under the title "Blue Harvest". The title was inspired by the Dashiell Hammett story "Red Harvest", which was the inspiration for Yojimbo (1961), directed by Akira Kurosawa, one of the favorite directors of George Lucas. When you go to www.blueharvest.com, you'll get the official Star Wars website.
  
  
• As seen in the theatrical trailers, Luke's new light saber had a blue laser blade instead of the green that appears in the finished film, as it had been in the first two movies. The blade was changed to green as being blue, it was difficult to make out against the sky during the attack on the sail barge scene.
  
  
• Kenny Baker's Ewok character, Paploo, was supposed to find Princess Leia unconscious after the speeder bike sequence, but Baker got a case of food poisoning before the scene was going to be filmed, so Warwick Davis's character, Wicket, became the Ewok who finds Leia.
  
  
• Harrison Ford suggested that Han Solo sacrifice his life to save his friends, but George Lucas disagreed with him.
  
  
• Carrie Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies. She said they were so long, you could not tell "she was a woman". Those complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba's prisoner. The costume became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal framework that held the top together meant that the costume didn't move well with her. Since Fisher didn't like the industry standard solution of using double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top (and several scenes had to be re-shot when "wardrobe malfunctions" occurred).
  
  
• When sound designer Ben Burtt was working on the sound effects for the speeder bike chase, he tried to emulate Treg Brown's sound effect work on the Road Runner cartoons as closely as possible.
  
  
• In a personal letter to friend actor Henry Dibling, Lindsay Anderson said that a role in this movie was offered to him (a "Prince of Evil" role, in his own words). He turned it down because he was busy with his own movie, Britannia Hospital (1982), by then.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: As Luke slashes an enemy with his lightsaber and he falls into the Sarlacc pit. It can also be heard again a second time as Luke slashes another enemy into the pit soon after, but it is barely audible. Additionally, in the Special Edition, a Wilhelm can be heard during one of the huge celebration scenes, on Coruscant, after the Death Star is destroyed (an Imperial Stormtrooper is crowd surfing and the Wilhelm is heard as he passes to the right of the film frame; since this is a celebration scene rather than a fight scene, the Wilhelm was presumably included as a joke).
  
  
• During the shot in which Salacius Crumb (the small, annoying, rat-like thing that sits with Jabba in his palace) is chewing off C-3P0's eye, Anthony Daniels had a panic attack while in the C-3P0 suit. While filming, he didn't actually say his lines (all his lines were dubbed in post-production anyway), but repeated "Get me up. Get me up." over and over. This take is the take used in the final film.
  
  
• Sound designer Ben Burtt got the opportunity to operate the mike boom in the dialogue scene between Luke and Leia on Endor. He didn't know the entire scene would take almost 3 minutes to shoot, so he got very tired holding up the microphone, and nearly dropped it on Carrie Fisher's head.
  
  
• Ian McDiarmid, a prolific stage actor, based his character's unusual voice on the Japanese method of using your stomach to project yourself. The result was a strange, guttural croak that Lucas decided was perfect for the character of Palpatine.
  
  
• Elephants were used as inspiration for the All Terrain Armored Transporters' (AT-AT) characteristic walk.
  
  
• The point-of-view shots for the speeder bike sequence were achieved by having a camera operator walk through the forest at normal speed with a camera filming at one frame per second. When the footage was played back at twenty four frames per second, it gave the appearance of flying through the forest at high speeds.
  
  
• This is only the second film in the series to use American locations for live-action location filming.
  
  
• The roofs of the "Chicken Walkers" bear an uncanny resemblance to the roofs of the gun turrets on WWII German Tiger tanks-especially the small railings that these tanks had.
  
  
• The first appearance of the Death Star was originally supposed to be in this episode. Lucas changed the Death Star in this movie to the Death Star Two after having been forced to introduce the Death Star in the first STAR WARS movie due to budget cuts imposed by the studio.
  
  
• Endor scenes were filmed on a sound stage in London, and then on location in a Redwood forest. According to Warwick Davis, Lucas decided to spotlight six of the Ewoks, and to have the same British actors play those parts in England and America. All the others were replaced with Americans for the location shoot.
  
  
• Originally to be titled "Revenge of the Jedi" but producers thought Jedis wouldn't seek revenge, being so righteous and all. Some posters and theater stand-ups were made early, but pulled very soon as the title changed names. Also Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) was originally to be called "Star Trek: The Revenge of Khan", but the title for that movie was changed to avoid confusion with this movie back when "Revenge of the Jedi" was being considered.
  
  
• In his book "Sculpting the Galaxy", Lorne Peterson reveals that all shots featuring the second Death Star are flipped horizontally. The original model was unfinished on the left side, while in the film it appears to be unfinished on the right.
  
  
• David Prowse has said that he did not take part in any of the lightsaber-fighting sequences. As with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the film's sword master, Bob Anderson played Darth Vader during the duel sequence, wearing platform shoes and careful filming to make up for the height difference.
  
  
• The Huttese language spoken by Jabba the Hut was inspired by the Incan language Quechua.
  
  
• Nien Numb, Lando's co-pilot, speaks a Kenyan dialect called Haya. According to sound designer Ben Burtt, the lines were delivered by a Kenyan student living in the US, and are actually correct Hayan translations of the English text. Audiences in Kenya were reportedly very thrilled to hear their language spoken in proper context.
  
  
• David Prowse only portrayed Darth Vader completely for the first half of the movie. In the second half of the movie, the character was played by Bob Anderson (stuntman) during the fight sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the character is unmasked. James Earl Jones voiced the character throughout, with the exception of the unmasking scene.
  
  
• Pat Welsh performed the voice of the Bounty Hunter Boush (Princess Leia in disguise)
  
  
• George Lucas had a script policy which was carried over to the novel-writing policy today: Any characters from the trilogy cannot be killed off by any means - which explained the reason he overruled Harrison Ford's suggestion of killing Han Solo off. However, he consented Robert Salvatore's idea of killing Chewbacca off in the novel Vector Prime (set 21 years after Episode VI).
  
  
• Following the success of Boba Fett (appearing in comics and being a popular supporting character), George Lucas considered adding a shot of Boba Fett escaping the Sarlacc for the 2004 DVD release. Ultimately, he decided against it as he does not want viewers to be detracted from the intended storyline.
  
  
• David Prowse, who played Darth Vader's body in three films, was unaware of the planned unmasking scene in which a different actor, Sebastian Shaw, played Vader's face.
  
  
• Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor) and David Prowse (Darth Vader) have never met. Vader was played by Bob Anderson for all of the camera shots in which Vader and the Emperor appeared at the same time.
  
  
• Sydney Greenstreet was used as one of the models for Jabba the Hutt.
  
  
• Whilst clambering over Jabba the Hutt, one of the high heels that Carrie Fisher was wearing accidentally punctured the latex casing and pierced Mike Edmonds who was operating the tail inside.
  
  
• The only film in the original trilogy in which Denis Lawson's name is spelled correctly in the end credits.
  
  
• George Lucas fired his friend and producer of the previous two Star Wars movies, Gary Kurtz, before production began (although some sources say he simply quit on his own) as Kurtz disagreed with Lucas' assertion that audiences didn't care for the story but for the spectacle.
  
  
• The inside of Jabba the Hutt's palace is deliberately styled to resemble the Mos Eisley cantina in the first film. George Lucas wanted to redo the scene but with a bigger budget and without having to rely on stock masks.
  
  
• The slithery noises made when Jabba the Hutt moves were created by sound-man Ben Burtt running his hands through a cheese casserole.
  
  
• In the DVD 2004 release, George Lucas explained the reason behind why Yoda told Luke that Darth Vader was his father. Lucas had consulted with a child psychologist during the making of the film. The psychologist said that unless it was unequivocally stated that Vader was Luke's father, moviegoers age 12 and under would dismiss Vader's claim to be Luke's father as a lie.
  
  
• There were several versions of Carrie Fisher's slave costume. One was made of metal form-fit to her body. Another was made of rubber and was used for stunt scenes because it was more comfortable.
  
  
• Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers says that the inspiration for Leia's slave outfit came from the artwork of Frank Frazetta, which often focused on the female form.
  
  
• The enhanced effects used for the Death Star explosions in this movie and "A New Hope" feature the "Praxis Wave," so named for its first use by Industrial Light and Magic in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) for the explosion of the Klingon moon, Praxis.
  
  
• When Steven Spielberg saw Paul Verhoeven's Soldaat van Oranje (1977) he was deeply impressed. He called Verhoeven to tell him he wanted to get him an American project. Years later Verhoeven heard that Spielberg wanted to bring him up to direct Return of the Jedi. To be sure of his talent, Spielberg organized a viewing of his latest feature film Spetters (1980). Spielberg was shocked by the extremely sexual content and never called him again. Verhoeven later said that he thought Spielberg was afraid the Jedis would break their celibacy under his direction.
  
  
• The official poster of the film displays a disclaimer. "This film may be too intense for very young children."
  
  
• This is the only one Star Wars movie where Darth Vader does not Force choke someone. A scene did exist in the initial cut that showed Vader Force choke an Imperial Officer in order to gain access to the Emperor's throne room. This scene was cut because George Lucas felt that this point had been made clearly enough in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  
  
• The 1997 CD-ROM Star Wars: Behind the Magic confirms that the sequence showing the cremation of Vader's body/armor was directed by George Lucas himself.
  
  
• It's the first film to use THX. Ironically, Boushh's (Leia in bounty hunter disguise) helmet has "1138" written on it.
  
  
• This is the first Star Wars film to show a lightsaber combat something other than another lightsaber. Luke on the Sail Barge fights guards with staffs and blasters. In Star Wars (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), a lightsaber is seen only fighting another lightsaber. It should be noted that Obi-Wan's removal of Ponda Baba's arm does not count as a fight - but could be considered a combat between a lightsaber and another weapon.
  
  
• Ian McDiarmid's character of Palpatine is not is not referred to by his name through out the film. He is only called "The Emperor".
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: Ewok killed while taking cover from the Imperial Walker turret fire.
  
  
• After Yoda's death for the first and only time Luke addresses Obi-Wan Kenobi as 'Obi-Wan' rather then 'Ben' as he did in the first two films.
  
  
• After appearing in this film, Wedge becomes to only X-wing pilot (apart from Luke) who survives all three films.
  
  

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