The Empire Strikes Back/Trivia


 * Creator Backlash: George Lucas called Empire "the worst Star Wars film". Yes, really. Though, then again, problems with filming and it's original reception need to be remembered.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!
 * Michael Sheard (Adolf Hitler in Indiana Jones, Sadist Teacher Mr Bronson in Grange Hill, and various roles in Doctor Who) is Admiral Ozzel.
 * Julian Glover(General Veers) would play villains Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only and Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
 * Billy Dee Williams (Lando) would later appear in the Tim Burton Batman film.
 * John Ratzenberger (Cheers' Cliff Clavin) is Rebel Major Derlin: "Everybody to their stations! Let's go!"
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Miss Piggy as Yoda!
 * Last-Second Word Swap: When shooting the big scene between Luke and Vader, David Prowse said "No, Ben killed your father", and that's what the entire crew of the film thought would be said when James Earl Jones dubbed in his lines. Only 5 people (Lucas, Jones, Mark Hamill so he would react correctly, writer Lawrence Kasdan, and director Irvin Kershner) knew the actual line.
 * The Other Darrin/Re Cut: The original Emperor hologram was a woman with superimposed chimpanzee eyes and the voice of Clive Revill. The DVD changed him to Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in the other films. (and was one of the few changes no one complained about!)
 * Troubled Production: It went over budget and behind schedule, and the Hoth location shoot in Norway was plagued by a strong snowstorm and overcharges by the locals (who knew they had to cash in, given the success of the predecessor; Lucas shot Return of the Jedi under a fake name to avert this price gouging).
 * What Could Have Been: In Leigh Brackett's initial script draft, Vader is explicitly not Luke's father; Anakin appears to Luke on Dagobah as a Force Ghost, alongside Obi-Wan. As well, it's revealed that Luke has a twin sister: not Leia, but someone else called Nellith. She's mentioned but never seen, in what was intended as a Sequel Hook for later episodes (note the plural). This was probably what Lucas had in mind when he inserted the "there is another" line. However, the filming on Empire was so chaotic that he decided to wrap up the saga with only one more film, which led him to make the "other" into somebody we already knew.