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119-444: "The Imperial March" is sometimes referred to simply as "Darth Vader's Theme." In the movies (except for the original Star Wars ), the march is often played when Darth Vader appears. It is also played during Darth Sidious 's arrival on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi , though it does segue into the Emperor's own theme as he appears. "The Imperial March" is first heard in The Empire Strikes Back in low piccolos as

238-562: A CGI character named Supreme Leader Snoke, and featured an image of the actor in motion capture gear. Serkis had previously played several CGI characters using motion capture technology, including the titular gorilla in 2005's King Kong , and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. In November 2015, Serkis said of the process of creating Snoke: When we first started working on it, [Abrams] had some rough notions of how Snoke

357-602: A Sith Lord anecdotally mentioned in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and the mentor of Palpatine, allegedly possessing the power to prevent death; Palpatine himself, "the Operator" Gallius Rax , a mysterious First Order manipulator from Chuck Wendig 's Aftermath novel trilogy; or Ezra Bridger , a main character from the animated series Star Wars Rebels . In his first appearance in

476-415: A maquette he liked and then we took it to a full-size version, sculpted in plasteline . J. J. and [creature creative supervisor Neal Scanlan ] didn't want him to be old and decrepit, like [ Emperor Palpatine ]." Manzella later revealed that, influenced by a reference by Abrams to Hammer House of Horror , he partially based a maquette of Snoke on Peter Cushing , who portrayed Grand Moff Tarkin in

595-482: A stop-motion creature over a human actor; he accomplished a similar effect with computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the 1997 Special Edition . According to Greedo actor Paul Blake , his character was created as a result of Lucas having to cut the Jabba scene. During production, the cast attempted to make Lucas laugh or smile, as he often appeared depressed. At one point, the project became so demanding that Lucas

714-469: A "Kongolizer" method of having sound come out of speakers to give a sense of scale and distance for the character. So it was very challenging and scary, in fact probably one of my most scary film experiences I've ever had. Costume designer Michael Kaplan had the idea to give Snoke gold robes to contrast from his red and black throne room in The Last Jedi . Director Rian Johnson said the red motif

833-518: A 1905 science fantasy written by Edwin Arnold . Lucas took the science fantasy concept and began developing what he would later call a "space fantasy". In May 1971, Lucas persuaded the head of United Artists , David Picker , to take a chance on two of his film ideas: American Graffiti and the space opera. Although Lucas signed a two-picture deal, the studio ultimately declined to produce Graffiti . Universal Pictures picked it up, and Lucas spent

952-502: A Death Star being included in both films. In 1975, Lucas envisioned a trilogy which would end with the destruction of the Empire, and possibly a prequel about Obi-Wan as a young man. After Star Wars became tremendously successful, Lucasfilm announced that Lucas had already written twelve more Luke Skywalker stories, which, according to Kurtz, were "separate adventures" rather than traditional sequels. On February 27, 1975, Fox granted

1071-541: A Thousand Faces , James George Frazer 's The Golden Bough , and Bruno Bettelheim 's The Uses of Enchantment . Author Michael Kaminski has objected to Lucas's claim regarding the Bettelheim book, arguing that it was not released until after Star Wars was filmed ( J.W. Rinzler speculates that Lucas may have obtained an advance copy). Kaminski also writes that Campbell's influence on Star Wars has been exaggerated by Lucas and others, and that Lucas's second draft

1190-506: A character that did not make the final cut of the film. Lucas initially resisted casting Ford as Han, since Ford had previously worked with Lucas on American Graffiti , and was therefore not unknown. Instead, the director asked Ford to assist with auditions by reading lines with other actors. However, Lucas was eventually won over by Ford, and cast him as Han over many other actors who auditioned. Lucas recognized that he needed an established star to play Obi-Wan. He considered Cushing for

1309-608: A commercial encouraging viewers to join the Imperial Navy , encouraging Han Solo to enlist as his ticket off the planet. This brief appearance marks the first and thus-far only in-universe appearance of "The Imperial March" in a theatrical film. "The Imperial March" has influence in short but dark moments revolving around Anakin. For example, in episode 62, "Citadel Rescue", Anakin and Captain Wilhuff Tarkin both mention during their escape their good relationship with

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1428-495: A fellow veteran, for analysis. Luke initially declines Obi-Wan's offer to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force, but he is left with no choice after Imperial stormtroopers murdered his family and destroyed his home while searching for the droids. Seeking a way off the planet, Luke and Obi-Wan travel to the city of Mos Eisley and hire Han Solo and Chewbacca , pilots of the starship Millennium Falcon . Before

1547-526: A former ally named Obi-Wan Kenobi . R2-D2 goes missing, and while searching for him, Luke is attacked by Sand People . He is rescued by the elderly hermit Ben Kenobi, who soon reveals himself to be Obi-Wan. He tells Luke about his past as one of the Jedi Knights, former peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic , who drew mystical abilities from the Force but were hunted to near-extinction by

1666-523: A galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen plans to the Death Star , a colossal space station built by the Galactic Empire that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan , secretly a Rebel leader, has obtained the schematics, but her ship is intercepted and boarded by Imperial forces under the command of Darth Vader . Leia is taken prisoner, but

1785-448: A great deal of mystery", but that he "has been asked to not shed anything should they want to bring him back in any way, whether prequel or whatever". Forbes criticized The Force Awakens for not developing Snoke as a character, or exploring his backstory and inexplicable rise to power after the events of the original trilogy, calling the character "a bandage poorly placed over a gaping plot-hole". Serkis acknowledged that some fans found

1904-589: A half weeks in Tunisia, production moved to Elstree Studios in London for interior scenes. Kurtz has described Lucas as a shy "loner" who does not enjoy working with a large cast and crew. According to Carrie Fisher, he gave very little direction to the actors, and when he did, it usually consisted of the words "faster" and "more intense". Laws in Britain stipulated that filming had to finish by 5:30 pm, unless Lucas

2023-407: A lot of samurai pride" and turned down the roles of Obi-Wan and Vader because he thought Star Wars would employ cheap special effects and would therefore "cheapen the image of samurai". Lucas credited Guinness with inspiring the cast and crew to work harder, which contributed significantly to the completion of filming. Ford said he admired Guinness's preparation, professionalism and kindness towards

2142-421: A mystical energy field called "The Force," the concept of a Jedi turning to the dark side, and a historical Jedi who was the first to turn, and who subsequently trained the Sith. The script also included a Jedi Master with a son who trains to be a Jedi under his father's friend; this would ultimately form the basis for the finished film and, later, the original trilogy. This version was more a fairy tale quest than

2261-521: A plan to destroy Luke. He then orders Ren to kill Rey. Ren, however, kills Snoke by using the Force to cut him in half with a lightsaber. Ren later declares himself the new Supreme Leader of the First Order, pinning Snoke's death on Rey. In The Rise of Skywalker , Kylo Ren finds several clones resembling Snoke at Emperor Palpatine 's ( Ian McDiarmid ) lair on the Sith world Exegol . Snoke's voice

2380-517: A week or it would be shut down. The crew split into three units, led by Lucas, Kurtz, and production supervisor Robert Watts . Under the new system, they met the studio's deadline. The screenplay originally featured a human Jabba the Hutt, but the character was removed due to budget and time constraints. The idea of Jabba being an alien did not arise until work began on the 1979 Star Wars re-release. Lucas would later claim he had wanted to superimpose

2499-478: Is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas , produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox . It is the first film released in the Star Wars film series and the fourth chronological chapter of the " Skywalker Saga ". Set "a long time ago" in a fictional galaxy ruled by the tyrannical Galactic Empire , the story follows a group of freedom fighters known as

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2618-864: Is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is an artificial being created by Emperor Palpatine who is aligned with the dark side of the Force . He was introduced in The Force Awakens (2015) as the Supreme Leader of the First Order and the master of Kylo Ren . He subsequently appeared in The Last Jedi (2017), in which he is killed by Ren. In the films, Snoke is a computer-generated character performed by Andy Serkis using motion capture . Snoke's appearance changed throughout principal photography and post-production of The Force Awakens . Andy Serkis said, "It's

2737-461: Is aware of the past to a great degree." Explaining why CGI was the only way to create Snoke's unique appearance, Serkis said before the film's premiere, "The scale of him, for instance, is one reason. He is large. He appears tall. And also just the facial design—you couldn't have gotten there with prosthetics ... he has a very distinctive, idiosyncratic bone and facial structure." Chief of creature and droid effects Neal Scanlan said, "This character

2856-515: Is briefly used by Palpatine when talking to Ren. It is revealed that Palpatine had used his creation Snoke as a puppet to lure Ren towards the dark side, and to reclaim the galaxy through the First Order. Snoke appears in the 2015 novelization of The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster . In the novel, Leia tells Han in more detail how Snoke, aware that their son would be "strong with the Force" and possess "equal potential for good or evil", had long watched Ben and manipulated events to draw him to

2975-420: Is much better executed as a CGI character. That's just a practical reality when he's 7-foot-something tall; he's very, very thin." Snoke's "scarred, cavernous face" was not revealed before the release of the film, in which he appears as a "massive, ominous hologram". The character's deep voice was first heard in the teaser trailer released on November 28, 2014. Robbie Collin of The Telegraph described

3094-471: Is not a story about the future, but rather a "fantasy" that has more in common with the Brothers Grimm than 2001: A Space Odyssey . He said his motivation for making the film was to give young people an "honest, wholesome fantasy life," of the kind his generation had. He hoped it would offer "the romance, the adventure, and the fun that used to be in practically every movie". While impressed with

3213-474: Is now known as the Dykstraflex system. Visually, Lucas wanted Star Wars to have the "ethereal quality" of a fairy tale, but also "an alien look." He hoped to achieve "the seeming contradiction of [the] strange graphics of fantasy combined with the feel of a documentary." His first choice for cinematographer was Geoffrey Unsworth , who had worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey . Unsworth initially accepted

3332-516: Is played most prominently and recognizably during the final sequence when clone troopers assemble and depart Coruscant , foreshadowing the end of the Republic. Although "Across the Stars" is featured most prominently in the film's end credits, several notes from "The Imperial March" are heard beneath it near the end. In Revenge of the Sith "The Imperial March" is first played when Anakin rebukes

3451-499: Is responsible for Snoke's injuries. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Supreme Leader Snoke is a larger-than-life, vaguely Harry Potter -ish hologram voiced with deep gravity by Andy Serkis ; the full weight of this character's malignancy and dramatic power will presumably be better assessed in subsequent episodes." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called Serkis "the undisputed champion of

3570-507: Is used prominently during the sixth season. In "Empire Day", the episode's title referring to the Empire's anniversary, " The Imperial Anthem " arrangement of "The Imperial March", is heard during the parade. The march is also heard in "Call to Action" when Grand Moff Tarkin arrives on Lothal, in the final scene of "Fire Across the Galaxy" when Darth Vader arrives on Lothal, and in multiple scenes in "The Siege of Lothal." In Obi-Wan Kenobi ,

3689-545: The Falcon reaches Alderaan, the Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin has the planet obliterated by the station's superlaser. Upon arrival, the Falcon is captured by the Death Star's tractor beam , but the passengers avoid detection and infiltrate the station. As Obi-Wan leaves to deactivate the tractor beam, Luke persuades Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue Leia, who is scheduled for execution after refusing to reveal

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3808-415: The Galactic Empire sends probe droids across the galaxy in search of Luke Skywalker . Its major opening occurs as Imperial -class Star Destroyers amass and Darth Vader is first presented in the film, 19 minutes into the movie. The theme and related motifs are also incorporated into tracks such as "The Battle of Hoth " during the eponymous battle, "The Asteroid Field" during the chase sequence involving

3927-654: The Millennium Falcon , and "The Clash of Lightsabers" during Luke and Vader's duel on Cloud City over Bespin . Return of the Jedi makes similar use of the theme, though its final statement is significantly different, making quiet use of a harp as a redeemed Anakin Skywalker dies in his son's arms. "The Imperial March" appears on a few occasions in the prequel trilogy, most often used to foreshadow Anakin Skywalker 's future as Darth Vader. An innocent theme for

4046-758: The Rebel Alliance , who aim to destroy the Empire's newest weapon, the Death Star . When the Rebel leader Princess Leia is captured by the Empire, Luke Skywalker acquires stolen architectural plans of the Death Star and sets out to rescue her while learning the ways of a metaphysical power known as " the Force " from the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi . The cast includes Mark Hamill , Harrison Ford , Carrie Fisher , Peter Cushing , Alec Guinness , Anthony Daniels , Kenny Baker , Peter Mayhew , David Prowse , and James Earl Jones . Lucas had

4165-458: The droids R2-D2 and C-3PO escape with the plans, crashing on the nearby planet of Tatooine . Darth Vader learns of this and orders the Imperials to pursue the droids. The droids are captured by Jawa traders, who sell them to the moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew, Luke Skywalker . While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he discovers a recording of Leia requesting help from

4284-674: The highest-grossing film until the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); subsequent releases have brought its total gross to $ 775 million. When adjusted for inflation, Star Wars is the second-highest-grossing film in North America (behind Gone with the Wind ) and the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time . It received Academy Awards , BAFTA Awards, and Saturn Awards , among others. The film has been reissued many times with Lucas's support—most significantly

4403-584: The original Star Wars film . While Serkis secretly joined the project in February 2014, his casting in The Force Awakens was first announced on April 29, 2014. When asked about his role in July 2014, he joked, "I'm not Yoda ." In May 2015, a StarWars.com interview with photographer Annie Leibovitz about her The Force Awakens shoot for Vanity Fair revealed that Serkis would be playing

4522-565: The "March" are played when Vader arrives on Mustafar to kill the Separatists. The piece is played more clearly during the "Battle of the Heroes" scene between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader at the movie's climax and in the simultaneous battle between Yoda and Sidious, as a rearrangement of the version heard in "The Clash of Lightsabers" from The Empire Strikes Back . It is also played when Darth Vader receives his armor at 2H06 and when he looks up at

4641-489: The 2019 one-shot comic book Age of Resistance: Villains – Supreme Leader Snoke , in which he says to Kylo, "If I had your uncle by my side instead of you, the galaxy would have been mine a long time ago." According to The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary (2019), Snoke's physical appearance was purposefully designed by Palpatine to ensure his species remained unidentifiable. Furthermore, Snoke's reluctance to meet in person with his First Order underlings helped conceal

4760-478: The 20th-anniversary theatrical "Special Edition"—and the reissues have contained many changes, including new scenes, visual effects, and dialogue. Often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, Star Wars quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, launching an industry of tie-in products, including novels , comics , video games , amusement park attractions and merchandise such as toys, games, and clothing. It became one of

4879-472: The Adventures of Luke Starkiller . This version had most of the elements of the final plot, with only some differences in the characters and settings. It presented Luke as an only child whose father was already dead, and who was cared for by a man named Ben Kenobi. This script would be rewritten for the fourth and final draft, dated January 1, 1976, and titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from

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4998-464: The Empire. Luke learns that his father, also a Jedi, fought alongside Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars until Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered him. Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's lightsaber , the signature weapon of the Jedi. R2-D2 plays Leia's full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to Alderaan and give them to her father,

5117-1079: The Force to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, causing the Death Star to explode moments before it can fire on the Rebel base. In a triumphant ceremony, Leia awards Luke and Han medals for their heroism. Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser appear as Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru , respectively, and Jack Purvis portrays the Chief Jawa. Rebel leaders include Alex McCrindle as General Dodonna and Eddie Byrne as General Willard. Imperial commanders include Don Henderson as General Taggi , Richard LeParmentier as General Motti, and Leslie Schofield as Commander #1. Rebel pilots are played by Drewe Henley (Red Leader, mistakenly credited as Drewe Hemley), Denis Lawson (Red Two/ Wedge , credited as Dennis Lawson), Garrick Hagon (Red Three/Biggs), Jack Klaff (Red Four/John "D"), William Hootkins (Red Six/Porkins), Angus MacInnes (Gold Leader, credited as Angus McInnis), Jeremy Sinden (Gold Two), and Graham Ashley (Gold Five). Uncredited actors include Paul Blake as

5236-640: The Jedi Council for denying him the rank of Jedi Master, although appointing him to the Council at 0H37. The track can also be heard when Anakin tells Mace Windu about Palpatine's true identity, Darth Sidious. It is later played when Anakin is dubbed as the Sith Darth Vader, shortly after the death of Mace Windu. "The Imperial March" is quoted when clone troopers find dead Wookiees on Kashyyyk and when Padmé confronts Anakin on Mustafar. A few notes of

5355-576: The Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars . Lucas's friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck helped him revise the fourth draft into the final pre-production script. Lucas finished the screenplay in March 1976, when the crew started filming. During production, he changed Luke's surname from Starkiller to Skywalker, and changed the title first to The Star Wars , and then, finally, to Star Wars . For

5474-563: The Rebel soldiers trapped in a hallway; it is slowed down enough not to be obvious and joined with a chorus reminiscent of that from Revenge of the Sith . The theme is finally heard outright when Vader witnesses the Tantive IV fleeing into hyperspace. The track appears early in Solo: A Star Wars Story , transposed into a major key, as diegetic music in the Corellia spaceport as part of

5593-490: The Rebellion's X-wing squadron in a desperate attack against the Death Star, while Han and Chewbacca leave to pay off a debt to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt . In the ensuing battle, Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters and destroys several Rebel ships. Han and Chewbacca unexpectedly return in the Falcon , knocking Vader's ship off course before he can shoot Luke down. Guided by the voice of Obi-Wan's spirit , Luke uses

5712-495: The Starkiller, Episode One: The Star Wars . He had made substantial simplifications and introduced the young, farm-dwelling hero as Luke Starkiller. In this draft, Luke had several brothers. Annikin became Luke's father, a wise Jedi Knight who played a minor role at the end of the story. Early versions of the characters Han Solo and Chewbacca were present, and closely resemble those seen in the finished film. This draft introduced

5831-972: The Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Anakin shakes hands with Tarkin at the end of the episode, while Tarkin says he will inform the Chancellor of Anakin's good performance. During that handshake, a hint is to be heard in the music referring to "The Imperial March." Other episodes that feature the theme include "Brain Invaders" (when Anakin strangles Poggle), "Voyage of Temptation" (when Anakin kills Merrik), "Overlords" (multiple times), "Ghosts of Mortis" (multiple times), "Kidnapped" (when Obi-Wan talks with Anakin and then Ahsoka ), "Deception" (multiple times) and "Friends and Enemies" (multiple times), "Crisis on Naboo" (when Anakin argues with Obi-Wan), "The Lawless" (during Darth Sidious scenes), and "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much" (multiple times). The theme

5950-471: The United States. The filmmakers experienced many problems in Tunisia. Production fell behind schedule in the first week due to malfunctioning props and electronic breakdowns. The radio-controlled R2-D2 models functioned poorly. The left leg of Anthony Daniels's C-3PO costume shattered, injuring his foot. A rare winter rainstorm struck the country, which further disrupted filming. After two and

6069-402: The Whills , which chronicled the tale of CJ Thorpe, an apprentice "Jedi-Bendu", who was being trained by the legendary Mace Windy. He felt that this story was too difficult to understand, however. Lucas began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had narrative parallels with Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress . He later explained that Star Wars

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6188-432: The action-filled adventure story of the previous draft, and ended with a text crawl that previewed the next story in the series. According to Lucas, the second draft was over 200 pages long, which led him to split up the story into multiple films spanning multiple trilogies. While writing a third draft, Lucas claims to have been influenced by comics, J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Hobbit , Joseph Campbell 's The Hero with

6307-466: The aliens from Close Encounters ." Stephanie Zacharek of Time called the character "a giant, scary, noseless dude who sits placidly in an oversized chair like a dark-lord version of the Lincoln Monument ." There were multiple fan theories regarding the origins and identity of Snoke prior to the 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker . Such theories included that he was Darth Plagueis ,

6426-511: The beginning of the film. He explained that having "the first half hour of the film be mainly about robots was a bold idea." Meanwhile, ILM was struggling to achieve unprecedented special effects. The company had spent half its budget on four shots that Lucas deemed unacceptable. With hundreds of shots remaining, ILM was forced to finish a year's work in six months. To inspire the visual effects team, Lucas spliced together clips of aerial dogfights from old war films. These kinetic segments helped

6545-479: The bounty hunter Greedo , Alfie Curtis as the outlaw who confronts Luke in the cantina, and Peter Geddis as the Rebel officer who is strangled by Darth Vader. Heavily synthesized audio recordings of John Wayne (from his earlier films) were used for the voice of Garindan, an Imperial spy. Lucas had the idea for a space opera prior to 1971. According to Mark Hamill, he wanted to make it before his 1973 coming-of-age film American Graffiti . His original plan

6664-456: The character served no purpose after his duel with Vader. At Fox, Alan Ladd endured scrutiny from board members over the film's complex screenplay and rising budget. After the filmmakers requested more than the original $ 8 million budget, Kurtz said the executives "got a bit scared." According to Kurtz, the filmmaking team spent two weeks drafting a new budget. With the project behind schedule, Ladd told Lucas he had to finish production within

6783-483: The character. That's been fascinating. And in the meantime I've been able to see the look and design of the character grow and change as the performances change. So it's been really exciting in that respect. According to Serkis' costar Lupita Nyong'o , who played the CGI character Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens , the actor coached her on performance-capture work, telling Nyong'o that "a motion-capture character you develop

6902-415: The conventional way. He was forced to break open the walls, ceilings and floors, placing quartz lamps inside the openings he created. This lighting system gave Lucas the ability to shoot in almost any direction without extensive relighting. In total, filming in Britain took fourteen and a half weeks. While visiting an English travel agency, Lucas saw a poster depicting Tikal , Guatemala, and decided to use

7021-434: The dark side of the Force ", was introduced as the leader of the First Order and master to the sequel trilogy's main villain, Kylo Ren . Serkis described Snoke as "quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful. Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage." Serkis called Snoke "a new character in this universe", adding "I think it'd be fair to say that he

7140-546: The dark side. An unplayable Lego minifigure version of Snoke appears in cutscenes in the 2016 video game Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens , but became playable in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as a character of the Dark Side class. In the spring of 2018, Snoke was added to the mobile MOBA Star Wars: Force Arena as a playable Dark Side squad leader. Snoke is the focus of

7259-403: The deal and gain control of merchandising and sequel rights. It's the flotsam and jetsam from the period when I was twelve years old. All the books and films and comics that I liked when I was a child. The plot is simple—good against evil—and the film is designed to be all the fun things and fantasy things I remember. The word for this movie is fun. —George Lucas, 1977 Since commencing

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7378-524: The disfigured and skeletal Snoke as a "sepulchral horror", Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called him "hissing and grotesque", and Andrew O'Hehir of Salon dubbed the character "a spectral demonic figure". Variety ' s Justin Chang wrote that Snoke resembled "a plus-sized, more articulate version of his character Gollum ", and Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly described him as "essentially Emperor Palpatine crossed with one of

7497-422: The events of The Force Awakens , Snoke leads the First Order forces as they pursue the outnumbered Resistance . He reprimands Hux for his failings as a military leader, and Kylo Ren for his failure to defeat Rey and find Luke Skywalker. Towards the end of the film, Ren brings Rey to Snoke, who tortures her for information on Luke's location. Snoke reveals that he created a psychic bond between Ren and Rey as part of

7616-483: The fact that he was an artificial being. General Pryde ( Richard E. Grant ), a supporting villain in The Rise of Skywalker , was one of the few characters who knew Snoke was subservient to a higher power. The Star Wars Book (released in 2020 and co-authored by Lucasfilm creative Pablo Hidalgo ) suggested Snoke may have been unaware of his origins. In The Rise of Kylo Ren comic book series, Kylo believes that Luke

7735-535: The film Lucky Lady (1975). Christian remembers that Lucas did not want anything in Star Wars to stand out, and "wanted it [to look] all real and used." In this "used future" aesthetic, all devices, ships, and buildings related to Tatooine and the Rebels look aged and dirty, and the Rebel ships look cobbled together in contrast to the Empire's sleeker designs. Lucas believed this aesthetic would lend credibility to

7854-419: The film a budget of $ 5 million, which was later increased to $ 8.25 million. Lucas then started writing with a budget in mind, conceiving the cheap, "used" look of much of the film, and—with Fox having just shut down its special effects department—reducing the number of complex special effects shots called for by the script. The finalized third draft, dated August 1, 1975, was titled The Star Wars From

7973-669: The film while Lucas was still filming in Tunisia; as Lucas noted, the editor was in an "impossible position" because Lucas had not explained any of the film's material to him. When Lucas viewed Jympson's rough cut , he felt the editor's selection of takes was questionable. He felt Jympson did not fully understand the film nor Lucas's style of filmmaking, and he continued to disapprove of Jympson's editing as time went by. Halfway through production, Lucas fired Jympson and replaced him with Paul Hirsch , Richard Chew , and his then-wife, Marcia Lucas . The new editing team felt Jympson's cut lacked excitement, and they sought to inject more dynamism into

8092-489: The film's opening crawl , Lucas originally wrote a composition of six paragraphs with four sentences each. He showed the draft to his friend, director Brian De Palma , who called it "gibberish" that "goes on forever." De Palma and screenwriter Jay Cocks helped edit the crawl into its final form, which contains only four sentences. Lucas had a preference for casting unknown (or relatively unknown) actors, which led him to select Hamill and Fisher for leading roles. Hamill

8211-466: The film's fictional places, and Christian was enthusiastic about this approach. Barry and Christian started working with Lucas before Star Wars was funded by Fox. For several months, in a studio in Kensal Rise , England, they planned the creation of props and sets with very little money. According to Christian, the Millennium Falcon set was the most difficult to build. He wanted the interior of

8330-592: The film's visual effects. Star Wars suffered production difficulties: the cast and crew believed the film would be a failure, and it went $ 3 million over budget due to delays. Few were confident in the film's box office prospects. It was released in a small number of theaters in the United States on May 25, 1977, and quickly became a surprise blockbuster hit, leading to it being expanded to a much wider release. Star Wars opened to positive reviews, with praise for its special effects. It grossed $ 410 million worldwide during its initial run, surpassing Jaws (1975) to become

8449-399: The film, Snoke is introduced as Supreme Leader of the First Order, and master to Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver ). Seduced to the dark side by Snoke, the masked Kylo is really Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo ( Harrison Ford ) and Leia Organa ( Carrie Fisher ). Snoke senses an "awakening" in the Force , and warns Ren that the limits of his power will be tested when he faces his father in pursuit of

8568-430: The film. Jympson's rough cut of Star Wars (often called the "Lost Cut") differed significantly from the final version. Author David West Reynolds describes Jympson's version as "more leisurely paced", and estimates that it contained 30–40% different footage from the final cut. Although most of the differences relate to extended scenes or alternate takes, there were also scenes which were completely removed to accelerate

8687-644: The first 25 films selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1989, and its soundtrack was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2004. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) followed Star Wars , rounding out the original Star Wars trilogy . A prequel trilogy and a sequel trilogy have since been released, in addition to two standalone films and various television series . Amid

8806-520: The first Death Star with Sidious at 2H11. In the 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens , two bars from the brass motif of "The Imperial March" are played after antagonist Kylo Ren regards the charred remains of Darth Vader's helmet, vowing to finally succeed where the Galactic Empire failed. In the 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi , the track was briefly played after Supreme Leader Snoke compares antagonist Kylo Ren to Darth Vader, saying he saw

8925-420: The first time I've been on set not yet knowing what the character's gonna look like. I mean, talk about secrecy!" According to the actor, the character's appearance, voice and movements evolved as he and the film's writer/director J. J. Abrams challenged the visual effects team. According to The Force Awakens senior sculptor Ivan Manzella, "Snoke almost became a female at one point. J. J. picked out

9044-398: The generally low popularity of the genre at the time. Francis Ford Coppola subsequently brought the project to a division of Paramount Pictures he ran with fellow directors Peter Bogdanovich and William Friedkin , but Friedkin questioned Lucas's ability to direct the film, and both directors declined to finance it. Walt Disney Productions also turned down the project. Star Wars

9163-563: The general—who came from a family of dwarfs—into a supporting role. Lucas envisioned the Corellian smuggler, Han Solo, as a large, green-skinned monster with gills. He based Chewbacca on his Alaskan Malamute dog, Indiana, who often acted as his "co-pilot" by sitting in the passenger seat of his car. The dog's name would later be given to the character Indiana Jones . Lucas completed a second draft in January 1975 entitled Adventures of

9282-660: The globe. He ultimately decided that Southern Tunisia, on the edge of the Sahara , would make an ideal Tatooine. Principal photography began in Chott el Djerid on March 22, 1976. Meanwhile, a construction crew in nearby Tozeur spent eight weeks creating additional Tatooine locations. The scenes of Luke's Tatooine home were filmed at the Hotel Sidi Driss, in Matmata . Additional Tatooine scenes were shot at Death Valley in

9401-652: The gold ring Snoke wears is set with obsidian from Darth Vader 's castle on Mustafar . The glyphs it is set with are a reference to four philosophers Palpatine had statues of in his office, first seen in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones . Additionally, Palpatine's theme can be heard during the scene in which Snoke tortures Rey . In the context of the story, Snoke is a "genetic strandcast" created by Emperor Palpatine to serve as his proxy in power. Snoke, whom Abrams called "a powerful figure on

9520-522: The idea for a science fiction film in the vein of Flash Gordon around the time he completed his first film, THX 1138 (1971), and he began working on a treatment after the release of American Graffiti (1973). After numerous rewrites, filming took place throughout 1975 and 1976 in locations including Tunisia and Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Lucas formed the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic to help create

9639-477: The innocence of the story and the sophistication of Lucas's fictional world, United Artists declined to fund the project. Lucas and Kurtz then presented the treatment to Universal Pictures, the studio that financed American Graffiti . Universal agreed it could be a successful venture, but had doubts about Lucas's ability to execute his vision. Kurtz has claimed the studio's rejection was primarily due to Universal head Lew Wasserman's low opinion of science fiction, and

9758-588: The job, but eventually withdrew to work on the Vincente Minnelli -directed A Matter of Time (1976). Unsworth was replaced by Gilbert Taylor , who had overseen photography for Dr. Strangelove and A Hard Day's Night (both 1964). Lucas admired Taylor's work on both films, describing them as "eccentrically photographed pictures with a strong documentary flavor." Once photography was under way, Lucas and Taylor had many disputes. Lucas's lighting suggestions were rejected by Taylor, who believed Lucas

9877-419: The latter accidentally while searching for a buzzing, sparking sound to add to the projector-motor hum. For Chewbacca's speech, Burtt combined the sounds of four bears, a badger, a lion, a seal, and a walrus. Burtt achieved Vader's breathing noise by breathing through the mask of a scuba regulator; this process inspired the idea of Vader being a burn victim. Supreme Leader Snoke Supreme Leader Snoke

9996-466: The location for the moon Yavin 4 . The scenes of the Rebel base on Yavin were filmed in the local Mayan temples. The animation of the Death Star plans shown at the base were created by computer programmer Larry Cuba , using the GRASS programming language . It is the only digital computer animation utilized in the original version of Star Wars . The visual simulation of Yavin 4 orbiting its mother planet

10115-416: The location of the Rebel base. After disabling the tractor beam, Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel against Vader, which allows the rest of the group to escape. Using a tracking device placed on the Falcon , the Empire locates the Rebel base on the moon Yavin 4 . Analysis of the Death Star schematics reveals a weakness in a small exhaust port leading directly to the station's reactor. Luke joins

10234-457: The mannerisms of animals he observed in public zoos. Prowse was originally offered the role of Chewbacca, but turned it down, as he wanted to play the villain. Prowse portrayed Vader physically, but Lucas felt his West Country English accent was inappropriate for the character, and selected James Earl Jones for Vader's voice. Lucas considered Orson Welles for the voice role, but was concerned his voice would be too familiar to audiences. Jones

10353-439: The march is heard in "Part VI" after Darth Vader's contact with Darth Sidious. "The Imperial March" took inspiration and stylistic influences from Chopin's Marche funèbre and English composer Gustav Holst 's Opus 32, The Planets , written between 1914 and 1917, and Grande Marche de Medjidie by August Ritter Von Adelburg . Star Wars (film) Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope )

10472-431: The next two years making the coming-of-age film, which was immensely successful. In January 1973, he began working on the space opera full-time. He began the process by inventing odd names for characters and places. By the time the screenplay was finalized he had discarded many of the names, but several made it into the final script and later sequels. He used his early notes to compile a two-page synopsis titled Journal of

10591-515: The nine-year-old Anakin in The Phantom Menace at 1H10 is thematically based on "The Imperial March." "The Imperial March" is also heard towards the end, as Yoda acknowledges Anakin as Obi-Wan 's apprentice in saying "The Chosen One, the boy may be. Nevertheless, grave danger I fear in his training" at 2H06. It is also heard softly at the end of the final credit roll, where it fades into the character's signature breathing, showing that

10710-407: The other actors. He recalled Guinness having "a very clear head about how to serve the story." On top of his salary, Guinness received 2.25% of the film's backend grosses, which made him wealthy later in life. Daniels said he wanted the role of C-3PO after he saw a Ralph McQuarrie concept painting of the character and was struck by the vulnerability in the droid's face. After casting Daniels for

10829-399: The pace of the narrative. The most notable of these were a series from Tatooine, when Luke is first introduced. Set in the city of Anchorhead, the scenes depicted Luke's everyday life among his friends, and showed how their lives are affected by the space battle above the planet. These scenes also introduced Biggs Darklighter, Luke's closest friend who leaves to join the Rebellion. Hirsch said

10948-498: The performance-capture roles". Though praising the "unobtrusive sophistication" of the visual effects used to portray the character, Variety ' s Justin Chang said that Serkis is "fine but not galvanizing" in the role. Lindsay Bahr of the Associated Press deemed Snoke one of the "less memorable" characters in The Force Awakens . In 2016, Serkis was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Virtual Performance for

11067-400: The physical performance, Lucas intended to hire another actor for the droid's voice. According to Daniels, thirty well-established actors auditioned—including Richard Dreyfuss and Mel Blanc —but Daniels received the voice role after one of the actors suggested the idea to Lucas. Baker (R2-D2) and Mayhew (Chewbacca) were cast largely due to their height. At 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 m), Baker

11186-604: The potential of "A new Vader." In the 2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker the track is present in the scenes where the mask of Darth Vader is shown, when Darth Sidious first reveals the Final Order, a massive armada of Xyston -class Star Destroyers built by the Sith Eternal , to Kylo Ren, when Rey seeks Sidious' Sith wayfinder in the Death Star's wreckage, and when a Sith Star Destroyer arrives to destroy Kijimi . Trailers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story featured

11305-524: The production. Taylor claims that Lucas avoided contact with him, which motivated the cinematographer to make his own decisions about how to shoot the film. Originally, Lucas envisioned Tatooine as a jungle planet, and Kurtz traveled to the Philippines to scout locations. However, the thought of spending months filming in the jungle made Lucas uncomfortable, so he made Tatooine a desert planet instead. Kurtz then researched various desert locales around

11424-406: The rest of the prequel trilogy will reveal how Anakin became Darth Vader. In the second prequel, Attack of the Clones , "The Imperial March" is sometimes played subtly when an event foreshadows Anakin's future: It is first played when Yoda senses Anakin slaughtering a tribe of Tusken Raiders to avenge his mother 's death and later with more force when Anakin tells Padmé Amidala what he did. It

11543-470: The role, but decided the actor's lean features would be better employed as the villainous Tarkin. The film's producer, Gary Kurtz , felt a strong character actor was required to convey the "stability and gravitas" of Obi-Wan. Before Guinness was cast, the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune —who stars in many Akira Kurosawa films—was considered for the role. His daughter, Mika Kitagawa, said her father "had

11662-416: The role. Some viewers felt that Snoke's character arc was underdeveloped. Various fan theories about his origins were held so strongly among some viewers that it was difficult for them to accept his demise in The Last Jedi . Rian Johnson's decision to kill the character without developing him further was criticized by many. Serkis addressed the criticisms by saying producers wanted the character "to have

11781-489: The same way as any other. You have to understand who the character is and what makes them who they are." Serkis said of filming: It was quite an unusual situation. I worked specifically with Domhnall Gleeson and with Adam Driver . My first day was basically standing on a 25-foot podium doing Lord Snoke without the faintest idea what he looked like ... or in fact who he was! I was very high up, totally on my own, away from everybody else, but acting with them ... we used sort of

11900-475: The scenes were removed because they presented too much information in the first few minutes of the film, and they created too many storylines for the audience to follow. The removal of the Anchorhead scenes also helped distinguish Star Wars from Lucas's previous film; Alan Ladd called the deleted scenes " American Graffiti in outer space". Lucas also wanted to shift the narrative focus to C-3PO and R2-D2 at

12019-473: The ship to look like a submarine, and used inexpensive airplane scrap metal to achieve the desired effect. Set construction later moved to Elstree Studios , where Barry created thirty sets. All nine sound stages at Elstree were needed to house the fabricated planets, starships, caves, control rooms, cantinas, and Death Star corridors. The Rebel hangar was so massive it had to be built at nearby Shepperton Studios , which contained Europe's largest sound stage at

12138-635: The studio visualize the film, which positively influenced their decision to fund the project. His artwork also set the visual tone for Star Wars and the rest of the original trilogy. The trouble with the future in most futurist movies is that it always looks new and clean and shiny   ... What is required for true credibility is a used future. —George Lucas on the aesthetic of Star Wars Lucas wanted to create props and sets (based on McQuarrie's paintings) that had never before been used in science-fiction films. He hired as production designers John Barry and Roger Christian , who were then working on

12257-440: The team understand his vision for scenes in Star Wars . Sound designer Ben Burtt had created a library of sounds that Lucas referred to as an "organic soundtrack". Blaster sounds were created by modifying the noise of a steel cable being struck while under tension. Lightsaber sound effects were a combination of the hum of movie projector motors and interference caused by a television set on a shieldless microphone. Burtt discovered

12376-530: The time. In 1975, Lucas founded the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) after discovering that Fox's visual effects department had been shut down. ILM began its work on Star Wars in a warehouse in Van Nuys , California. Most of the visual effects used pioneering digital motion control photography developed by John Dykstra and his team, which created the illusion of size by employing small models and slowly moving cameras. The technology

12495-538: The track prominently; the first notes of "The Imperial March" can be heard at the end of the trailer as the letters turn to reveal the name of the upcoming movie. Prior to this, Darth Vader can be heard breathing and his appearance is seen as a reflection on the floor. In the film proper, scored by Michael Giacchino , the theme can be heard when Vader emerges from his sanctum to confer with Director Orson Krennic, and again after Vader warns Krennic about overstepping his bounds. The theme can be heard once more when Vader attacks

12614-581: The wayward droid BB-8 , which carries a map to the missing Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill ). Later, Snoke orders General Hux ( Domnhall Gleeson ) to destroy the New Republic with the Starkiller Base superweapon. He then orders Ren to bring Rey ( Daisy Ridley ) to him after she refuses to disclose the map to Luke. After Ren is defeated in a lightsaber duel with Rey, Snoke orders Hux to bring Ren to him to complete his training. Following

12733-412: The writing process in January 1973, Lucas wrote four different screenplays for Star Wars , searching for "just the right ingredients, characters and storyline." By May 1974, he had expanded the original treatment into a full, 132-page rough draft, which included elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a general named Annikin Starkiller. He then changed Starkiller to an adolescent boy, and shifted

12852-441: Was "even closer to Campbell's structure" than the third. Lucas has claimed he wrote a version of the screenplay that was 250–300 pages long, which outlined the plot of the entire original trilogy. Realizing it was too lengthy for a single film, he decided to spread the story over three films. This division caused problems with the first episode; Lucas had to use the ending of Return of the Jedi for Star Wars , which resulted in

12971-515: Was accepted by Twentieth Century-Fox in June 1973. Studio president Alan Ladd Jr. did not grasp the technical side of the project, but believed in Lucas's talent. Lucas later stated that Ladd invested in him, not in the film. The Fox deal gave Lucas $ 150,000 to write and direct the film. In August, American Graffiti opened to massive success, which afforded Lucas the necessary leverage to renegotiate

13090-483: Was cast as Luke over Robby Benson , Robert Englund , William Katt , Kurt Russell , and Charles Martin Smith , while Fisher was cast as Leia over Karen Allen , Amy Irving , Terri Nunn , Cindy Williams , and Linda Purl . Jodie Foster was offered the role, but turned it down because she was under contract with Disney. Koo Stark was also considered for Leia, but was instead cast as Luke's friend Camie Marstrap,

13209-523: Was created on the Scanimate analog computer. All the other computer monitors and targeting displays in the film featured simulated computer graphics, which were generated using pre-digital animation methods, such as hand-drawn backlight animation. Although Obi-Wan did not die in the final version of the script, Alec Guinness disliked the character's dialogue and said he begged Lucas to kill him off. Lucas, however, claimed he added Obi-Wan's death because

13328-465: Was diagnosed with hypertension and exhaustion and was warned to reduce his stress level. Post-production was equally stressful due to increasing pressure from the studio. Another obstacle arose when Hamill's face became visibly scarred after a car accident, which restricted re-shoots featuring Luke. Star Wars was originally slated for release on December 25, 1976, but production delays pushed it back to mid-1977. Editor John Jympson began cutting

13447-523: Was gonna look, but it really hadn't been fully-formed and it almost came out of discussion and performance ... We shot on set of course, and I was in the scenes I have with other actors, but the beauty of this process is you can go back and reiterate, keep informing and honing beats and moments. So J.J., after we shot last year, we've had a series of sessions where I'd be in London at The Imaginarium, my studio, while he's been directing from L.A., and we've literally been creating further additions and iterations to

13566-524: Was in the middle of a shot, in which case he could ask the crew to stay an extra 15 minutes. However, his requests were usually turned down. Most of the British crew considered Star Wars a children's film, and the actors sometimes did not take the project seriously. Kenny Baker later confessed that he thought the film would be a failure. According to Taylor, it was impossible to light the Elstree sets in

13685-513: Was intended to evoke curtains in a nod to The Wizard of Oz , in which the titular character hides behind a curtain. The throne room was designed to look theatrical as opposed to Palpatine's, which was more utilitarian. The conceptual designers of the set were inspired by unused concept art for Return of the Jedi depicting the Emperor's lava-based lair under the surface of Coruscant . According to The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary (2017),

13804-559: Was offered the role of the dimunitive droid immediately after meeting Lucas. He turned it down multiple times, however, before finally accepting it. R2-D2's beeps and squeaks were made by sound designer Ben Burtt by imitating baby noises, recording his voice over an intercom, and finally mixing the sounds together using a synthesizer. Mayhew initially auditioned for Vader, but Prowse was cast instead. However, when Lucas and Kurtz saw Mayhew's 7-foot-3-inch (2.21 m) stature, they quickly cast him as Chewbacca. Mayhew modeled his performance on

13923-407: Was overstepping his boundaries by giving specific instructions, sometimes even moving lights and cameras himself. After Fox executives complained about the soft-focus visual style of the film, Taylor changed his approach, which infuriated Lucas. Kurtz said that Lucas's inability to delegate tasks resulted from his history directing low-budget films, which required him to be involved with all aspects of

14042-575: Was to adapt the Flash Gordon space adventure comics and serials into films, having been fascinated by them since he was young. Lucas attempted to purchase the rights, but they had already been acquired by producer Dino De Laurentiis . Lucas then discovered that Flash Gordon was inspired by the John Carter of Mars book series by Edgar Rice Burroughs , the author of Tarzan . Burroughs, in turn, had been influenced by Gulliver on Mars ,

14161-530: Was uncredited until 1983. However, upon the film's release, audiences and critics immediately recognized Jones' voice as Darth Vader. During pre-production , Lucas recruited several conceptual designers: Colin Cantwell , who visualized the initial spacecraft models; Alex Tavoularis, who created storyboard sketches from early scripts; and Ralph McQuarrie, who created conceptual images of characters, costumes, props, and scenery. McQuarrie's paintings helped

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