Rare Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back footage unveiled with behind-the-scenes footage

As the year that was 2020 winds down, LucasFilm is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the beloved Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back.

LucasFilm debuted a new featurette with never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage on Good Morning America on Tuesday morning.

The video includes rare footage of Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo), with a second featurette debuting on The Star Wars Show on Wednesday. 

The seven-minute video began with George Lucas checking out footage, while Hamill was seen in the cockpit of an X-Wing fighter ship.

The actor realizes he’s forgotten his gloves, holding his hands up to the camera as ‘cut’ is called.

There is also footage on location in Finse, Norway, which doubled for the ice planet Hoth, where The Empire Strikes Back begins.

Crew members are seem setting up the Tauntaun creatures, with Lucas revealing in an interview that the cast and crew is ‘more enthusiastic.’

‘The first time, everyone was very confused about the whole thing, they didn’t know what they were up against. Now they had a better picture of what they were making,’ Lucas said. 

Hamill was seen joking about creating, ‘the Tauntaun dance,’ stating the dance was, ‘Three steps like this, and then you fall over,’ with a laugh.

Lucas also reveals the real snowstorm in Norway was so bad that the train bringing Harrison Ford to the set couldn’t get there until a week later due to the harsh weather conditions.

The filmmaker, who wrote the story and executive produced Empire Strikes Back, directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, added that after just four weeks of shooting, they were already behind schedule. 

While Carrie Fisher wasn’t in any of the snowy outdoor scenes, where Luke is rescued by Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, the actress was spotted on the set with a camera around her neck. 

‘I’m only up here to irritate the crew,’ Fisher jokes.

One of the never-before-seen scenes is set inside the Rebel hangar on Hoth, Princess Leia asks Han Solo if the Millennium Falcon is having problems.

‘Thanks for your concern,’ Solo says sarcastically, giving her a playful smack on the shoulder.

The footage includes a mix of new and archival interviews with Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. 

Hamil also revealed in an interview that he was ‘surprised’ the sequel wasn’t just a ‘carbon copy’ of the first film, and that’s why it was a success. 

‘It was so unexpected. Usually when you do a sequel, they just want to repeat the experience,” Hamill says. “It was so daring. I don’t think we were ever able to be that surprising again, because it was deeper, more cerebral, it was more spiritual.’

Among other new footage is an Harrison Ford outtake, while he’s on Cloud City with Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), and scenes of Hamill training for Luke Skywalker’s epic duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones).

‘This was the most physically taxing of all the films, because of the lightsaber duels. Every time I wasn’t shooting I was rehearsing,’ Hamill said, adding the scenes took ‘weeks and week’s to shoot, even though it’s just a few minutes on film.

The second featurette debuts tomorrow on The Star Wars Show, featuring interviews with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, The Mandalorian executive producer Dave Filoni, directors Bryce Dallas Howard, Deborah Chow, Leslye Headland and Taika Waititi and actors Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Diego Luna (Andor, Rogue One).