LOCATION DISLOCATION
WADI RUM ISN’T THE ONLY HIGHLY CHALLENGING PLACE STAR WARS HAS FILMED
Episode iv: A NEW Hope (1977)
Location: Tunisia • Doubling for: Tatooine Star Wars’ very first location provided a baptism of twin suns fire. on 23 March 1976, the second day of filming was hit by rain, the first tunisian winter storm in 50 years. after falling behind in the first week of schedule, george Lucas and co were hit by a freak sandstorm tearing the Sandcrawler set apart. the tunisian sands also caused havoc, disturbing the signals directing the RD-D2 models and sending them out of control.
Episode iv: A NEW Hope (1977)
Location: Tikal, Guatemala • Doubling for: Yavin iv a small crew from ILM ventured to tikal, guatemala, in March 1977 to capture rebel base exteriors. after 21 hours of travelling, the crew landed on a runway that was just a strip of mud. Eight guides led the team through jungles to a temple. to get the shot of a rebel soldier high in a look-out point, the crew bolted a tin dustbin on a pole. only modelmaker Lorne Peterson was brave enough to climb into the makeshift crow’s nest.
Episode V: THE Empire strikes Back (1980)
Location: norway • Doubling for: HOTH
Echoing A New Hope, Empire started shooting with norway’s worst winter weather in 50 years, with temperatures dropping to -20˚f and 18 feet of snow falling. trapped in their hotel, the crew shot exteriors of Luke exiting the Wampa cave from outside the hotel doors. film became so brittle it snapped. Mark Hamill and a skeleton crew braved blinding blizzards and suffered painful whiteouts. george Lucas took one for the team and supervised things from sunny San francisco.
Episode i: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
Location: leavesden studios • Doubling for: coruscant forget sandstorms, ice wastes and jungle treks. the toughest Star Wars locations were the green-screens of Leavesden, capable of tripping up even the most seasoned of actor. 1960s icon terence Stamp signed on to play chancellor Valorum in order to work with natalie Portman, but found himself playing opposite a bit of paper. He later told Empire: “actors prefer to work with actors.” ian freer