10 Things You Never Knew About Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Rejected By Four Giants

George Lucas took Star Wars on the road and got shut down by Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Productions, and United Artists. Twentieth Century-Fox finally said yes.

$150k Bet On Vibe

Alan Ladd Jr. greenlit the movie for $150,000 because he trusted Lucas's talent, not because he understood the tech. Ladd later admitted he didn't fully grasp the project on a technical level.

Crop of File:Actress Carrie Fisher © Riccardo Ghilardi photographer.jpg - Fisher at the Venice International Film Festival 2013 — By Riccardo Ghilardi - Crop of File:Actress Carrie Fisher © Riccardo Ghilardi photographer.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55103929, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Flash Gordon No-Show

In 1971 Lucas wanted Flash Gordon rights from King Features, but the company was chasing Federico Fellini to direct. Blocked out, he decided to write an original space opera instead.

Photo of George Lucas — AP Wirephoto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Chewie Was A Real Dog

Chewbacca was inspired by Lucas's Alaskan Malamute Indiana, his self-styled 'co-pilot' who rode shotgun. That dog's name later lived on as Indiana Jones.

Harrison Ford at Celebrity Fight Night XXIII in Phoenix, Arizona. — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Han Was A Monster

Early on Han Solo wasn't a charming smuggler at all. Lucas first imagined him as a large green-skinned monster with gills.

Luke Starkiller Era

Luke Skywalker started life as Luke Starkiller, a general. Lucas later reworked him into the adolescent farm boy we know.

Crawl Was A Novel

The opening crawl was once six paragraphs of four sentences each. Brian De Palma called it too long and incomprehensible after an unfinished cut, so he and Jay Cocks trimmed it down to four sentences.

Four Full Drafts

Between January 1973 and January 1976 Lucas wrote four complete screenplays. He kept revising characters, plot elements, and story structure the whole time.

Used Future On A Budget

Fox started with a $5 million budget that grew to $8.25 million. With Fox's special effects department recently shut down, Lucas leaned into a used look and fewer complex effects shots.

200-Page Problem

Lucas's second draft ballooned past 200 pages, forcing him to split the story into multiple films. That meant borrowing the ending of Return of the Jedi for the first film so both movies wouldn't end with identical Death Star conclusions.