The Quotable Making of ESB
@makingesb.bsky.social
In 1980, promotion for Empire Strikes Back included a raw, no-holds-barred behind-the-scenes diary of production written by publicist Alan Arnold. It's kinda bonkers and immensely quotable.
Pinned
When #StarWars sequel #EmpireStrikesBack went into production, unit publicist Alan Arnold was embedded with the crew. He kept a journal released in 1980 as "Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Empire Strikes Back" as movie promo.
This book could never be written for a movie today.
This book could never be written for a movie today.
"Kersh is worrying primarily about the specific moment or scene he has to deal with, and what I’m constantly keeping my eye on is the whole picture and how it’s all fitting together."
-George Lucas in Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
-George Lucas in Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
January 18, 2025 at 4:16 PM
"Kersh is worrying primarily about the specific moment or scene he has to deal with, and what I’m constantly keeping my eye on is the whole picture and how it’s all fitting together."
-George Lucas in Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
-George Lucas in Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
"Currently, the action is in the Cloud City corridors and dining room, the sequence in which Han and the princess, while guests of Lando Calrissian, are led into the presence of Darth Vader and the most dangerous of bounty hunters, Boba Fett."
January 15, 2025 at 6:10 PM
"Currently, the action is in the Cloud City corridors and dining room, the sequence in which Han and the princess, while guests of Lando Calrissian, are led into the presence of Darth Vader and the most dangerous of bounty hunters, Boba Fett."
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Happy birthday to the legendary Lawrence Kasdan!
Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also wrote the first Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
May the Force be with you!
Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also wrote the first Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
May the Force be with you!
January 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Happy birthday to the legendary Lawrence Kasdan!
Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also wrote the first Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
May the Force be with you!
Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also wrote the first Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
May the Force be with you!
Alan Arnold: Do you feel you, too, could be written out?
Mark Hamill: It's already been taken care of. Ben Kenobi says to Yoda: "Luke is our only hope." Yoda shakes his head: "No," he says, "no, there is another." So, you see, George could write me out.
Mark Hamill: It's already been taken care of. Ben Kenobi says to Yoda: "Luke is our only hope." Yoda shakes his head: "No," he says, "no, there is another." So, you see, George could write me out.
January 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Alan Arnold: Do you feel you, too, could be written out?
Mark Hamill: It's already been taken care of. Ben Kenobi says to Yoda: "Luke is our only hope." Yoda shakes his head: "No," he says, "no, there is another." So, you see, George could write me out.
Mark Hamill: It's already been taken care of. Ben Kenobi says to Yoda: "Luke is our only hope." Yoda shakes his head: "No," he says, "no, there is another." So, you see, George could write me out.
"Thus the story unfolds, out of sequence, unchronologically as is the manner of most films in the making. The bits of the jigsaw puzzle are being carved for piecing together later."
-Alan Arnold, "Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back"
-Alan Arnold, "Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back"
January 14, 2025 at 1:56 AM
"Thus the story unfolds, out of sequence, unchronologically as is the manner of most films in the making. The bits of the jigsaw puzzle are being carved for piecing together later."
-Alan Arnold, "Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back"
-Alan Arnold, "Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back"
Me and the three folks who read my posts
January 14, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Me and the three folks who read my posts
"Slim as a stripling, her features agile and aware, she had a hint of melancholy about her as if her celebrity were a cause for concern in someone who spurns a Hollywood-style image."
-Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of Empire Strikes Back (1980)
-Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Carrie Fisher asleep on the set of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in 1979.
January 1, 2025 at 12:01 AM
"Slim as a stripling, her features agile and aware, she had a hint of melancholy about her as if her celebrity were a cause for concern in someone who spurns a Hollywood-style image."
-Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of Empire Strikes Back (1980)
-Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
I want someone to sync this to the audio of the carbon freezing scene from Empire Strikes Back
December 29, 2024 at 12:38 AM
I want someone to sync this to the audio of the carbon freezing scene from Empire Strikes Back
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Empire strikes back is a Christmas movie because of snow, and awkward family conversations.
December 26, 2024 at 6:27 PM
Empire strikes back is a Christmas movie because of snow, and awkward family conversations.
"Such impatient public clamor [for Star Wars to release in the UK] was unique in modern times. Indeed, for something comparable, we must consider the crowds that gathered dockside in Boston and New York to await arrival from England installments of The Pickwick Papers."
December 26, 2024 at 7:10 PM
"Such impatient public clamor [for Star Wars to release in the UK] was unique in modern times. Indeed, for something comparable, we must consider the crowds that gathered dockside in Boston and New York to await arrival from England installments of The Pickwick Papers."
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Matte painting by the great Harrison Ellenshaw.
December 24, 2024 at 6:15 PM
The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Matte painting by the great Harrison Ellenshaw.
“You’ll be visited by three spirits”
The three spirits:
The three spirits:
December 26, 2024 at 4:12 AM
“You’ll be visited by three spirits”
The three spirits:
The three spirits:
"The first script was just murder to write, just awful. It took me two years. Most of it was simply finding my way through that world. Now I’m much more immersed in the world. When I did the story for the second film, it was easier because it’s really part of the Star Wars story."
-George Lucas
-George Lucas
December 23, 2024 at 2:10 AM
"The first script was just murder to write, just awful. It took me two years. Most of it was simply finding my way through that world. Now I’m much more immersed in the world. When I did the story for the second film, it was easier because it’s really part of the Star Wars story."
-George Lucas
-George Lucas
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Kenner Star Wars
1982 JCPenney Catalog
1982 JCPenney Catalog
December 15, 2024 at 8:37 PM
Kenner Star Wars
1982 JCPenney Catalog
1982 JCPenney Catalog
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Some pics of the Millennium Falcon being build in Pembroke Dock, Wales in 1979 for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’.
www.atlasobscura.com/places/pembr...
#WalesInTheMovies
#maythe4thbewithyou
#StarWarsWales
www.atlasobscura.com/places/pembr...
#WalesInTheMovies
#maythe4thbewithyou
#StarWarsWales
December 15, 2024 at 9:32 AM
Some pics of the Millennium Falcon being build in Pembroke Dock, Wales in 1979 for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’.
www.atlasobscura.com/places/pembr...
#WalesInTheMovies
#maythe4thbewithyou
#StarWarsWales
www.atlasobscura.com/places/pembr...
#WalesInTheMovies
#maythe4thbewithyou
#StarWarsWales
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Polish poster
December 15, 2024 at 8:18 PM
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Polish poster
"But Kersh had lost interest again and was apparently intent on the sky again."
December 16, 2024 at 12:51 PM
"But Kersh had lost interest again and was apparently intent on the sky again."
"It's been a unique experience to write down something how I thought it should be, explain to the director how it was supposed to be done, describe the ambience, & then have it come out completely different. It’s an interesting experience. I can now see why screenwriters go crazy."
-George Lucas
-George Lucas
December 14, 2024 at 12:46 AM
"It's been a unique experience to write down something how I thought it should be, explain to the director how it was supposed to be done, describe the ambience, & then have it come out completely different. It’s an interesting experience. I can now see why screenwriters go crazy."
-George Lucas
-George Lucas
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) British poster
December 9, 2024 at 1:30 AM
Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) British poster
"At the press conference, Kurtz announced principal photography would start the following Monday. He decribed The Empire Strikes Back as 'a new chapter in the Star Wars saga' because the intention in never to refer to it as a sequel because George Lucas stories do not have chronological sequence."
December 12, 2024 at 1:50 PM
"At the press conference, Kurtz announced principal photography would start the following Monday. He decribed The Empire Strikes Back as 'a new chapter in the Star Wars saga' because the intention in never to refer to it as a sequel because George Lucas stories do not have chronological sequence."
Reposted by The Quotable Making of ESB
Leigh Brackett was born on this day 109 years ago. Brackett wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back and remains the only woman who has a writing credit on a Star Wars film.
December 8, 2024 at 3:58 AM
Leigh Brackett was born on this day 109 years ago. Brackett wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back and remains the only woman who has a writing credit on a Star Wars film.
"Who cares about Dickory Dock now? Childhood is not the same. For better or worse, there has been a cosmic growing. What will it be like in 1984?"
-'Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Empire Strikes Back.'
-'Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Empire Strikes Back.'
December 10, 2024 at 4:48 PM
"Who cares about Dickory Dock now? Childhood is not the same. For better or worse, there has been a cosmic growing. What will it be like in 1984?"
-'Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Empire Strikes Back.'
-'Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Empire Strikes Back.'