David Prowse, who played Darth Vader, is 6'9" and a professional weight-lifter.
Actors could only be in the original Darth Vader costume armor (thick fiberglass) for 20 minutes at a time while promoting the THX remastered movies because of the weight of the suit.
R2-D2 is named after a piece of film editor's jargon-it means "Reel 2, Dialog 2".
The spaceship models used in Star Wars were made from everything from model airplane parts to those egg-shaped panty hose containers.
A scuba regulator was used to achieve the sound of Darth Vader's labored breathing.
The scene in which a swamp creature grabs R2-D2 in the Empire Strikes Back was filmed in George Lucas' unfinished swimming pool.
The Ewok's home of Endor was created and filmed amidst redwood forests near Crescent City, California.
A New Hope used less than 50 models, Empire used over 100, and Return used over 150.
A full-scale model of the Millenium Falcon measured 60 feet long and 16 feet high.
It took as many as 10 puppeteers using both hands to operate Jabba the Hutt.
The bottom of Luke's landspeeder was covered with mirrors, reflecting the ground giving the impression it was floating.
It took Star Wars sound technician Ben Burtt a full year to collect and mix different sounds and noises to be used for the vehicles and creatures in the film.
Next time you enjoy Star Wars: A New Hope, watch the scene in which stormtroopers enter the Death Star control room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding. One of the stormtroopers accidentally bumps his head on the door.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, cutouts were used to represent some of the starfighters "parked" in the background of the Rebel hangar bay.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, the mysterious writing surrounding Darth Vader's control panels is actually jumbled Hebrew symbols.
In the hangar bay scene featured in Return of the Jedi, look closely and you'll see that one of the stormtroopers has a "smiley face" painted on his helmet.
James Earl Jones, the now famous voice of Darth Vader, asked that he not be credited in the original Star Wars: A New Hope, as he didn't feel he had done enough work to deserve it.
A local hardware store near Industrial Light and Magic kept a table full of spare parts handy for ILM model makers who would drop by seeking inspiration for props and models.
The Empire Strikes Back animators studied the walking patterns of elephants in order to give realistic motion and movements to the film's monstrous AT-ATs.
In Return of the Jedi, when Han and Leia are trying to destroy the shield generator on the planet Endor, the power-source shown appears to be a series of plastic cups turned upside-down.
During the Cloud City evacuation scene in The Empire Strikes Back, one actor can be seen running around with what looks to be an ice-cream maker.
It took three different actors to portray Darth Vader: David Prowse (body), James Earl Jones (voice) and Sebastian Shaw (face).
In Star Wars, a small pair of metal dice can be seen hanging in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit as Chewbacca prepares to depart from Mos Eisley. The dice do not appear in subsequent scenes.
In the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy escapes with the golden idol in a sea plane with the registration numbers OB-3PO. This of course refers to Obi-wan and C-3PO from Star Wars.
Sections of the under-construction Death Star are said to resemble the San Francisco skyline, the silhouette of a favorite city of creator George Lucas.
Return of the Jedi was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi - but later underwent a title change, due to the fact that according to creator George Lucas, a Jedi would never take revenge.
The Millennium Falcon was originally inspired by the shape of a hamburger with an olive on the side.
During The Empire Strikes Back's famous asteroid scene: one of the deadly, hurling asteroids is actually...a potato!
Star Wars episode number IV, entitled "A New Hope," did not originally appear in the film's opening crawl. These were added in the later re-release, in order to be consistent with The Empire Strikes Back.
In The Empire Strikes Back, ILM designers sought a "radical" design shape for Boba Fett's ship - and ended up using a street lamp plucked off a post outside the ILM building.
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