History Trivia / ANewHope

* NetworkToTheRescue: Lucas was dumped by almost every studio in Hollywood ([[HilariousInHindsight even Disney]]) when he tried to pitch ''Star Wars'' to them. Eventually he went to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, who were also reluctant to put their resources in the film due to then-recent financial issues caused by various box office bombs and the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem, but then-studio head Alan Ladd, Jr. managed to cajole the executives into giving the film a chance (by forcing theaters who booked one of their movies to show Star Wars too).

** Han's parting words to Jabba in Mos Eisley, calling him a "wonderful human being," made more sense in the scene as originally filmed and then deleted. At that time, Jabba was not yet the giant sluglike alien canonized in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and digitally edited over the original footage when the scene was restored in the Special Edition. It still works in context, though, just becoming a little more sarcastic than it was before. Though the intent had always been to matte over the performer with a decidedly nonhuman creature, the stop-motion of the [=70s=] just wouldn't permit it.
** The 1997 special edition added in a shot of the ''Outrider'' from ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', a reference to the then year old multimedia event. With the 2014 reboot having decanonized ''Shadows of the Empire'', the reference seems lost.

** A similar example happens with TD-110. When he does a traffic stop in Mos Eisley to ask Luke if he knows about the droids his squadron's looking for, he's played by Anthony Forrest, with his voice dubbed by Terry [=McGovern=]. When he bumps his head on the Death Star later on, he's played by Laurie Goode.
*** This is due to the character of TD-110 being created and retroactively applied to the two stormtroopers decades after the fact in a short story from Literature/FromACertainPointOfView.
* PermanentPlaceholder: Anthony Daniels was hired to provide the body of C-[=3PO=] with the intention of dubbing him over later. Some thirty voice actors auditioned, until it was decided to keep Daniels voicing the character.

-->“It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend.”

* SerendipityWritesThePlot

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A lot of the technology references are dated to computers and electronics of the 70's.
** Admiral Motti refers to the "stolen data '''tapes'''", suggesting the galaxy still uses something akin to video/cassette tapes. To be fair, magnetic tape data storage, albeit mostly unknown by consumers of today, is still widely used in data centers[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape_data_storage#Viability]]. Maybe the princess stole an unenencrypted backup tape from the Empire.

** The scene of Han trying to talk the Stormtroopers out of investigating the shootout they've just had. Depending on who you talk to, Harrison Ford forgot his lines, never read them at all to increase the tension and spasticness, or just learned them shortly before shooting. He even cringes when he realizes how he sounds. It's hard to tell if Ford quickly decided that ''Han'' would cringe after realizing he didn't sound believable or professional to the Imperial officer on the other end, or if ''Ford'' cringed at how bad his ad-lib sounded but they left it in because Han would have done the same thing after sounding so dumb. His snark of "Boring conversation anyway" after shooting the control panel was also ad libbed.

*** Creator/CharlesMartinSmith, [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Robby Benson]], and [[Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow Perry King]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdqBtPAZzKg&list=PLC3CD575DE35513CA&index=4 auditioned]] for the part of Luke Skywalker as well before the casting of Hamill. King would later go on to [[CastTheRunnerUp voice Han in the radio adaptation]].

---> '''Pacino:''' I remember not understanding the script. I was in ''Film/TheGodfather'' and they didn't care if I was right or wrong for the role or if I could act or not act.
*** Creator/BillMurray, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/SylvesterStallone, Creator/JohnTravolta, Creator/RobertEnglund, Creator/JamesWoods, and Creator/BillyDeeWilliams were considered for Han Solo as well before the casting of Ford. Williams would eventually go on to portray [[Characters/StarWarsLandoCalrissianCharacterSheet Lando Calrissian]] in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''.
** Creator/JodieFoster was the original candidate for the role of [[Characters/StarWarsLeiaOrgana Princess Leia]] before Creator/CarrieFisher was cast. However, Foster turned down the offer due to scheduling commitments to ''Film/TaxiDriver''. Creator/SissySpacek auditioned, while Fisher auditioned for ''Film/Carrie1976'', as Lucas and Creator/BrianDePalma were holding joint auditions and they got each other's roles (Fisher denied the rumour that she chose ''Star Wars'' because she refused to do nudity). Creator/TeriGarr [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeqBwnCr3fY also auditioned]].

** The second draft from 1975, ''Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars'', had almost all the recognizable elements from the final product. In its backstory, the Galactic Empire had been built over a Republic toppled by trader barons, while the Jedi-bendu, who protected the galaxy with their knowledge of the Force of Others, had been exterminated by a mercenary Force sect named the Black Knights of the Sith. The protagonist was now Luke Starkiller himself, who had been taught the Jedi arts along with his three brothers (Biggs, Windy and Deak) by their uncle Owen Lars (husband to Beru and father to Leia) and therefore received the title of "The Skywalker". In order to save Deak and the planet Ogana Major, Luke joined young space pirate Han Solo (who had stolen a ship by rigging it so it appeared to be about to explode and letting the rest of the crew evacuate themselves) and his crew, the Wookie Chewbacca (who ''was'' technologically capable) and the cyborg Montross Holdaack. After finding Ogana had been blown up by an Imperial unnamed space station, they were captured and taken to a prison complex in a floating city, but escaped and eventually reached the Rebel base in Yavin 4, from where they destroyed the station in a way similar to the Death Star. A SequelHook where Luke completed his training with his father, the ancient Jedi leader of the Rebellion, was also included.

** The Battle of Yavin was originally going to be much less exciting — the final battle had Luke taking two full runs at the exhaust port, no appearance of ghost!Obi-Wan, and Han scaring Vader away from Luke much before Luke takes the shot.

** The "Lost Cut" — the first rough cut of the film, which has never been seen publicly and has been detailed in various articles over the years — was apparently intended to be "''Film/AmericanGraffiti'' In Space". It featured many extra scenes, including extra footage of the Jawas and the Sandcrawler, a midget human confronting a creature much larger than himself (seen in a BetweenMyLegs shot) at the Mos Eisley spaceport which was later reused for the “Life on Tatooine” segment of the ''Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' , and more.
** The incident in the cantina was originally filmed as much more gruesome, with Ponda Baba/Walrusman not only having his arm severed by Obi-Wan’s lightsaber but also getting ''beheaded''. Unused footage exists of the severed head moving around on the floor of the cantina.
** Kabe, the little bat faced alien seen briefly asking for a drink in the cantina, was originally supposed to be part of the group harassing Luke and can be seen standing near Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba in several shots. Several still photos exist of Kabe reacting to the aftermath of the altercation with Obi-Wan.

* DeletedRole: [[DeletedScene/StarWars See here]].

** The general story of what we now know and love as ''Film/ANewHope'', and by extension the entire ''Star Wars'', varied heavily from draft to draft. The very first treatment written in 1973, ''The Journal of the Whills, Part 1'', centered around a "Jedi-bendu" by the name of Mace Windy (who would become the character of Mace Windu in ''The Phantom Menace'') and his apprentice, C. 2. "Chuiee" Thorpe. Lucas brought the thing to his agent, Jeff Berg, who was quickly confused by the [[CallARabbitASmeerp massive amounts of jargon]] used in the treatment, and recommended he start simpler.
** The next version of the story was already called (''The'') ''Star Wars'', and was heavily inspired by Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''Film/TheHiddenFortress''. The protagonists were a princess and her protector, veteran General Luke Skywalker, who were chased by the evil Empire. On their way, they were joined by two bureaucrats and later a cadre of juvenile rebels who had revolted against the empire.
** Lucas tweaked the story in the process of creating a rough draft in 1974, and then a first draft with some naming changes. The story featured Jedi master knight Kane Starkiller and his son Annikin, who helped free planets to oppose the evil Empire and its ruler Cos Dashit. As Kane was a cyborg (with only his head and right arm remaining organic) and therefore couldn't adequately teach his son the ways of the Jedi, he arranged for Annikin to train under the tutelage of his old friend Luke Skywalker, while Kane himself joined a hulking reptilian alien named Han Solo to perform a mission. The plot then had Annikin rescuing Princess Leia and joining a tribe of Wookiees (originally envisioned as smaller, with heads like that of "giant bushbabies", and not technologically capable), captained by Chewbacca, in order to defeat the Imperial forces in their jungle homeworld of Yavin. Characters like Vader, Artoo and Threepio were already there, at least nominally.
** The second draft from 1975, ''Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars'', had almost all the recognizable elements from the final product. In its backstory, the Galactic Empire had been built over a Republic toppled by trader barons, while the Jedi-bendu, who protected the galaxy with their knowledge of the Force of Others, had been exterminated by a mercenary Force sect named the Black Knights of the Sith. The protagonist was now Luke Starkiller himself, who had been taught the Jedi arts along with his three brothers by their uncle Owen Lars (husband to Beru and father to Leia) and therefore received the title of "The Skywalker". In order to save his brother Deak and the planet Ogana Major, Luke joined young space pirate Han Solo (who had stolen a ship by rigging it so it appeared to be about to explode and letting the rest of the crew evacuate themselves) and his crew, the Wookie Chewbacca (who ''was'' technologically capable) and the cyborg Montross Holdaack. After finding Ogana had been blown up by an Imperial unnamed space station, they were captured and taken to a prison complex in a floating city, but escaped and eventually reached the Rebel base in Yavin 4, from where they destroyed the station in a way similar to the Death Star. A SequelHook where Luke completed his training with his father, the ancient Jedi leader of the Rebellion, was also included.
** The next drafts increasingly resembled the final ''A New Hope'', but contained some differences in naming and character traits, with one of them being Ben Kenobi revealed as a cyborg and a bit of a cumurdgeon.
** Around the time of the second draft, Lucas was concerned that there weren't any major female characters, as Leia Lars was very minor, so he considered changing Luke to a girl (presumably fusing him with Leia) and making Han her love interest. Also, the Kyber Crystal — a crystal which amplifies the power of the Force in its bearer — was a major part of the plot in those draft scripts, to the point that in the third, while the others are rescuing Leia, Ben Kenobi goes to take back a Kyber Crystal which had been stolen by Vader when he betrayed the Jedi. In the final version this was replaced by him deactivating a tractor beam holding the ship.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** A strange and likely unintended one occurs in the Jabba the Hutt scene added in the special edition. [[EnsembleDarkhorse Boba Fett]] is seen as part of Jabba's entourage, showing that the two already have a frequent working relationship. In the original version of ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Boba Fett only delivered Han to Jabba after being brought on board by Darth Vader to assist him, which meant it was completely inexplicable as to why he was ''still'' hanging around Jabba's palace in ''Return of the Jedi'' as opposed to going off on his way to pursue other bounties.
** There was some criticism of the FridgeLogic that the only tractor beam on something the size of the Death Star could be disabled from a single small terminal. While not a serious complaint, some additional voiceover dialogue from [=C3PO=] was added to rereleases of the scene where the map to the tractor beam terminal was displayed for Obi-Wan, explaining that the tractor beam is powered by a network of seven nodes and disabling one of them would throw out the whole system.

** Creator/MelBlanc and Creator/StanFreberg were considered for the role of C-3PO before the casting of Creator/AnthonyDaniels.

* RomanceOnTheSet: Creator/CarrieFisher revealed to [[http://people.com/movies/carrie-fisher-reveals-affair-with-harrison-ford-star-wars/ People Magazine in November 2016]] that she and Creator/HarrisonFord had an "intense" affair during the three month production of the movie in 1976. Harrison has explicitly neither confirmed or denied the claim.

** While Creator/AlecGuinness' dislike of the dialogue in ''Star Wars'' is legendary, he jumped at the chance to work with Creator/GeorgeLucas and appreciated the film's special effects and technical accomplishments. He also thoroughly enjoyed working with the then-young cast, who have always spoken highly of his professionalism and work ethic. It's unclear the extent to which this remained true as CreatorBacklash set in for him in later years.

** While Creator/AlecGuinness' dislike of the dialogue and plot in ''Star Wars'' is legendary, he was very impressed with the special effects and appreciated the film on a technical level. It's unclear the extent to which this remained true as CreatorBacklash set in for him in later years.

* WordOfGod, ShrugOfGod, FlipFlopOfGod: Since this movie was made, canon and George Lucas have gone all over the place regarding what was intended and what the things that made it into the film actually mean.

* TroubledProduction: It would be a fitting analogy to say that Lucas getting his film made was a feat as Herculean as the Rebels' fight against the Empire. Both the documentary ''Film/EmpireOfDreams'' and J.W. Rinzler's book ''The Making of Star Wars'' go into great detail about how much of an uphill battle it was to make the film (which turned out to be just the first ''Star Wars'' production to go awry, as [[TroubledProduction/StarWars a whole page of them is found here]]): no one believed in the movie, ranging from the studio (who gave a paltry $8.25 million budget, which eventually escalated to $11 million as things went wrong) to the cast and crew who didn't really understand or care for the script and often ridiculed it; filming had rainstorms in a frequently dry Tunisian region, malfunctioning props, and things got so behind schedule that the crew had to split into three units to meet deadlines, the teaser trailer had just whatever footage was available, and the film was still delayed from Christmas 1976 to May 1977; post-production had Lucas hospitalized for extreme stress, followed by supervising the RagtagBunchOfMisfits turned [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic visual effects team]] doing a year's work in six months after blowing half of their budget on shots that were thrown out,[[note]]before Lucas arrived, most of their time and money was spent setting up their equipment rather than actually filming, and the only salvageable scene they did was the escape pod's release[[/note]] and then hiring two editors as well as his then-wife, Marcia Lucas to salvage a first cut described as a "complete disaster" when screened to close friends Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/BrianDePalma. Overall, the experience was so miserable, that Lucas quit directing and left the two sequels in other directors, and wouldn't direct another movie until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' two ''decades'' later.

* ExtremelyLengthyCreation: Creator/GeorgeLucas had the idea for a space-fantasy film in 1971. However, he has said that he had the idea long before then. He began writing in 1973 and production started in 1976.

* TroubledProduction: It would be a fitting analogy to say that Lucas getting his film made was a feat as Herculean as the Rebels' fight against the Empire. Both the documentary ''Film/EmpireOfDreams'' and J.W. Rinzler's book ''The Making of Star Wars'' go into great detail about how much of an uphill battle it was to make the film (which turned out to be just the first ''Star Wars'' production to go awry, as [[TroubledProduction/StarWars a whole page of them is found here]]): no one believed in the movie, ranging from the studio (who gave a paltry $8.25 million budget, which eventually escalated to $11 million as things went wrong) to the cast and crew who didn't really understand or care for the script and often ridiculed it; filming had rainstorms in a frequently dry Tunisian region, malfunctioning props, and things got so behind schedule that the crew had to split into three units to meet deadlines, the teaser trailer had just whatever footage was available, and the film was still delayed from Christmas 1976 to May 1977; post-production had Lucas hospitalized for extreme stress, followed by supervising the RagtagBunchOfMisfits turned [[Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic visual effects team]] doing a year's work in six months after blowing half of their budget on shots that were thrown out,[[note]]before Lucas arrived, most of their time and money was spent setting up their equipment rather than actually filming, and the only salvageable scene they did was the escape pod's release[[/note]] and then hiring two editors as well as his then-wife, Marcia Lucas to salvage a first cut described as a "complete disaster" when screened to close friends Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/BrianDePalma. Overall, the experience was so miserable, that Lucas left directing the next two films in other hands, and wouldn't direct another movie until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' two decades later.

* FakeBrit: Leia's brief accent change could be explained as indicative of speaking formally because she is a senator, much the same way Amidala's manner of speaking changed when she was under cover as her own handmaiden, and later when her term as queen ended. Another possible explanation: the scene where her FakeBrit accent is most prominent — when she's arguing with Tarkin on the Death Star. She's talking down to him, letting him know she is his equal and will not be intimidated... but when he points the WaveMotionGun at her home planet, she drops the pretense '''and''' the accent. Carrie Fisher later said that she put it on just because the line "I recognized your foul stench the moment I was brought on board" begs to be spoken as poshly as possible.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' was originally going to be released around Christmas 1976 (much like how ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' was released in December of 2015), but was pushed to May of 1977.

** Luke's line, "Oh, Biggs is right, I'm never gonna get out of here" refers to a DeletedScene where we meet him much earlier and persuades Luke that he's needed on Tatooine.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: With [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/StarWars its own article.]]

** Creator/AlecGuinness, though the extent of this is often exaggerated. Contrary to popular belief, he never truly hated ''Star Wars'' or his role as Obi-Wan, but merely grew annoyed with it over time as it came to overshadow his other roles in popular consciousness.

* FollowTheLeader: The film itself drew from many sources. ''Franchise/FlashGordon'' and ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' are two of the most obvious influences--the whole movie was meant to be a big love letter to the former, and at one point was even planned to be a Flash Gordon film. ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' was a big influence on the film's aesthetics and effects work. The ''[[Film/TheHiddenFortress Hidden Fortress]]'' connection is well known, and Admiral Motti even starts to say "the Rebels' ''hidden fortress''", but only gets halfway through the last word before Vader chokes him. The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''-Tatooine inspiration is pretty obvious. You can tell George Lucas must have seen at least ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' episodes 26, 1, and 8, in that order, so we can probably pin his famous trip to Japan down to early 1975, when the series went into reruns. Creator/IsaacAsimov noticed some similarity to his ''Literature/FoundationSeries'', but didn't take it personally. Vader himself was inspired by the appearance of the villain in ''Series/{{Kikaider}}''. The entire Rebel Base sequence has elements of many other UsefulNotes/WorldWarII pictures featuring the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the climactic trench run owes its existence to ''Film/TheDamBusters''. The medal ceremony is straight out of ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''.

* FollowTheLeader
** Inspired so many subsequent works, including many a MockBuster such as ''Film/StarCrash''.
** Together with ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', it [[GenrePopularizer popularized]] the SummerBlockbuster.
** The film itself drew from many sources. ''Franchise/FlashGordon'' and ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' are two of the most obvious influences--the whole movie was meant to be a big love letter to the former, and at one point was even planned to be a Flash Gordon film. ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' was a big influence on the film's aesthetics and effects work. The ''[[Film/TheHiddenFortress Hidden Fortress]]'' connection is well known, and Admiral Motti even starts to say "the Rebels' ''hidden fortress''", but only gets halfway through the last word before Vader chokes him. The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}''-Tatooine inspiration is pretty obvious. You can tell George Lucas must have seen at least ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' episodes 26, 1, and 8, in that order, so we can probably pin his famous trip to Japan down to early 1975, when the series went into reruns. Creator/IsaacAsimov noticed some similarity to his ''Literature/FoundationSeries'', but didn't take it personally. Vader himself was inspired by the appearance of the villain in ''Series/{{Kikaider}}''. The entire Rebel Base sequence has elements of many other UsefulNotes/WorldWarII pictures featuring the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the climactic trench run owes its existence to ''Film/TheDamBusters''. The medal ceremony is straight out of ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''.
** The stunning success of the film caused every studio to start rummaging through their script piles for anything that was science fiction and had spaceships in an attempt to cash in on the ''Star Wars'' mania. Two notable films that were greenlit specifically because they were the only sci-fi spaceship scripts available are ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (though Star Trek had been in ''extensive'' preproduction, waffling between being a theatrical film, a made-for-TV-movie, or a revival of the series, ''Star Wars'' is what made Paramount make it a feature theatrical film). ''Film/JamesBond'' also notably went back on its promise at the end of ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' ("James Bond will return in ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'') to instead adapt ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', because it could support a space-based plot.

* QuoteSource:
** BelligerentSexualTension

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* ImageSource:
** TheBigGuy
** TheChick
** TheHero
** TheSmartGuy
** WhatCouldHaveBeen

** As described under ThrowItIn, the actors for PowerTrio absolutely could not stand Lucas' dialogue. Mark Hamill allegedly protested that "George, people don't talk like this!", while Ford, in naturally pithy fashion, told him "You can type this shit, George, but you sure can't ''say'' it."
** In another example of this trope that undoubtedly helped the film, Ford absolutely refused to wear his costume until a major part of it ([[WTHCostumingDepartment a ginormous robin's-egg blue collar on his iconic shirt-and-vest combo]]) was removed, saving the galaxy's most infamous smuggler from a seriously [[{{Narm}} stupid outfit.]]

* WagTheDirector: As described under ThrowItIn, the actors for PowerTrio absolutely could not stand Lucas' dialogue. Mark Hamill allegedly protested that "George, people don't talk like this!", while Ford, in naturally pithy fashion, told him "You can type this shit, George, but you sure can't ''say'' it."

** While Creator/AlecGuinness' dislike of the dialogue and plot in ''Star Wars'' is legendary, he was very impressed with the special effects and appreciated the film on a technical level.

* AbandonedSet: The Lars homestead built in Tunisia was left there after filming for the harsh desert climate to destroy, which it did. When Film/AttackOfTheClones began filming and recreated the Homestead in the same spot, it too was abandoned until a group of dedicated fans repaired it in 2012, to keep the place preserved.