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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Films

                      Star Wars Episode IV:
   A New Hope
     Directed by   George Lucas
     Produced by   Gary Kurtz
                   George Lucas
                   (executive)
     Written by    George Lucas
      Starring     Mark Hamill
                   Harrison Ford
                   Carrie Fisher
                   Peter Cushing
                   Alec Guinness
                   David Prowse
      Music by     John Williams
   Cinematography  Gilbert Taylor
     Editing by    Richard Chew
                   Paul Hirsch
                   Marcia Lucas
   Distributed by  20th Century Fox
   Release date(s) May 25, 1977 ( USA)
                   December 27, 1977 ( UK)
    Running time   121 min. (original)
                   125 min. (Special Edition)
       Country     USA
      Language     English
       Budget      $11,000,000
     Preceded by   Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
     Followed by   Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
                     All Movie Guide profile
                          IMDb profile

   Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is
   a 1977 science fantasy film written and directed by George Lucas. It is
   the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga; three later
   films precede the story in the series' internal chronology. Among fans,
   the title is commonly abbreviated as "ANH".

   The film is set nineteen years after the formation of the Galactic
   Empire; construction has finished on the Death Star, a weapon capable
   of destroying a planet. After Princess Leia, a leader of the Rebel
   Alliance, steals the weapon's plans in the hope of finding a weakness,
   she is captured and taken to the Death Star. Meanwhile, a young farmer
   named Luke Skywalker meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived in seclusion
   for years on the desert planet of Tatooine. When Luke's home is
   destroyed, Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as they attempt to
   rescue the Princess from the Empire.

   The film, produced with a budget of US$11 million, was released on May
   25, 1977. It became one of the most successful films of all time,
   earning $798 million worldwide during its original theatrical release.
   It was re-released several times, sometimes with significant changes in
   its later releases; most notable were the 1997 Special Edition
   theatrical re-release and the 2004 DVD version, which were modified
   with CGI effects and recreated scenes.

Production

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   During post-production on his previous film American Graffiti, George
   Lucas discussed the concept of a " space opera" with producer Gary
   Kurtz. In May 1973, Lucas had prepared a fourteen-page story outline
   for distribution among film studios. Because of its outer-space
   setting, the story was viewed as science fiction, an unpopular genre at
   the box office. Lucas later proposed that terms like "space fantasy" or
   "science fantasy" better fit the story. He brought the outline to
   Universal Studios and United Artists; both rejected the project. Lucas
   disliked the studio system because his previous two films, American
   Graffiti and THX 1138, had been re-edited without his consent. Still,
   aware that studios were unavoidable, he pursued Alan Ladd, Jr., the
   then-new head of 20th Century Fox. Although Ladd failed to grasp the
   technical side of the project, he believed that Lucas was talented.
   Lucas later stated that Ladd "invested in me, [but] he did not invest
   in the movie."

   Lucas finished a draft of the screenplay in May 1974. As the draft
   developed, the characters underwent significant changes. Early in
   development, Luke Skywalker's character changed from a 60-year-old
   general to a member of a family of midgets; the Corellian smuggler, Han
   Solo, was envisioned as a large, green-skinned monster with gills.
   Chewbacca was inspired by Lucas' Alaskan malamute dog, Indiana, who
   often acted as the director's "co-pilot" by sitting in the passenger
   seat of his car. The Force, a mysterious energy field in the saga, was
   initially conceived as the Kyber crystal, a "galactic holy grail". The
   completed script was too long for one movie; however, Lucas refused to
   condense it. Instead, he expanded the first third of it into one movie
   and left the rest for two future films, effectively creating the
   original Star Wars trilogy.

   Lucas hired conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie to create paintings of
   certain scenes during screenwriting. When Lucas delivered his
   screenplay to the studio, he included several of McQuarrie's paintings.
   20th Century Fox approved a budget of $8,250,000; American Graffiti's
   positive reviews allowed Lucas to renegotiate his deal with Alan Ladd,
   Jr. and request the sequel rights to the film. For Lucas, this deal
   protected Star Wars' unwritten segments and most of the merchandising
   profits.

   In 1975, Lucas founded the visual effects company Industrial Light &
   Magic (ILM) after discovering that 20th Century Fox's visual effects
   department had been disbanded. ILM began its work on Star Wars in a
   warehouse in Van Nuys, California. Most of the visual effects used
   motion control photography, which creates the illusion of size by
   employing small models and slowly moving cameras. Model spaceships were
   constructed on the basis of drawings by Joe Johnston, input from Lucas,
   and paintings by Ralph McQuarrie. Lucas opted to abandon the
   traditional sleekness of science fiction by creating a "used universe"
   in which all devices, ships, and buildings looked aged and dirty.

   When filming began on March 22, 1976 in the North African Tunisian
   desert for the scenes on the planet Tatooine, the project faced several
   problems. Lucas fell behind schedule in the first week of shooting due
   to a rare Tunisian rainstorm, malfunctioning props, and electronic
   breakdowns. When actor Anthony Daniels wore the C-3PO outfit for the
   first time, the left leg piece shattered down through the plastic
   covering his left foot, stabbing him. After finishing filming in
   Tunisia, production moved into the more controlled environment of
   Elstree Studios, outside of London.

   Lucas clashed with Director of Photography Gilbert Taylor, whom
   producer Gary Kurtz called "old-school" and "crotchety". Moreover, with
   a background in independent filmmaking, Lucas was accustomed to
   creating most of the elements of the film himself. His camera
   suggestions were rejected by an offended Taylor, who felt that Lucas
   was over-stepping his boundaries by giving specific instructions. Lucas
   eventually became frustrated that the costumes, sets and other elements
   were not living up to his original vision of Star Wars. He rarely spoke
   to the actors, who felt that he expected too much of them while
   providing little direction. His directions to the actors usually
   consisted of the words "faster" and "more intense".

   Alan Ladd, Jr. continued to offer Lucas some of the only support from
   the studio; he dealt with scrutiny from board members over the rising
   budget and complex screenplay drafts. After the film became two weeks
   over schedule, Ladd, Jr. told Lucas that he had to finish production
   within a week or he would be forced to shut down production. The crew
   split into three units, led by Lucas, Kurtz, and production supervisor
   Robert Watts, respectively. Under the new system, the project met the
   studio's deadline.

   Star Wars was originally slated for release in Christmas 1976; however,
   massive delays pushed the film's release to summer 1977. Already
   anxious about meeting his deadline, Lucas was shocked when his editor's
   first cut of the film was a "complete disaster". After attempting to
   persuade the original editor to cut the film his way, Lucas replaced
   the editor with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew. He also allowed his
   then-wife Marcia Lucas to aid the editing process while she was cutting
   the film New York, New York with Lucas' friend Martin Scorsese. Richard
   Chew found the film had an unenergetic pace; it had been cut in a
   by-the-book manner: scenes were played out in master shots that flowed
   into close-up coverage. He found that the pace was dictated by the
   actors instead of the cuts. Hirsch and Chew worked on two reels
   simultaneously; whoever finished first moved on to the next.

   During production, the cast attempted to make Lucas laugh or smile as
   he often appeared depressed. At one point, the project became so
   demanding that Lucas was diagnosed with hypertension and exhaustion and
   was warned to reduce his stress level. Post-production was equally
   stressful due to increasing pressure from 20th Century Fox. Moreover,
   Mark Hamill's face was injured in a car accident, which made reshoots
   impossible.

   Meanwhile, ILM was struggling to achieve unprecedented special effects.
   The company had spent half of its budget on four shots that Lucas
   deemed unacceptable. Moreover, theories surfaced that the workers at
   ILM lacked discipline, forcing Lucas to frequently intervene to ensure
   that they were on schedule. With hundreds of uncompleted shots
   remaining, ILM was forced to finish a year's work in six months. Lucas
   inspired ILM by editing together aerial dogfights from old war films,
   which enhanced the pacing of the scenes.

   During the chaos of production and post-production, the team made
   decisions about character voicing and sound effects. Sound designer Ben
   Burtt had created a library of sounds that Lucas referred to as an
   "organic soundtrack". For Chewbacca's growls, Burtt recorded and
   combined sounds made by dogs, bears, lions, tigers, and walruses to
   create phrases and sentences. Lucas and Burtt created the robotic voice
   of R2-D2 by filtering their voices through an electronic synthesizer.
   Darth Vader's breathing was achieved by Burtt breathing through the
   mask of a scuba tank implanted with a microphone. Lucas never intended
   to use the voice of David Prowse, who portrayed Darth Vader in costume,
   because of Prowse's English West Country accent. He originally wanted
   Orson Welles to speak for Darth Vader. However, he felt that Welles'
   voice would be too recognizable, so he cast the lesser-known James Earl
   Jones. Nor did Lucas intend to use Anthony Daniels' voice for C-3PO.
   Thirty well-established voice actors, such as Stan Freberg, read for
   the voice of the droid. According to Daniels, one of the major voice
   actors recommended Daniels' voice for the role.

   When Lucas screened an early cut of the film for his friends, among
   them directors Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg, their reactions
   were disappointing. Spielberg, who claimed to have been the only person
   in the audience to have enjoyed the film, believed that the lack of
   enthusiasm was due to the absence of finished special effects. Lucas
   later said that the group was honest and seemed bemused by the film. In
   contrast, Alan Ladd, Jr. and the rest of 20th Century Fox loved the
   film; one of the executives cried during screening. Lucas found the
   experience shocking and rewarding, having never gained any approval
   from studio executives before. Although the delays ballooned the budget
   from $8 million to $11 million, the film was still the least expensive
   of the Star Wars saga.

Synopsis

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The opening crawl reveals that the galaxy is in a state of civil war.
   The Rebel Alliance has stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death
   Star, a space station capable of annihilating a planet. The plans were
   transmitted to the rebel blockade runner Tantive IV, a ship in the
   service of Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Imperial stormtroopers
   take control of the ship, and Darth Vader arrives to assess the damage.
   Before she is captured, Leia entrusts the plans and a holographic
   recording unto a small droid named R2-D2. R2-D2 and his partner, C-3PO,
   board an escape pod and crash on the planet Tatooine.

   On Tatooine, the droids navigate the desert until they are captured by
   Jawas. The next day, the Jawas sell the droids to Owen Lars and his
   nephew, Luke Skywalker. Luke accidentally triggers part of the
   holographic message, making him suspect that R2-D2 is stolen property
   belonging to "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Returning to his garage at sunset, Luke
   discovers that R2-D2 has escaped. After finding him, Luke and C-3PO are
   attacked by Sandpeople and rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke and the
   droids are brought to Obi-Wan's hut, where Obi-Wan tells of his days as
   a Jedi Knight and reveals to Luke that his father was also a Jedi
   skilled in a mysterious energy field called the Force. When Luke asks
   how his father died, Obi-Wan replies that he was "betrayed and
   murdered" by Darth Vader. Finally, they view the holographic message
   from Princess Leia, who asks Obi-Wan to take the droid and the plans to
   the planet Alderaan. Obi-Wan invites Luke to accompony him to Alderaan;
   Luke refuses, citing his household responsibilities. After returning
   home, Luke discovers that his family has been murdered and his home has
   been destroyed by the Stormtroopers looking for the droids. He returns
   to Obi-Wan and decides to go to Alderaan and become a Jedi. At Mos
   Eisley Spaceport, the group encounters a smuggler named Han Solo, who
   agrees to transport them on his ship, the Millennium Falcon. When
   Obi-Wan and his companions reach the ship, they are attacked by
   Stormtroopers. They hastily board the Millennium Falcon, make a speedy
   launch, and dodge attacks in space before escaping to lightspeed.

   Meanwhile, Leia has resisted interrogation on the Death Star. When
   threatened with the destruction of her home planet of Alderaan,
   however, she bluffs and states that the Rebel Base is on Dantooine.
   Grand Moff Tarkin destroys Alderaan anyway, as a display of the Death
   Star's power. En route to Alderaan, Obi-Wan instructs Luke in the
   Force. When they arrive at Alderaan's location, the crew discovers only
   a hail of debris and a moon-sized space station - the Death Star. A
   tractor beam pulls the Falcon into the Death Star; inside, Obi-Wan
   attempts to disable it so that the group can escape. Upon learning that
   Leia is awaiting execution in a nearby prison cell, the rest of the
   group navigates through the station and rescues the princess. After
   deactivating the tractor beam, Kenobi engages in a lightsaber duel with
   Vader. The duel distracts the guards, allowing Luke and his companions
   to board the Falcon. Once he sees that they are safely near the ship,
   Obi-Wan allows Vader to strike him down. Luke screams in horror,
   gaining the attention of the Stormtroopers, who attack Luke and his
   companions.

   The group escapes; unknown to them (but suspected by Leia), the Empire
   allowed the escape to track their ship to the Rebel Base. They finally
   reach the Rebel hideout on Yavin IV, where they deliver the plans to
   the Rebel leadership. After reviewing the battle plans, which involve
   flying along a canyon-sized trench in the station's surface and firing
   a torpedo down a narrow ventilation shaft, Luke and a group of Rebel
   fighters begin their assault on the approaching Death Star. Several
   squadrons of Rebel ships are destroyed by Imperial fighters as Luke's
   "Red" group begins its run down the trench towards the ventilation
   port. As Luke makes his run down the canyon, the voice of Kenobi
   instructs him to use the Force. When Vader locks his weapons onto
   Luke's X-Wing, Han Solo and Chewbacca fly in and destroy one of Vader's
   wingmen. Panicked, the second wingman hits Vader's ship and sends it
   spiraling into space. Luke, hearing Obi-Wan's voice, deactivates his
   targeting computer and launches torpedoes down the shaft, destroying
   the Death Star. In a civil ceremony at the Massassi Temple rebel base
   on Yavin IV, Luke and Han are awarded medals by Leia for their valor in
   the battle.
   Spoilers end here.

Releases

                   Ratings
       Argentina:       Atp
       Australia:       PG
   Canada (Manitoba):   PG
   Canada ( Ontario):   PG
   Canada ( Maritime):  A (original)
                        PG (special edition)
    Canada (Quebec):    G
         Chile:         TE
        Denmark:        11
        Finland:        K-8
         France:        U
        Germany:        6
       Hong Kong:       I
        Iceland:        L
        Ireland:        G
        Malaysia:       U
         Mexico:        AA
      Netherlands:      AL
      New Zealand:      PG
         Norway:        11
          Peru:         PT
        Portugal:       M/12
       Singapore:       PG
      South Korea:      12
         Spain:         T
         Sweden:        11
     United Kingdom:    U
     United States:     PG

   Charles Lippincott was hired by Lucas' production company, Lucasfilm
   Ltd., as marketing director for Star Wars. Because 20th Century Fox
   gave little support for marketing beyond licensing T-shirts and
   posters, Lippincott was forced to look elsewhere. He secured deals with
   Stan Lee and Marvel Comics for a comic book adaptation and with Del Rey
   Books for a novelization. Wary that Star Wars would be beaten out by
   other summer films, such as Smokey and the Bandit, 20th Century Fox
   moved the release date to Wednesday before Memorial Day: May 25, 1977.
   However, few theaters ordered the film to be shown. In response, 20th
   Century Fox demanded that theaters order Star Wars if they wanted an
   eagerly anticipated film based on a best-selling novel titled The Other
   Side of Midnight.

   The film became an instant success; within three weeks of the film's
   release, 20th Century Fox's stock price doubled to a record high.
   Before 1977, 20th Century Fox's greatest annual profits were
   $37,000,000; in 1977, the company earned $79,000,000. Although the
   film's cultural neutrality helped it to gain international success,
   Alan Ladd, Jr. became anxious during the premiere in Japan. After the
   screening, the audience was silent, leading Ladd, Jr. to fear that the
   film would be unsuccessful. He was later told that, in Japan, silence
   was the greatest honour to a film. Meanwhile, thousands attended a
   ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where C-3PO, R2-D2 and Darth
   Vader placed their footprints in the theatre's forecourt. Although Star
   Wars merchandise was available to enthusiastic children upon release,
   only Kenner Toys — who believed that the film would be unsuccessful —
   had accepted Lippincott's licensing offers. A stunned Kenner responded
   to the sudden demand for toys by selling boxed vouchers in its "empty
   box" Christmas campaign; these vouchers could be redeemed for the toys
   in March 1978.

   In 1978, at the height of the film's popularity, Smith-Hemion
   Productions approached Lucas with the idea of The Star Wars Holiday
   Special. The end result is often considered a failure.

   The film was originally released as — and consequently often called —
   Star Wars, without Episode IV or the subtitle A New Hope. In 1980, the
   sequel, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was released with
   the episode number and subtitle in the opening crawl. When the original
   film was re-released a year later, Episode IV: A New Hope was added
   above the original opening crawl. Although Lucas claims that only six
   films were ever planned, representatives of Lucasfilm discussed plans
   for nine or twelve possible films in early interviews. The film was
   re-released theatrically in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1997.

Special Edition

   After ILM used computer generated effects for Steven Spielberg's
   Jurassic Park, Lucas concluded that digital technology had caught up to
   his original vision for Star Wars. As part of Star Wars' 20th
   anniversary celebration in 1997, A New Hope was digitally remastered
   and re-released with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
   under the campaign title The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition, or SE.
   The Special Edition versions contained visual shots and scenes that
   were unachievable in the original release due to financial,
   technological, and time restraints, such as a scene between Han Solo
   and Jabba the Hutt. Although most changes were minor or cosmetic in
   nature, some fans believe that Lucas degraded the movie with the
   additions. For instance, a controversial change where Greedo shot first
   when confronting Han Solo has inspired T-shirts brandishing the phrase
   " Han Shot First".

DVD release

   A New Hope was released on DVD in September 2004 in a box set with The
   Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, along with a bonus disc of
   supplemental material. The movies were digitally restored and
   remastered, and more changes were made by George Lucas (see List of
   changes in Star Wars re-releases).

   The DVD features a commentary track from George Lucas, Ben Burtt,
   Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The bonus disc contains the
   documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy and
   the featurettes: The Legendary Creatures of Star Wars, The Birth of the
   Lightsaber, The Legacy of Star Wars. The disk also includes teaser and
   theatrical trailers, TV spots, still galleries, an exclusive preview of
   Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, a playable Xbox demo of the
   LucasArts game Star Wars Battlefront, and a "Making Of" documentary on
   the Episode III video game. The set was reissued in December 2005 as
   part of a three-disc "limited edition" boxed set that did not feature
   the bonus disc.

   The trilogy was re-released on separate two-disc Limited Edition DVD
   sets from September 12, 2006 to December 31, 2006; the original
   versions of the films were added as bonus material. Controversy
   surrounded the release, as the unaltered versions were taken from the
   1993 non- anamorphic Laserdisc masters, and were not retransferred with
   modern video standards.

Reaction

   Star Wars debuted in 37 theaters and broke 36 house records,
   effectively becoming one of the first blockbuster films. It remains one
   of the most financially successful films of all time. Some of the cast
   and crew noted lines of people stretching around theaters as they drove
   by. Even minor technical crew members, such as model makers, were asked
   for autographs, and cast members became instant household names. The
   film's original total U.S. gross came to $307,263,857, and it earned
   $6,806,951 during its first weekend in wide release. Lucas claimed that
   he had spent most of the release day in a sound studio in Los Angeles.
   When he went out for lunch with his then-wife Marcia, they encountered
   a long queue of people along the sidewalks leading to Mann's Chinese
   Theatre, waiting to see Star Wars. The film became the highest-grossing
   film of 1977 and the highest-grossing film of all time until E.T. The
   Extraterrestrial broke that record in 1982. The film earned
   $797,900,000 worldwide, making it the first film to reach the $300
   million mark.

   In a 1977 review, Roger Ebert called the film "an out-of-body
   experience" and compared its special effects to 2001: A Space Odyssey,
   but claimed the true strength of the film was its "pure narrative".
   Vincent Canby called the film "the movie that's going to entertain a
   lot of contemporary folk who have a soft spot for the virtually
   ritualized manners of comic-book adventure." Pauline Kael of The New
   Yorker criticized the film, stating that "There’s no breather in the
   picture, no lyricism", and that it had no "emotional grip". Jonathon
   Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader stated "None of these characters has
   any depth, and they're all treated like the fanciful props and
   settings!" Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix said "Star Wars is a
   junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not unlike the Jawas' heap of
   purloined, discarded, barely functioning droids." The third negative
   review, from Stanley Kauffmann of the New Republic, where he states
   "His work here seems less inventive than in THX 1138.", is now offline.
   The consensus for the film reads "The action and special effects are
   first rate."

   In 1989, the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress
   selected the film as a "culturally, historically, or esthetically
   important" film. In 2006, George Lucas' original screenplay was
   selected by the Writers Guild of America as the 68th greatest
   screenplay of all time. The American Film Institute (or AFI) listed it
   15th on a list of the top 100 films of the 20th century; in the UK, a
   poll created by Channel Four named A New Hope (together with its
   successor, The Empire Strikes Back) the greatest film of all time. In
   addition, the AFI has named Star Wars and specific elements of the film
   to several of its "top 100 lists" of American cinema, compiled as a
   part of the Institute's 100th anniversary celebration. These include
   the twenty-seventh most thrilling American film of all-time, and the
   thirty-ninth most inspirational American film of all-time. Darth Vader
   was ranked as the third greatest film villain of all time, and Han Solo
   as the fourteenth greatest American film hero of all time, with Obi-Wan
   Kenobi thirty-seventh on the same list. The oft repeated line "May the
   Force be with you" was ranked as the 8th greatest quote in American
   film history. John Williams' score was ranked as the greatest American
   film score of all time.

   Star Wars won several awards at the 1978 Academy Awards, including Best
   Art Direction-Set Decoration, which went to John Barry, Norman
   Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Roger Christian. Best Costume Design was
   awarded to John Mollo; Best Film Editing went to Paul Hirsch, Marcia
   Lucas and Richard Chew; John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund,
   Grant McCune and Robert Blalack all received awards for Best Effects,
   Visual Effects. John Williams was awarded his third Oscar for Best
   Music, Original Score; the Best Sound went to Don MacDougall, Ray West,
   Bob Minkler and Derek Ball; and a Special Achievement for sound effects
   went to Ben Burtt. Additional nominations included Alec Guinness for
   Best Actor in a Supporting Role, George Lucas for Best Screenplay and
   Best Director, and Gary Kurtz was nominated for his producing duties in
   Best Picture. At the Golden Globe awards, the film was nominated for
   Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (
   Alec Guinness), and Best Score. It only won the award for Best Score.
   It received six BAFTA nominations: Best Film, Best Editing, Best
   Costume, Best Production/Art Design, Best Sound, and Best Score. The
   film won in the last two categories. John Williams' soundtrack album
   won the Grammy award for Best Album of an original score for a motion
   picture or television program. The film was awarded the Hugo Award for
   Best Dramatic Presentation. In 1997, the MTV Movie Awards awarded
   Chewbacca (played by Peter Mayhew) the lifetime achievement award for
   his work in the Star Wars trilogy.

Cinematic influence

   Star Wars has influenced many films and filmmakers since its release.
   It began a new generation of special effects and high-energy motion
   pictures. The film was one of the first films to link genres together —
   such as space opera and soap opera — to invent a new, high-concept
   genre for filmmakers to build upon. Finally, it ended the film
   industry's focus on personal filmmaking of the 1970s and shifted gears
   towards big-budget blockbusters for younger audiences.

   Actor Michael Shanks listed Star Wars as an influence on many
   battle-scenes from the television series Stargate SG-1 namely "
   Fallen". Joss Whedon's Serenity features several references, such as
   the influence from the Millennium Falcon on the spaceship Serenity,
   Lucas' use of a "used future" where vehicles and culture obviously
   dated, as well as its clothing for its own evil empire. Director James
   Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry,
   after seeing the film. Other filmmakers who have said to have been
   influenced by Star Wars were Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, Dean Devlin,
   Roland Emmerich, and John Singleton. Many believe that the cinema-going
   experience had been changed drastically by the film. Scott, in addition
   to Whedon, was influenced by the "used future" and pushed the concept
   even further for his science fiction horror film Alien. Jackson used
   the concept for his production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to gain
   a sense of realism and believability.

   Critics of Lucas have blamed Star Wars for "ruining" Hollywood by
   shifting its focus from "sophisticated" and "relevant" films such as
   The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and Annie Hall to films about "spectacle"
   and "juvenile fantasy". Peter Biskind lodged a complaint for the same
   reason, "When all was said and done, Lucas and Spielberg returned the
   1970s audience, grown sophisticated on a diet of European and New
   Hollywood films, to the simplicities of the pre-1960s Golden Age of
   movies… They marched backward through the looking-glass."

Cast

     * Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Skywalker is a young man who lives
       with his aunt and uncle on a remote planet who dreams of something
       greater than his current position in life.

     * Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Solo is a self-centered smuggler who
       Obi-Wan and Luke meet in a cantina and later travel with. Solo, who
       owns the ship known as the Millennium Falcon, is good friends with
       Chewbacca, who is the co-pilot of the ship.

     * Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa. Organa is a member of the
       Imperial Senate and a leader of the Rebel Alliance. She plans to
       use the stolen Death Star plans to find the station's weakness.

     * Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. Kenobi is an aging man who
       served as a Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars. Early in the film,
       Kenobi introduces Luke to the Force.

     * David Prowse as Darth Vader. Vader is a prominent figure in the
       Galactic Empire who hopes to destroy the Rebel Alliance. He was
       Obi-Wan's apprentice before turning to the Dark Side of the Force.
       James Earl Jones provided the voice.

     * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. C-3PO is an interpreter droid who falls
       into the hands of Luke Skywalker. He is friends with his partner,
       R2-D2.

     * Kenny Baker as R2-D2. R2-D2 is a mechanic droid who also falls into
       the hands of Luke. He is carrying a secret message for Obi-Wan
       Kenobi.

     * Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca. Chewbacca is the Wookiee co-pilot of the
       Millennium Falcon and close friend of Han Solo.

     * Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin is the commander of the
       Death Star. He leads the search for the Rebel Base, in hopes of
       destroying it.

     * Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles. Wedge is a starfighter pilot who
       fights alongside Luke in the Battle of Yavin. In the ending
       credits, Lawson's first name is misspelled "Dennis".

   Lucas shared a joint casting session with long-time friend Brian De
   Palma, who was casting his own film Carrie. As a result, Carrie Fisher
   and Sissy Spacek auditioned for both films in each other's respective
   roles. Lucas favored casting young actors without long-time experience.
   While reading for Luke Skywalker (then known as "Luke Starkiller"),
   Mark Hamill found the dialogue to be extremely odd because of its
   universe-embedded concepts. He chose to simply read it sincerely and
   was cast in favour of William Katt who was subsequently cast in Carrie.
   Lucas initially rejected the idea of using Harrison Ford, as he had
   previously worked with him on American Graffiti, and instead asked Ford
   to assist in the auditions by reading lines with the other actors, as
   well as explaining the concepts and history behind the scenes that they
   were reading. Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal and
   instead cast him over Kurt Russell, Burt Reynolds, Nick Nolte,
   Christopher Walken, Billy Dee Williams and Perry King. Virtually every
   young actress in Hollywood auditioned for the role of Princess Leia,
   including Terri Nunn, Jodie Foster and Cindy Williams. Carrie Fisher
   was cast with the condition that she lose 10 pounds of weight for the
   role. Aware of the studio's disagreement over Lucas' refusal to cast
   big-name stars, he signed veteran stage and screen actor Alec Guinness
   as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

   Additional casting took place in London, England, where Peter Mayhew
   was cast as Chewbacca after Mayhew stood up to greet Lucas. Lucas
   immediately turned to Gary Kurtz, and requested that Mayhew be cast.
   Anthony Daniels was cast as C-3PO, who auditioned after seeing a Ralph
   McQuarrie drawing of the character. Struck by the vulnerabliity in the
   robot's face, he instantly wanted to help bring the character to life.

Cinematic and literary allusions

   According to Lucas, the film was inspired by numerous sources, such as
   Beowulf and King Arthur for the origins of myth and world religions.
   Lucas' originally wanted to rely heavily on 1930s Flash Gordon film
   serials; however, Lucas resorted to Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden
   Fortress and Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces because
   of copyright issues with Flash Gordon. The scene where Princess Leia
   awards Han and Luke is reminiscent to a scene in Leni Riefenstahl's
   1934 film Triumph of the Will; both scenes have large, enthusiastic
   crowds seated in a shallow amphitheatre bounded by columns, with a low
   dais where the leader stands.

   Star Wars features several parallels to Flash Gordon, such as the
   conflict between Rebels and Imperial Forces, the " soft wipes" between
   scenes, and the famous " opening crawl" that begins each film. A
   concept borrowed from Flash Gordon — a fusion of futuristic technology
   and traditional magic — was originally developed by one of the founders
   of science fiction, H.G. Wells. Wells believed the Industrial
   Revolution had quietly destroyed the idea that fairytale magic might be
   real. Thus, he found that plausibility was required to allow myth to
   work properly, using the Industrial Era to substitute the original
   myths: time machines instead of magic carpets, Martians as dragons and
   scientists as wizards. Wells, however, called his new genre "
   scientific fantasia".

   Star Wars was influenced by the 1958 Kurosawa film The Hidden Fortress;
   for instance, the two bickering peasants evolved into C-3PO and R2-D2,
   and a Japanese family crest seen in the film is similar to the Imperial
   Crest. Star Wars borrows heavily from another Kurosawa film, Yojimbo.
   In both films, several men threaten the hero, bragging how wanted they
   are by authorities. The situation ends with an arm being cut off by a
   blade. Mifune is offered "Twenty-five ryo now, twenty-five when you
   complete the mission." whereas Han Solo is offered "Two thousand now,
   plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan." Lucas' affection for Kurosawa may
   have influenced his decision to visit Japan in the early 1970s, where
   he borrowed the name "Jedi" from "Jidai Geki". Translated to english it
   reads "period dramas", or films about samurai.

   Lucas drew inspiration from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy book The Lord of
   the Rings in that Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Wizard Gandalf reincarnate in
   differing fashions, and Darth Vader and the Witch-king of Angmar are
   the chief servants of a higher evil power and dress in black. Moreover,
   Luke watches the duel of Obi-Wan and Vader from across a chasm as Frodo
   witnessed the duel between Gandalf and the Balrog; both feature their
   respective blue and red melee weapons.

   Tatooine is similar to Arrakis from Frank Herbert's book Dune. In
   addition, Arrakis is the only known source of a hallucinatory drug
   called the Spice Melange; Han Solo is a spice smuggler who has been
   through the spice mines of Kessel. Lucas' original concept of the film
   dealt heavily with the transport of spice, although the nature of the
   material remained unexplored. Furthermore, in the conversation at
   Obi-Wan Kenobi's home between Obi-Wan and Luke, Luke expresses a belief
   that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. Other
   similarities include Princess Leia and Princess Alia (pronounced
   a-leia), and Jedi mind tricks and "The Voice", an controlling ability
   used by Bene Gesserit. In passing, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are
   "Moisture Farmers"; in Dune, Dew Collectors are used by Freman to
   "provide a small but reliable source of water."

   The climactic scene in which the Death Star is assaulted was modeled
   after the 1950s movie The Dam Busters, in which RAF Lancaster bombers
   fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim " bouncing bombs" at
   their manmade dams to cripple the heavy industry of the Ruhr. Some of
   the dialogue in The Dam Busters is repeated in the A New Hope climax;
   Gilbert Taylor also filmed the Special Effects sequences in The Dam
   Busters. In addition, the sequence was partially inspired by the climax
   of the film 633 Squadron directed by Walter Grauman.

   The opening shot of A New Hope, which shows a detailed spaceship
   filling the screen overhead, is a nod to the scene introducing the
   interplanetary spacecraft Discovery One in Stanley Kubrick's seminal
   1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The earlier big-budget science fiction
   film inspired the look of A New Hope in many other ways, including the
   use of EVA pods, hexagonal corridors and primitive computer graphics.
   Also, the orbiting space station in 2001 has a docking bay reminiscent
   of the one on the Death Star. The film also draws on The Wizard of Oz
   with similarities between Jawas and Munchkins, with the main characters
   disguising themselves as the enemies soldiers and Obi-Wan dying and
   leaving only his empty robe in the same fashion of the Wicked Witch of
   the West. C-3PO is inspired by the robot Maria from Fritz Lang's 1927
   film Metropolis, albeit a gold, male version of the robot. The whirring
   sounds of C-3PO moving were speculated to be inspired by the clanking
   noises of the Tin Woodsman moving in The Wizard of Oz as well.

Soundtrack

   On the recommendation of his friend Steven Spielberg, Lucas hired
   composer John Williams, who had recently worked with Spielberg on the
   film Jaws, for which he won an Academy Award. Lucas felt that the film
   would portray visually foreign worlds, but that the musical score would
   give the audience an emotional familiarity. In March 1977, Williams
   conducted the London Symphony Orchestra to record the Star Wars
   soundtrack over twelve days.

   Lucas wanted a grand musical sound for Star Wars, with leitmotifs to
   provide distinction. Therefore, he assembled his favorite orchestral
   pieces for the soundtrack, until John Williams convinced him that an
   original score would be unique and more unified. However, a few of
   Williams pieces were influenced by the tracks given to him by Lucas.
   The "Main Title Theme" was inspired by the theme from the 1942 film
   King's Row, scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and the track "Dune Sea
   of Tatooine" drew from the soundtrack from Bicycle Thieves, scored by
   Alessandro Cicognini.

Novelization

   The novelization of the film was published in December 1976, six months
   before the film was released. The credited author was George Lucas, but
   the book was revealed to have been ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster,
   who later wrote the first Expanded Universe novel, Splinter of the
   Mind's Eye. The book was first published as Star Wars: From the
   Adventures of Luke Skywalker; later editions were titled simply Star
   Wars and, later, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, to reflect the
   retitling of the film. Certain scenes deleted from the film (and later
   restored or archived in DVD bonus features) were present in the novel,
   such as Luke at Tosche Station with Biggs and the encounter between Han
   and Jabba in Docking Bay 94. Other deleted scenes from the movie, such
   as a close-up of a stormtrooper riding on a Dewback, were included in a
   photo insert added to later printings of the book.

   Smaller details were also changed; for example, in the Death Star
   assault, Luke's callsign is Blue Five instead of Red Five as in the
   film. Charles Lippincott secured the deal with Del Rey Books to publish
   the novelization in November 1976. By February 1977, a half million
   copies had been sold.

Radio drama

   A radio drama adaptation of the film was written by Brian Daley,
   directed by John Madden, and produced for and broadcast on the National
   Public Radio in 1981. The adaptation received cooperation from George
   Lucas, who donated the rights to NPR. John Williams' music and Ben
   Burtt's sound design were retained for the show; Mark Hamill (Luke
   Skywalker) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) reprised their roles, as well.
   The radio drama featured deleted scenes of Luke Skywalker's observation
   of the space battle above Tatooine through binoculars, a skyhopper
   race, and Darth Vader's interrogation of Princess Leia. In terms of
   Star Wars canon, the radio drama is given the highest designation,
   G-canon.
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