More evidence of the scale of the production was the building of a full-size version of Han Solo's spaceship, the Millennium Falcon. A firm of maritime engineers at Pembroke Docks, Wales, 250 miles west of London, constructed the Falcon in a hangar once used to build the giant Sunderland flying boats of the 1930's, a craft which spanned the passenger routes of Britain's then still-extent empire. On completion, the spaceship, weighing over forty tons, was divided into sixteen interlocking sections and moved in a convoy of trucks through Wales and across southern England to London. At the studio, it was reassembled, fitted with compressed air pads, similar to those on hovercraft, and "floated" into position on the Star Wars stage.
Start of production was set for March 1979, but prior to that date, something happened that severely affected the picture's scheduling. Stanley Kubrick was still using Stage 3 at Elstree for The Shining, and on the night of 24 January, Stage 3 burned down, gutted in a flash fire that may have been caused by a discarded cigarette. The cluttered driveways of the studio complex prevented the local fire department's trucks from getting in, and by morning, the stage was a smoldering ruin. Because the Star Wars team had been waiting for Kubrick to finish before moving into Stage 3, its loss meant a complete rescheduling. Moreover, Kubrick had to revamp his set on another stage, virtually denying two stages to The Empire Strikes Back.
However, the work of preparing the production was not centered entirely around the studio in England, because the first scenes to be filmed would be shot on location in Norway. At Finse, a remote mountain pass 5,000 feet above sea level, on the rail link between Oslo and the port of Bergen, preparations had been going on for months. High above the pass, and well above the vegetation line, stark and precipitous, stands a glacier sheathed in a veil of blue ice. On that foreboding icescape would be filmed the battle for dominance of the frozen planet of Hoth. It was at Finse on 5 March 1979 that principal photography began.
The location base was the Finse ski lodge, normally used by cross-country skiers in terrain which, even in an average winter, is particularly hostile—Robert Scott went there to train his Antarctic team—but the winter of 1978/1979 was to prove one of the worst in living memory. For several days, the seventy technicians and actors based there were cut off by avalanches that shut down the railway line, severing physical connection with the outside world. An arctic survival camp built to headquarter the crew at the glacier's summit was buried, and the filmmakers experienced "white-outs" in which blizzards whipped the snow into a blinding powder. Nevertheless, repeated attempts were made to shoot at the summit, and those of the second unit, under the direction of Peter MacDonald, were eventually successful.
By 12 March, the first unit had assembled at the studio, and filming on the interiors began. For seven months, the filming occupied every foot of stage space at Elstree, including the new Star Wars stage, which became operational in May. Soon it became clear that the picture had been underscheduled, particularly in view of the effects of the fire and the severity of the conditions in Norway.
[ continued on page 4 ]