20 Little Known Star Wars Facts
13. Cast Disdain
The actors who were most vocal about their opinions included Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo).
The scene in “The Empire Strikes Back” that shows Han being frozen in carbonite may be a favorite among fans, but many people don’t know that it was only included because it was unclear whether Ford would be willing to come back for a third movie.
While both Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill had signed on for two sequels in the wake of the first film’s success, Ford wasn’t sure whether he wanted to commit. The actor has admitted he wasn’t too keen on the character of Han from the start, so he wanted to keep his options open.
When Ford still hadn’t decided whether he was willing to come back for “Return of the Jedi,” Lucas decided to include the carbonite scene so that Han could easily be written out of the third film if Ford decided not to return. Obviously, in the end, the actor signed on for the third movie and has also been rumored to have quite a big role in the upcoming “Star Wars: Episode VII.”
If Ford was relatively tight-lipped about his disdain for “Star Wars,” his costar Guiness had no problems expressing his feelings. After appearing in critically acclaimed dramas like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Bridge on the River Kwai,” Guinness considered this sci-fi adventure to be pure dreck.
Private letters written by the late actor (who died in 2000) called the film “fairy-tale rubbish” and noted how the script contained “lamentable” dialogue.
