And yes, one of the best action scenes in “Star Wars” was born out of a little lazy moment. We tell you.
The Death Star attack is one of the most iconic and impressive scenes from the very first Star Wars. But know it, it would have been completely different if the decorator hadn’t wanted to save a week of work…
As FilmStarts reminds us, the story of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is full of coincidences, improvisations and misadventures, but one of those hiccups was good: without it, the assault iconic Death Star, which Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) ends with a Force-guided snipe, hitting the sweet spot of the battle station, would be very different!
A SIMPLE SAVE OF TIME
Who would have thought that the iconic scene only existed because designer and layout artist Colin Cantwell was desperate to save a week of work? The latter, who left us last year, had qualified for the position thanks to his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. He created original sketches for iconic Star Wars starships such as the X-wing, Star Destroyer, TIE Fighter, and worked on the Imperial Death Star itself.
You know, before the fatal shot, Luke and his comrades fly through a trench in the Death Star to their destination. There had never been an action scene like this before in the cinema: the flight through this narrow gorge is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and, technically, most impressive moments of the film. But as Colin Cantwell pointed out during a Reddit Q&A in 2016, the Death Star was initially not supposed to have such a trench for Rebel pilots to enter!
George Lucas entrusted me with the project of designing a ‘Death Star’. I didn’t originally plan for the Death Star to have a trench, but as I worked with the mold, I noticed that the two halves had narrowed to the point where they met in the middle. It would have taken a week of work just to fill, sand and fill that depression again. So, to save myself the work, I went to George and suggested a trench. He loved the idea so much that it became one of the most iconic moments in the movie!
Apparently when Colin Cantwell take it easy, legends are born. We can only thank him!
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is to be rediscovered in streaming on Disney +, just like the rest of the saga.