In case my handle didn't give it away, I ADORE Star Wars. A New Hope first hit cinemas #onThisDay in 1977.

A thread on some fun #ANewHope facts, Bowie, et al.

It was originally just called Star Wars. The "Episode 4" and A New Hope came later, with its 1981 re-release.

Why?

Because when it first released, George Lucas was convinced the film would not be successful, that it was too 'crazy' an idea to work.

It succeeded, and how. After The Empire Strikes Back released - and was a hit in 1980, #ANewHope was rebranded. But it wasn't the only thing...

... That was rebranded. When the first film (and even the second) came out, Lucas hadn't *decided* Luke and Leia were siblings. She kisses him "for luck" in Ep 4 in a since deleted cut, when he first swings across the Death Star.

He later decided they were twins..

There's also a fun @DavidBowieReal connect with @HamillHimself. When he climbed into the dewback, on location in Tunisia -or for all intents and purposes, Mos Eisley, its head was covered in papier mache. The only thing Hamill had to read was a review of a Bowie concert in Paris.

The film finished shooting in 1977 - the same year it released, which would put that concert at ~1975-76, or the era of the Thin White Duke (throwing darts in lovers' eyes).

Bowie inspired a character that was meant to be in the #RiseOfSkywalker, but didn't make it to screen...

More on that in another thread. Back to A New Hope.

Chewie's suit is made of actual yak fur, and his 'voice' is a mix of noises from bears, lions, walruses, and badgers. Seriously.

Speaking of spoken languages in #ANewHope...

R2D2 was meant to not only speak English, but communicate in very profane language with Threepio. It never happened, and they replaced the dialogue with his beeps in post production.

The language Greedo speaks is also a real language: Quechua, indigenous to the eponymous people.

And finally, since we're talking about Greedo..

HAN SHOT FIRST!