10 More Star Wars Scenes You Didn't Realise Were Tricking You
9. "I Am Your Father" Wasn't Said Aloud On Set - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Do movie moments get any more iconic?
Darth Vader's "I am your father" reveal to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back is the stuff of movie legend, but even around the time of the first Star Wars sequel production was closely guarded. The likes of David Prowse (underneath the Darth Vader helmet on set) and the majority of the cast and crew capturing this scene were completely unaware of the legendary twist that was set to arrive in theatres.
That's because George Lucas apparently didn't trust Prowse with such a monumental secret. So, in an effort to keep the truth from getting out early, only director Irvin Kershner and Mark Hamill were told about the incredible "I am your father" bombshell.
Prowse was instead told to utter the line, "Obi-Wan killed your father" (according to Hamill), with Mark then being told to react to the revelation like he'd just been told the actual shocking Vader-is-ya-daddy truth.
The cast & crew first learned of it when they saw the finished film. When we shot it, Vader's line was "You don't know the truth, Obi-Wan killed your father." Only Irvin Kershner, George Lucas & I knew what would be dubbed in later. Agony keeping that secret for over a year! 😩 https://t.co/DcB2lW8AhC
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) May 24, 2020
James Earl Jones then provided the game-changing line in post-production, resulting in minds being blown across the globe in the wake of The Empire Strikes Back's release in 1980.
And even after finally being stunned by Vader's Cloud City comments, just about every fan on the planet still didn't realise that the footage they were watching didn't actually involve the physical Sith Lord telling his son he was his unexpected pops on the day.