The Star Wars franchise has always impressed with its ability to deliver groundbreaking effects, but the series has offered up some awesome stunt work as well. One film that highlight this is The Empire Strikes Back, which took lightsaber dueling and acrobatics to a level not seen in A New Hope. To honor that legacy (and shine a light on his stuntman), Mark Hamill has taken to social media to reveal that he actually wasn't allowed to fly out of the Cloud City window during his battle with Darth Vader in the second Star Wars film. The actor posted:
Does that look familiar? That scene takes place in The Empire Strikes Back's third act when Luke finally squares off against Darth Vader in the Bespin mining facility, but before Vader reveals their familial connection. The flip involves Vader breaking a window to cause a vacuum to suck Luke out into a tunnel in the facility, and while Mark Hamill trained to do the stunt himself, the final version of the scene was pulled off by stuntman Colin Skeaping jumping off of a springboard for insurance reasons.
Despite not being able to do the flip, Mark Hamill still had some fun while shooting The Empire Strikes Back. As an added bonus at the end of his post, he also included a picture of him doing a handstand while training with Yoda, though he admitted that they used harnesses to accomplish the sequence in the movie.
If you want a closer look at the stunt sequence from The Empire Strikes Back (or you just want to watch the iconic battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader), then you can check out the Cloud City lightsaber scene, below.
Of course, these stories of danger on the sets of Star Wars movies are nothing new. In fact, during the production of The Force Awakens, false rumors started to swirl that Mark Hamill had injured himself performing in a scene on Skellig Michael. Alas, the Luke Skywalker actor confirmed that there was no truth to those rumors (he seems to have learned to let the stunt professionals handle the stunts from his work on The Empire Strikes Back), and the beloved star survived to reprise his role as Luke one more time in Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi two years later.
Almost 40 years have passed since Colin Skeaping went tumbling out that window for the production of The Empire Strikes Back. The franchise from the galaxy far, far away continues to impress with its stunt work, and fans of Star Wars can currently catch Solo: A Star Wars Story in theaters right now. For more information on Solo, check out our review and our To 3D guide!
