Mark Hamill Explains Story Behind Mattress-Filled ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Behind-The-Scenes Photo

Few members of the Star Wars family are as active on social media as Mark Hamill, who constantly interacts with fans and pokes fun at topics other Twitter users are engaged with. When a Twitter user asked Hamill about the story behind an interesting behind-the-scenes photo while also teasing the actor, Hamill shed light on what the reality was behind the photo.

The photo shows the iconic conflict between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker that takes place at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, with Vader revealing Skywalker’s true lineage. In the finished film, the conflict appeared to take place above a huge mechanical chasm in Cloud City, which left Luke with no place to go once he was cornered.

The behind-the-scenes photo reveals that, instead of filming the sequence thousands of feet in the air, it took place over a massive pile of mattresses as a precaution in case Hamill or Darth Vader actor David Prowse might have slipped.

At first glance, it appears as though the mattresses were stacked merely a few feet below the actors, giving the impression that the actors might have been overly precautious. That’s where Hamill stepped in to shed insight into the picture.

In the original trilogy, Hamill was required to perform a variety of incredibly athletic stunts, ranging from intense training sequences on Dagobah with Yoda to elaborate lightsaber choreography in battles with Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.

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Decades later, the prequel trilogy showed Jedis in action like never before seen, showing a young Obi-Wan Kenobi at the height of his physical abilities, a drastic difference from the duel we saw in the original Star Wars. The Force Awakens continued the trend of showing immensely powerful Jedi, allowing Kylo Ren to engage in combat with Rey.

The Last Jedi has already teased that Rey will undergo training similar to what was seen in The Empire Strikes Back, but we doubt we’ll see Hamill show off his physicality to the same degree as Daisy Ridley will show, as Hamill will now portray the master in the situation.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, from writer/director Rian Johnson, is in post-production now for a December 15, 2017, release. The film follows-up and continues the story of the next generation of the saga as Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo Ren find their place in the galaxy and follow the legacy of Luke Skywalker, Leia, and Han Solo. Daisy Ridley returns to star as Rey, with other returning stars John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Mayhew, Andy Serkis, Anthony Daniels, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa. Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern join the cast in as-yet-unrevealed roles.

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[H/T Yahoo]