See Lawrence Kasdan’s Handwritten Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Script Pages
Though we’ve gotten a ton of Star Wars stories over the last decade or so, the bar for a good Star Wars movie was set all the way back in 1980. That’s when The Empire Strikes Back premiered, having been written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, and directed by Irwin Kershner.
It is perhaps a bit telling that the film widely regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies was the one where George Lucas only had a “Story by” writing credit. Back in 2015, we got a cool look at how the Star Wars world began coming to life with The Empire Strikes Back when the folks over at /Film snagged a major exclusive: a look at Kasdan’s handwritten first draft of the Empire screenplay.
Kasdan donated his The Empire Strikes Back script to the Writers Guild Foundation Archive, so kudos to them for allowing the /Film folks to share this little snippet of history with Star Wars fans everywhere.
Above, you can see Kasdan’s handwritten The Empire Strikes Back version of arguably one of the most unforgettable scenes in the franchise’s history: the iconic “I love you,” “I know” exchange between Princess Leia and Han Solo.
It looks a little different, however, since Ford ad-libbed his The Empire Strikes Back line in response. It’s up there with Roy Batty’s “Tears in Rain” speech from Blade Runner and Ford’s own “Shooting the Swordsman” Raiders of the Lost Ark moment as one of the greatest movie ad-libs of all time.
Originally, the line read, “Just remember that, ‘cause I’ll be back.” Kasdan’s writing skills are top notch, but I imagine we’re all glad they went with Ford’s version and left the original line for Schwarzenegger in that other science fiction franchise…
You can see the rest of The Empire Strikes Back pages over at /Film.
Again, it’s always cool to see these movie time capsules, going back to a time when the thing was actually being made. With Star Wars and such a rich history, especially around The Empire Strikes Back it’s interesting to think how things might have turned out differently, even just slightly.
Is The Empire Strikes Back the best Star Wars movie? Probably even today with all of the new additions, the easy answer is “Yes”. It set a new tone for the franchise, happy to go a slightly darker direction. And that was, ultimately a good thing.
