The Bearded Trio

What do you do when you need to produce a movie trailer for The Empire Strikes Back but don't have any film footage?  Easy, use Ralph McQuarrie concept paintings throughout the trailer.  That'll do the job. Well, why wouldn't it worked?  See for yourself in this original trailer for ESB.

Christmas is just under a month away, but I received a most merry early Christmas gift Tuesday night. I received my copy of The Man Who Shot Luke Skywalker - Volume 2 . This book is the end result of a Kickstarter project that began earlier this year, and details the photography of the vintage Kenner Empire Strikes Back toy line. The first volume details photography for the original Star Wars toy line, covering the years 1977, 1978 and 1979. This volume covers 1980, 1981 and 1982, the three years of the Empire Strikes Back line. The book was compiled by former Kenner photographer Kim DM Simmons. The book is light on text, but text isn't really the purpose of a book like this. The purpose is to show off the photography that made up the slideshow of the childhood of people of my generation, children of the late 1970s and early 1980s.  I was fortunate to be in the position to support this Kickstarter project at the Collector's Edition tier. My book includes an entire section on th...

The Flight Through The Asteroids Featurette From The Empire Strikes Back This vintage featurette for The Empire Strikes Back takes viewers through the film's famed asteroid field sequence, overlayed with the original storyboards. Storyboards are essential to the pre-production of a movie, as they map out how scenes will visually appear. As seen here, interior cockpit shots, TIE fighters colliding with asteroids, and the Millennium Falcon docking inside a larger asteroid all appear as storyboards almost exactly as they would be seen in the final film.

Friend of the site and our Facebook page , Suzanna Charlton Francis has been sending us some wonderful photos over the last few weeks and I just had to share them on our site.  The photos are from the time Suzanna's mother was enjoying being on the set of the The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  Pamela Mann was part of the crew as continuity and as you can see had a blast on the set mingling with the stars and crew. Return of the Jedi crew photo Suzanna tells us: "My mum Pamela Mann, enjoying some downtime during filming return of the jedi with Carrie fisher" Patricia McDermott (hairdresser) Pamela Mann (continuity) and Carrie fisher having fun during a break from shooting. The prop guys built an igloo for Pamela Mann on location in Norway on Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back. On the set of The Empire Strikes back enjoying a snowmobile in Finse, Norway Suzanna: "The birthday (spelt wrong) one was drawn by Alan Tomkins who was the art ...

Black Angel is back and available on YouTube for a limited time only The Bearded Trio are very pleased to be one of the first to bring you the full movie of Black Angel .  This short movie was attached with screenings of Star Wars Episode V:  The Empire Strikes Back.  The movie is available for a limited time so make sure you take this wonderful opportunity to watch this beautifully shot movie featuring some incredible landscapes from Scotland.   Steven Spielberg described this it as ‘one of the most enigmatic films  I've  ever seen.’  The movie was personally  commissioned  by G eorge Lucas who chose Black Angel to accompany Empire.  The 25 minute movie was produced on a budge of just £25,000. An epic fantasy adventure, the script follows a knight (Tony Vogel) who returns from the Crusades, only to be transported to a fantasy world to rescue a princess from the clutches of a dark and mysterious character. Shot i...

BBC program that was broadcast on April 9, 1980.  Interesting programme that focuses on the financial costs of making a sequel to one of the most successful movies of all time. THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+ THE BEARDED TRIO ON PINTEREST CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON STEVEN SPIELBERG CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON GEORGE LUCAS CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON JOHN WILLIAMS

The Force is not with Empire Brewing Co.  The New York-based brewery is being sued by Disney-owned Lucasfilm over their "Empire Strikes Bock" lager.  On October 15, Lucasfilm filed a notice of opposition with the Trademark Office claiming that the name is too close to the title of the 1980 film, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back . The brewery also uses phrases such as "May the hops be with you," and an ad on their website uses a crawl similar to that used at the beginning of every Star Wars films to date. While the brewery has been producing their beer for seven years, trouble arose when they decided to file trademark papers for the product.  Since Star Wars creator George Lucas is already in the alcohol business with his Skywalker-brand wine, Lucasfilm fears confusion will arise and the public will think the beer produced by the brewery is an officially licensed product. Kevin Griffin, a manager at the brewery, says this is all a misunderst...

Thanks to the official Star Wars Youtube channel we can watch the original trailer for Empire Strikes Back from 1979 and includes some scenes ultimately cut from the finished version. Watch The Empire Strikes Back theatrical trailer, which debuted in fall 1979 and gave audiences their first look at the sequel to Star Wars. In addition to a sampling of scenes taken from the entire movie, the trailer surprisingly features footage that was cut from the final film, including a kiss between Luke and Leia, C-3PO removing a warning sticket from a door in the Rebel base on Hoth, and more. Most interesting, however, is the voiceover -- provided by none other than Harrison Ford himself. THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+ THE BEARDED TRIO ON PINTEREST CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON STEVEN SPIELBERG CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON GEORGE LUCAS CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON JOHN WILLIAMS

In the latest edition of Empire Magazine George Lucas explains how it would have been impossible to have kept the bomb shell at the end of The Empire Strikes Back a secret if the Internet had been around. Lucas thinks the famous (retro spoiler ahead) father/son scene was one of the last "real reveals" "No. It was pretty remarkable we pulled it off then," he answered Empire when asked if he thinks it would have been possible now.  "It was without the internet but it was still extremely intense in terms of the fans. Literally, I didn't tell anybody. Even the producer didn't know. It wasn't until James Earl Jones [Darth Vader's voice] came on during the finishing of the movie that it was revealed what he was actually saying there."  "We expected it to leak but it didn't. It made it through the sound mix where the group widened. Then, everybody came out of the first screening and said, 'He's his father!' ...

Sad news as we learn that Christopher Malcolm who played Zev Senesca (Rogue 2) in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and the father in another Lucasfilm production, Labyrinth has died.  He will most likely be most remembered for his potrayal of Brad Majors in the original stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Christopher's daughter tweeted yesterday: Today the world lost a beautiful, brilliant man. My dad Christopher Malcolm left peacefully and with dignity. He will always be my hero. X — morgan lloyd malcolm (@mogster) February 15, 2014 We'll update as we bring more on this sad news.

This original documentary on the making of The Empire Strikes Back has a segment on John Williams.  In it the composer himself talks about the work involved in creating a masterpiece THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+

Take a look at this gem of a vintage video.  It's an interview from 1980.  The Today Show's Jane Pauley Interviews Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford to talk about the upcoming Empire Strikes Back.  During the interview the guys talk about the plans after the original trilogy to do another trilogy set 20 years before.  Take a look.  The video is in two parts. Part 1 Part 2 THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+

Quite possibly the best Gif file I have ever seen. The Empire Strikes Back recreated as a two-minute long 8-bit animation.

This has been scanned from my personal collection. From 1990 Lucasfilm Club Magazine Number 11. Celebrates the 10th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.