A long time ago on a camera far, far away, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford performed their first screen test together, reading a scene from a then-unheard of space-opera written and directed by George Lucas: Star Wars. The video from that first screen test has resurfaced on Twitter via actor Mark Hamill who revealed some interesting behind-the-scenes details from that day more than forty years ago.
Hamill explains that the footage is the "screen-test for [Star Wars] [with] Harrison on the 1st day I ever met him. Neither [one] of us had read the script at this point, only this [one] scene." The scene in question is an extended version of A New Hope's Alderaan scene, in which Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Chewie discover the empty, rubble-filled space where the planet Alderaan used to be. The actors, of course, didn't know that at the time. As Hamill explained, "I asked George what kind of movie it was - 'Let's just do it, we'll talk about that later' We never did talk about it later - we just did it."
Ford and Hamill continued to appear together along with the late Carrie Fisher in all three films in the original trilogy, as well as The Force Awakens decades later in 2015. Hamill continued to remain close to his co-stars over the years, and often shares fond memories with both.
Star Wars: A New Hope was filmed on a budget of just $11 million (approx. $40 when adjusted for inflation) and went on to earn almost $800 million at the box office. The franchise as a whole continued to impact mainstream cinema by paving the way for modern day sci-fi films. It also helped drive Hollywood to innovate in the world of special effects, where George Lucas continues to be a massive influence with his visual effects studio, Industrial Lights and Magic.
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