In John Philip Pitcher’s “Star Wars – The Making of ‘Return of the Jedi,'” Howard Kazanjian, who created the three original trilogy installments (as well as “Raiders of the Lost Ark”), spills the beans on the Force Ghost process, and how it shaped “The Empire Strikes Back” changed to “Return of the Jedi”.
For “Empire,” Sir Alec was placed in front of a black velvet backdrop, where he delivered his lines without another actor present. “Then the aura was added to his image, and the film was composited together with Mark’s film,” Kazanjian said. Alec was not a fan of this approach. As Kazanjian observes, “[I]It’s very difficult to enter the scene and deliver your lines to another actor who isn’t even there.” This is of course common now in the age of CG-laden blockbusters, where characters and entire environments are added in post. The production, but at the time, was classically trained. To Sir Alec, this held zero appeal.
