Mark Hamill took to Twitter recently to share some amusing behind the scenes insight on an iconic scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. You know, the scene where he finds out Darth Vader was his father and screams out, “That’s not true, that’s impossible!”
In regards to that scream, this comment was posted on Twitter by a fan: “Random #StarWars filming question for the day. I don’t know how many takes @HamillHimself did for the ‘That’s not true, that’s impossible’ line in Empire after THE reveal, but it sounds like it would kill his voice. (Which is a good thing he chose to fall silently.) Did it?”
Hamill responded to that question with the following info: “It’s crucial to warm up vocally prior to any demanding challenges. FYI-In that scene- NOTHING could be heard over the deafening roar of the wind-machines. I spoke my lines based on Vader’s gestures, unable to hear a word he said. Everything was dubbed in later in post-production.”
You can check out those tweets below:
It’s crucial to warm up vocally prior to any demanding challenges. FYI-In that scene- NOTHING could be heard over the deafening roar of the wind-machines. I spoke my lines based on Vader’s gestures, unable to hear a word he said. Everything was dubbed in later in post-production. https://t.co/MuL78BMUOC pic.twitter.com/8bthG8xCgL
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 27, 2021
That’s pretty funny that he acted out the scene not being able to hear what Vader actor David Prowse was saying. Had Prowse not been making those hand gestures, Hamill would have no idea what in the hell to do!
I should also mention that the lines David Prowse said to Hamill while shooting this scene weren’t the same ones heard in The Empire Strikes Back. Prowse was instead told to say that Obi-Wan Kenobi was Luke’s father. Vader being Luke’s father was kept secret by Hamill, George Lucas and director Irvin Kershner. Hamill was only being told moments before the scene was shot.