The Star Wars VFX Team Snuck Some Secret Spuds Into The Empire Strikes Back
Po-tay-toes. You can boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew, or even use them as props in the sequel to one of the most successful films of all time! There are some pretty fun stories about the creation of the special effects in the "Star Wars" franchise, and using everyday objects to become something otherworldly seems to be a big part of the SFX playbook. After all, the team in charge of the spaceships for "Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi" used chewing gum to create some of the ships at a distance, along with other items you might find in your refrigerator or closet.
In "The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Enhanced Edition)" by J. W. Rinzler, the crew members who helped bring one of the most heart-pounding scenes from "The Empire Strikes Back" to life revealed the secrets behind creating some celestial bodies out of everyone's favorite tuber. Props from movies are frequently sold off or put into storage for possible museum showings, but I'm going to say the potato props from "Empire" are no longer around. Who knows — maybe they ended up getting handed off to craft services for lunch!
Free-flying potato asteroids
The book describes the work that went into creating the Hoth asteroid belt sequence, which sees our intrepid heroes evading capture by the Empire by hiding inside of what they think is an asteroid's cave. They end up narrowly escaping a second time, this time when they realize that they've actually flown into the mouth of a giant creature, zooming back out into the massive, terrifying asteroid field. Zipping around in a rickety older ship through giant rocks is more than a little scary, but according to visual effects artist Kenneth Ralston, some of those asteroids were actually potatoes:
"We had to shoot all these asteroids flying everywhere, so, just for laughs, we went out and bought a bunch of potatoes at the local store. We stuck those on rods and we started shooting potatoes, but not telling anybody. No one ever knew, but if you know where to look, they're hilarious. They look pretty much like the rocks; they're just smoother and go flying by the cockpit."
Potatoes on sticks apparently make pretty great stand-ins for asteroids, because I never noticed the space spuds. It also probably saved the special effects team a bit of time and money, because carving and painting foam or clay asteroids is a time-consuming, potentially expensive activity. Potatoes served their purpose just fine, and also gave the team a good behind-the-scenes giggle. It's win-win for everyone!