Harrison Ford Fans Caused Chaos On The Set Of Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi

There are two major, notable exterior locations in Richard Marquand's 1983 sci-fi romp "Return of the Jedi." In the early scenes of the film, the dashing pilot Han Solo (Harrison Ford) must be rescued from a crime lord's desert palace where he has been frozen in stasis and hung on the wall as a trophy. The scene's desert exteriors were shot in Arizona, in a part of the desert called Buttercup Valley. In the climax of the desert scenes, a full-size floating skiff — the pleasure barge of the evil Jabba the Hutt — was blown up. To this day, one can visit the filming site and potentially find pieces of the barge, or of the Sarlacc, the film's pit-like desert monster. 

The other notable location was the massive redwood forests located in Northern California. The "Jedi" locations were notable, as it was the first time a "Star Wars" movie had filmed the bulk of its outdoor footage in the United States. (The deserts in the 1977 original were located in Tunisia.)

After the success of "Star Wars" and of "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, production on "Return of the Jedi" was notoriously hush-hush, and a lot of filming had to be done in secret. According to Robert Sellers' 1994 book "Harrison Ford: A Biography," many notable precautions were taken to make sure there were no voyeurs, reporters, or looky-loos. Perhaps well-known to devoted fans now, "Return of the Jedi" filmed under the fake title "Blue Harvest," and crew members even had "Blue Harvest" T-shirts made to wear in public, just in case someone should be looking in. 

Also, it was everything the filmmakers could do to hide the fact that Ford, handsome matinee idol that he was, wasn't mobbed by fans.

Ford, of course, experienced a notable career surge following his appearance in "Star Wars." From that film up until production on "Jedi," Ford had a small role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," starred opposite Gene Wilder in Robert Aldrich's Western comedy "The Frisco Kid," and appeared in the major genre movies "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Blade Runner" in the early 1980s. He was a massive known quantity and, naturally, had many, many followers and adherents. 

Despite the "Blue Harvest" T-shirts, the Los Angeles Times found that the production out in Arizona was indeed a "Star Wars" film, and fans immediately made a pilgrimage. According to Sellers' book, Ford's fans in particular were the most difficult. Evidently, they would scream in elation whenever the actor came into view, which, one might imagine, would make sound recording especially difficult. 

It's likely the fans were eventually frightened off the set by the difficult location. The set was buffeted by powerful sandstorms which evidently cost the production two full days of shooting. These problems occurred after the production had already spent a whopping 78 days filming interiors, which were built, torn down, and reused incessantly. (Jabba the Hutt's palace was built inside of the docking hangar on the Death Star, for instance.) That was all prior to the production's movement to Northern California to shoot the "Jedi" scenes set on the distant forest moon of Endor. It was a long and hectic shoot, and screaming fans — while perhaps appreciated for their enthusiasm — were not exactly welcome on the set. 

To make matters worse, Ford has revealed in interviews that "Return of the Jedi" was a film he didn't necessarily want to make. Some might even say that his indifference toward the material shows in the final cut of the movie, with Ford often looking bored or befuddled. He would have liked for Han Solo to have been killed off in the film, allowing the character a dramatic finish, and providing the actor a handy way to stay out of any potential future installments. Indeed, Ford has gone on record with his distaste for Han Solo's simplicity as a character — which was by design, of course. The "Star Wars" filmmakers invented these characters as archetypes. But Ford was tired of Han Solo and wanted to move on. 

After making a sequel to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1984, Ford began acting in more nuanced, more adult fare. His career after "Jedi" saw films like "Witness" and "The Mosquito Coast" for director Peter Weir, as well as "Frantic" for Roman Polanski and "Working Girl" for Mike Nichols. It wasn't until he actively eschewed his career in sci-fi that Ford allowed himself the leeway to expand his career. It certainly helped, of course, that the sci-fi movies gave him the clout to negotiate such things. 

Ford didn't appear in a science fiction film again until 2011 with Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens." More recently, Ford, now 80, has mellowed out in his choice of material, and has returned to "Star Wars" in two additional feature films. He will also soon be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing "Thunderbolt" Ross in the upcoming film "Thunderbolts."  

If you're a Ford fan, though, please don't go to the set uninvited.