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.
