Star Wars: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Empire Strikes Back
5. Part Of The Hoth Sequence Was Filmed Outside The Cast & Crew's Hotel
Much of the Hoth sequence was filmed in Finse, Norway, and true to the series' poor luck with inclement weather, the crew arrived to shoot just as the region's worst winter storm in 50 years swept through.
For a time the cast and crew were confined to their hotel and unable to shoot at their planned location, but out of frustration Irvin Kirshner eventually decided to film part of the sequence where Luke ambles through the snow just 30 feet from the front door of the hotel. Hamill said:
"We wound up filming right outside the lodge. I mean, if you turned the camera around you saw people on their balconies having their hot chocolate as Harrison [Ford] and I were acting next to a dead tauntaun."
As you can imagine, it was galling for Hamill to subject himself to the blistering cold while the rest of the crew were bundled up warm. But the end result is so brilliantly seamless you'd never guess it was filmed in comparative civilisation.