'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back' trivia and fun facts

In the battle scene that takes place on the ice planet of Hoth, the soldiers were played by Norwegian mountain-rescue skiers. In exchange for their work, George Lucas made a donation to the Norwegian Red Cross.

George Lucas spent thousands of dollars to promote Frank Oz so that this actor, who voiced Yoda, could win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Oz finally didn't win because the Academy considered that a puppeteer wasn't an actor.

The scene in which Darth Vader ironically invites Han Solo to dinner, is the only one in which the villain speaks directly to Solo.

In the scene where the Millennium Falcon is trapped in an asteroid field, you can see a shoe. According to rumors, George Lucas asked the SFX people to redo the scene so many times that they got annoyed and one of them threw in their shoe.

Carrie Fisher had to climb on a box to shoot most scenes because of her height difference with Harrison Ford.

Han Solo is the only character in the saga that, not being Jedi or Sith, uses a lightsaber. He used this weapon to open the belly of a Tauntaun and seek refuge inside.

Han Solo was frozen in carbonite for script reasons, but also because Harrison Ford didn't know if he would return for 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi'.

George Lucas decided to shoot a battle scene on the ice planet of Hoth because he felt that it was easier to hide the errors of the visual effects in space. He thought that with a white background the effects crews would have to work harder and the effects would be much more impressive.

The scene in which Luke used the Force to recover his lightsaber was achieved by filming Mark Hamill as he throw his weapon away and then running the film in reverse.

The scene where R2- D2 is submerged in the mud was shot in the pool of George Lucas. Most of the crew members spent the whole scene hidden underwater while Lucas himself was shooting it.