Luke getting attacked by a Tusken Raider is one of the most memorable scenes in A New Hope. As audience members, we genuinely felt the fear that Luke faced, and for good reason. Mark Hamill was really afraid of that particular Tusken Raider because of the costume choices.
Hamill’s True Fear of the Tusken Raider
We remember well the scene in A New Hope when a Tusken Raider attacked Luke after he went to find R2 and 3PO on Tatooine. We can watch a quick replay of it here and see how quickly Luke moved right and left to dodge the violent blows directed at him. What’s surprising to learn is that Mark Hamill was not acting but was truly afraid.
This video provides the short version of what happened to Mark Hamill. It reveals how the stuntman Peter Diamond, who played the Tusken Raider who attacked Luke, couldn’t actually see inside his costume. So, as Diamond struck down at Hamill, he couldn’t really see what he was doing and swung wildly at him, producing Hamill’s true fear.
A more complete account of what transpired can be found in the book The Making of Star Wars, which was based on “unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives.” This behind-the-scenes book includes insights from interviews to production notes and provides interesting details about this particular scene.
Turns out that Diamond, who served as stunt coordinator and stuntman, didn’t know that the headpiece of the costume would block his vision. As this companion video conveys, the attack scene was rehearsed without Diamond wearing his costume. So, when Diamond put the headpiece on, he discovered his lack of vision.
When it came time to film the real scene, and Hamill heard “Action!”, he became truly afraid as he attempted to dodge the Tusken Raider’s blows. The look of “terror” we see thus reflects that he was not acting.
Interesting Facts about the Tusken Raiders in A New Hope
One of the more well-known details about this Tusken Raider attack scene concerns a Gaderfii Stick. George Lucas had the editors loop the Tusken Raider shaking his stick above his head to make it appear like he did it multiple times. The documentary Empires of Dreams conveys the fact that Diamond only hoisted the stick once, but Lucas thought additional ones were more threatening.
A second fact is that the Tusken Raiders’ “barking speech” was composed of donkey and mule sounds. Sound designer Ben Burtt put those effects together along with other “animal breathing and wheezing sounds.” We probably agree with this article that this decision ended up providing one of the most iconic sound effects of Star Wars.
A third detail is how scenes with Sandpeople riding Banthas were shot in Death Valley National Park in California. The scenes and shots filmed in California were merged with those shot in Tunisia.
Relatedly, the Bantha was actually an elephant in disguise, and only one was filmed, not two. A second Bantha was shown using “optical compositing” to duplicate the real one. The lone Bantha was a female Asian elephant named Mardjii.
And, lastly, conceptual designer Ralph McQuarrie provided the look of the Tusken Raiders, whom he considered to be “mutated humanoids,” and gave them mouthpieces and goggles to complete their appearance. McQuarrie’s design choices were meant to reflect how they adapted to the environment and their fearsomeness. Luke and Hamill discovered that latter quality firsthand.
Hamill’s Fear of the Tusken Raider
Mark Hamill’s fear of the Tusken Raider was real because stuntman Peter Diamond struck blindly at him on the ground. This detail tops the lists of other interesting facts about the Sandpeople.