IK: You still assume they?re going to do something to Leia, too, but you?re the one who?s going to be the guinea pig.
(Harrison rummages in Kersh?s fruit bowl.)
HF: Are there any more apples?
IK: Have this one. It?s been here a week but it?s still good. As I was saying, they?ve brought Leia and Chewie along to make you behave.
HF: But I don?t think there should be any ?buddy buddy? stuff with Lando.
IK: Of course not. Lando, after all, is acting out of expediency. Wait. There is something interesting developing here. ?What?s up, buddy??? ?What?s up, pal?? That?s your line to Lando.
HF: But I come in with my hands chained! Surely that gives me an idea of what?s up. I?m the only one who?s manacled.
IK: Right. But I don?t think you should be manacled when they send you down to the pit.
HF: I think I should be.
IK: (Still trying to devise the line.) ?What?s up, buddy?? ?What?s up, pal??
HF: I think I should be manacled. It won?t stop the love scene. I mean I don?t have to put my arms around Leia to kiss her. I can?t see how they would indulge in more than a straight kiss in such circumstances. It has to be rough and brisk and over with.
IK: Absolutely. I don?t intend to mess around??What?s up, buddy boy??? in the love scene.
HF: As I pass by her, I think Leia ought to say very simply, ?I love you.?
IK: (Tries it out) ?I love you.? And you say, ?Just remember that, Leia, because I?ll be back.? You?ve got to say, ?I?ll be back.? You must. It?s almost contractual!
HF: If she says ?I love you,? and I say ?I know,? that?s beautiful and acceptable and funny.
IK: Right, right. You know what? I may keep Vader out of this till the end. When all this stuff is over, Vader walks right in and all he says is ?Put him in the carbon-freezing chamber.? Why should he watch all this other stuff going on?
HF: He?s there because he?s telling Boba Fett what he intends to do with me.
IK: Then I guess he has to watch everything.
HF: He could walk away.
IK: No, he couldn?t. There?s no place to walk. (Laughs) I?m really stuck here.
HF: I think he could walk out and Boba Fett be the one to say, ?Put him in the??
IK: No, no, no, no?Boba can?t?No, no, no, no.
HF: Well, Vader has given me to Boba Fett.
IK: (Now wrestling with Boba Fett?s lines) ?What if he doesn?t survive? He?s worth a lot to me.?
HF: I?m going to get a cup of coffee.
IK: ?What if he doesn?t survive??
(Kersh tries out several variations in Harrison?s absence and when the actor returns he?s still at it.)
IK: ?What?s up, pal or buddy??? ?What?s up, pal?? That?s nice. It?s ironic. And he says, ?You?re going to be frozen.? I don?t like frozen. ?You?re going into the carbon-freezing chamber.? And he knows you?re likely to die if you go in there.
HF: I would know it, too!
IK: ?You?re being put into carbon freeze.? How about that? And you ask, ?What about them?? indicating Leia and Chewie.
HF: But I can?t say, ?What about them?? I said the same thing in the cell scene we?ve already shot.
IK: So, instead of saying, ?What about them?? you say, ?They?re putting me in the carbon freeze,? and Leia asks why and you say, "It?ll make me behave better.?
HF: You don?t like ?To make me more polite??
IK: Polite is too obscure. Behave is much better because you?ve been a rascal, a thorn in their side. It implies a form of punishment. Leia says, ?It could kill you,? and that sets Chewbacca off. (Reprising lines so far) ?What?s up, pal?? ?You?re being put in the carbon freeze?? ?Why??? ?It?ll make you behave.? It is sadistic.
HF: Leia?s got to be the one to recognize how sadistic it is.
IK: ?What?s up, pal?? ?You?re being put in the carbon freeze.? ?Why?? ?It?ll make you behave.? No, it's too clever. The problem is I?ve got a two-part harmony going.
HF: I still don?t like ?It?ll make me behave.?
IK: How about, ?It?ll make me easier to transport.? You see, you?re a guinea pig, a substitute for Luke Skywalker, but we can?t say that.
HF: ?What?s up, pal??
Together: ?You?re being put in the carbon freeze.?
(Later, on Stage 5 again, Kersh is joined by Billy Dee Williams.)
Billy Dee Williams: (Quietly) ?You?re going to be put in the carbon freeze.? (Louder) ?You?re going to be put in the carbon freeze.?
IK: (Joining him to speak Han?s line) ?Why??
BDW: ?To keep you polite.?
IK: (As Boba Fett) ?But that could kill him.? When Vader says, ?Put him in the carbon freeze,? you?ve got to look angry as hell.
BDW: Where?s Leia at this point?
IK: Carrie?ll be right here and we?ll work that out.
(Carrie Fisher arrives. She has not yet been in make-up.)
Carrie Fisher: Hi?
IK: I?ve just changed the scene.
CF: I know. Harrison told me.
IK: I?ve just changed it because it didn?t answer one important thing: Why are you there to watch the execution? Why don?t they take him out of jail and just do it? It doesn?t make sense, does it?
CF: No.
IK: There?s only one reason. They do it to keep the victim from fighting, from trying to take people with him. Vader doesn?t want problems like that. He brings you along for that reason. You have to understand that, or otherwise you would just stand there like a lump. So I?m starting this scene in a situation where you have no idea why you?re there. Han says to Lando, ?What?s up, pal?? very sarcastically. Lando says, ?You?re being put in the carbon freeze.? But he feels miserable about it, powerless. Vader says, ?Put him in the carbon freeze? and everybody goes nuts. I?ve changed the scene because the emphasis was on ignorance before. I don?t want it to be on ignorance, I want it to be on knowledge.
CF: No crying, no kissing.
IK: The kissing comes after. The change is just the beginning of the scene. The rest is the same. So I?m just giving everybody their new script pages?
CF: (Disconcerted) I don?t know where I am now.
IK: (Exasperated) All you did before was exclaim, ?No!? That?s all you had. Do you want to say, ?No!?? You can say, ?No!?
CF: Well, I don?t know where I?ll be when he says, ?Put him in the carbon freeze.? I could do a big gesture. I could slap Lando or something. How near is he to me?
IK: He?s right next to you.
CF: Could I slap him?
IK: What you really want to say is ?You bastard,? but you can?t say that.
CF: Do I have to be so polite? There?s too much politeness about. I could just have the bad manners to slap him.
IK: All right, all right. Great. You look up at Lando and just slap him. Okay? At this point Vader says, ?Put him in the carbon?? Now you can grab Han. You don?t want to let him go. Let?s not be rational. I don?t want to be rational at this point.
CF: Right, I don?t want to let him go. But if I do love him, how does he know I love him? Maybe if I threw myself in front of him?
IK: That?s possible. Then, immediately, two stormtroopers come and start pulling you away. That?s when Chewbacca goes crazy. It?s got to be physical action. Lines don?t do it. So let?s say you slap him. (Turns to Billy Dee) Billy, this is the most difficult scene I have in the film. I?ve been going around looking at each person?s point of view, right? I?ve got Boba Fett?s. I?ve got Han?s. I know Chewie?s. I?ve got Vader?s. I?m trying to get what Leia?s is. Right now she has absolute contempt for you. So instead of talking to you, she?ll attack you and at that point two guards come in to pull her off. You see?
BDW: Well, the only thing I feel about that is I?ve been attacked so many times in the movie.