In the history of I love you's, Han Solo and Princess Leia's is probably one of the most famous. The moment will forever be on the lists of most romantic moments in film, but it could have gone quite differently if it was up to Star Wars creator George Lucas.
The scene in question encapsulates one of Han Solo's most famous lines in all of Star Wars, but it wasn't originally in the script for Empire Strikes Back. When Han Solo is gearing up to be frozen into carbonite, he passes Leia and they kiss, and she says "I love you" to which his famous reply is, "I know."
What if Han said, "I love you too"? It has a completely different tone and gives the scene an entirely different vibe. But that is what George Lucas originally wrote in the script for Empire. Star Wars wasn't like any other movie at the time, so why should Han Solo give the ordinary reply?
But apparently there are many different accounts about how exactly the switch in dialogue happened and when. Most of the accounts insist that the moment was improvised. In a way, it was improvised because it was changed, but at the same time, the common misconception with scenes that were improvised is that they were thought of on the spot during filming. That was not the case for Han's line, which was changed on the spot, just not exactly during the filming of the scene.
Neither Harrison Ford or Irvin Kershner, who directed the movie, agreed to Lucas' "I love you too" line, but the accounts on how "I know" came into the mix vary depending on who you ask. Just saying "I love you too" didn't really give any foreshadowing that we'd see Han Solo again. If he said, "I know", it sort of meant we'd see him again because he had to tell Leia he loved her. This is what Kershner and Ford agreed on, to Lucas' dismay.
But according to CBR, the whole line Han was supposed to say was, "I love you. I couldn't tell you before, but it's true. Just remember that, I'll be back." The problem with that was that we didn't know if Han was going to be back so it kinda didn't make sense.
Alan Arnold, a journalist on the set of Empire who was writing a behind-the-scenes book called Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ however managed to record what Ford and Kershner were discussing in regards to the scene.
"Ford: 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. Kershner: Absolutely. I don’t intend to mess around… 'What’s up, buddy boy?'... in the love scene. Ford: As I pass by her, I think Leia ought to say very simply, 'I love you.' Kershner: (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! Ford: If she says 'I love you,' and I say 'I know,' that’s beautiful and acceptable and funny. Kershner: Right, right."
While Ford did come up with "I know," it seems that the line wasn't made up on the spot during filming but it was still improvised because it wasn't in the script. Other accounts say that Kershner left the fate of the line up to Ford in the end and told him to say whatever felt right when he called action.
In the book Harrison Ford: The Films by Brad Duke, Kershner said, "I regarded that scene as entirely Ford's which is why I gave him so much opportunity to tell me how he thought we should treat it."
"I was very interested in that moment and how it works," Ford said in the book. " We never even shot 'I love you, too.' We just went ahead. It gave George a pause. He had not written the scene with a laugh. But that laugh opens you up emotionally. You don't have another emotional outlet in that scene. The kiss, as the Princess and I are pulled back, is virtually strong, and there'll never be a payoff for the scene without a laugh."
Speaking with Jon Favreau, Ford said, "George had artfully contrived for Han Solo to say "I love you too" (Ford makes a displeased face). I thought it was a lost opportunity. I mean this character had never behaved so unabashedly, emotional and conventional before and I thought are we pissing away this great opportunity for the character. You want your badasses to be a badass til' the end. You want him to go down the way they lived. So I said, I mean what's the last thing a woman wants to hear when she says I love you? She says I love you and I say I know. And so we shot one like that just for protection where I spoke the line as written and George and I think this is fair to say he went apesh**. He thought it was horrible and that it would get a bad laugh. So I was obliged to sit next to him when he tested it for the first screening. There was a laugh but it was a laugh of recognition. And so he generously let it stay in the movie."
However, the scene was decided on and if it can really be described as an improvised scene really doesn't matter at the end of the day. The only thing that's important to note is that Han Solo met the expectations of fans with the line at the end of the day. We know Han was a softy under all that bad boy exterior.