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Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

• Written and Directed by George Lucas
• Starring Alec McGuinness, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and James Earl Jones. David Prowse plays vader.
• Budget of 11 Million and Box Office of 775.8 million
• Trivia
  • Lucas had the idea for a space-fantasy film in 1971, after he completed directing his first full-length feature, THX 1138.[45] Originally, Lucas wanted to adapt the Flash Gordon space adventure comics and serials into his own films, having been fascinated by them since he was young.[46] He later said: I especially loved the Flash Gordon serials … Of course I realize now how crude and badly done they were … loving them that much when they were so awful, I began to wonder what would happen if they were done really well.
  • George Lucas was so sure this movie would flop that instead of attending the premiere, he went on vacation to Hawaii with his good friend Steven Spielberg, where they came up with the idea for Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
  • James Earl Jones and David Prowse, who play the voice and body of Darth Vader respectively, never met.
  • he first movie to make over $300 million domestic box office. It was also the first movie to cross $500 million worldwide in its initial release.
  • George Lucas’ decision to accept a lower salary on the movie in exchange for full merchandising rights was considered a fool’s gamble on his part. Toys based on movies had never been major money-earners (though some movie-toy combinations had done moderate retail returns) because of the long gap between when a movie would go through its theatrical run and when any products based on it would be available. This movie, however, was such a phenomenon that it reached the holiday 1977 sales period in full swing, and changed the way movies were merchandised forever.
  • The light-saber sound effect is a combination of the hum of an idling 35mm movie projector and the feedback generated by passing a stripped microphone cable by a television
  • According to Harrison Ford, during the making of the movie, he and Mark Hamill would usually fool around and not commit to their work whenever Sir Alec Guinness was not on set. When Guinness was on set, they behaved much more professionally.
  • Prior to the release, George Lucas showed an early rough cut to a group of his movie director friends. According to Lucas, this version still contained a lot of stock footage from old war movies in the place of special effects shots, and did not make a lot of sense. Most people in the room had a “what were you thinking?” response toward it; Brian De Palma reportedly called it the “worst movie ever”. Nearly everyone, including Lucas, felt the movie would be a flop; the only dissenter was Steven Spielberg, who predicted that the film would be “the biggest movie of all time” and make millions of dollars. Lucas admitted that everybody in the room looked up at Steven and thought “Poor Steven”.
  • Mark Hamill held his breath for so long during the trash compactor scene that he broke a blood vessel in his face. Subsequent shots are from one side only.
  • According to Mark Hamill, studio executives were unhappy that Chewbacca has no clothes and attempted to have the costume redesigned with shorts.
  • This is the only Star Wars movie where Darth Vader’s signature theme “The Imperial March” is not played in some form or another, as it had not been written at the time.
  • According to an interview with George Lucas, originally, Luke was a girl, Han Solo was an alien, the Wookiees were called Jawas, and R2-D2 and C-3PO were called A-2 and C-3
  • The accounts on how Alec Guinness regarded the movie and his work on it vary greatly. He frequently recalled the experience of making the movie as a bad one, and consistently claimed that it was his idea to have his character killed off in the first movie, so as to limit his involvement and make sure he “wouldn’t have to carry on saying these rubbish lines.” He later mentioned to “shrivel up” each time someone mentioned the movie. In one particularly infamous incident, a young boy, asking for his autograph, proudly told him he had seen the movie over a hundred times, and Guinness gave it to him after promising to never watch it again. He also claimed to throw away all Star Wars related fan mail without even opening it (a logical paradox, making it likely that this is not true, as his journals report what some of this mail said in detail), because he hated the fact that he would be most remembered as Obi-Wan Kenobi, despite other roles which he held in much higher regard. Contrary to all this, George Lucas has said he made the decision to kill off Kenobi, since the character had no part to play in the movie’s finale, and deserved a memorable exit. According to George Lucas, Guinness was “less than happy” that his character was dying earlier than expected, and even appeared to enjoy his time on-set. Lucas, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher have always stated how patient and helpful Guinness was on the set, and praised his professionalism and respectfulness to all cast and crew members. While Guinness made no secret that he disliked the dialogue in Lucas’ script, he claimed that he accepted the role for two reasons: 1) He was an admirer of Lucas’ previous movie, American Graffiti (1973) and 2) The narrative compelled him to read the whole script through to the end, in spite of not liking the dialogue, and not being a fan of science fiction. Of the final movie, he remarked that he found it “staggering as spectacle and technically brilliant, exciting, very noisy, and warmhearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, and some of the dialogue is excruciating, and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience.”
  • Harrison Ford was originally not allowed to audition, as he had starred in American Graffiti (1973), also directed by George Lucas. Lucas originally intended to use only new faces for this movie, but after using Harrison Ford to read lines with actors and actresses auditioning for the other roles, he realized Ford was the best actor for the part of Han Solo.
  • Robert Englund auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker, but was turned down. He then suggested to his roommate Mark Hamill that he should try for the part.
  • At one point, George Lucas had planned the character of Han Solo to be a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and gills. Lucas then changed the idea of Han Solo to a black human. He auditioned several black actors and even musicians (including Billy Dee Williams) until finally settling on Glynn Turman. But after this, he decided to make the role white. Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Robert Englund, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, James Woods, and Perry King were all candidates for the role of Han Solo. George Lucas also wanted to stay away from any actors he had previously used in his movies. James Caan, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, and Burt Reynolds all turned down the role. Harrison Ford, who had played Bob Falfa in Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973), read the part of Han Solo for screentests of other characters, but wasn’t originally considered for the part. During these tests, Lucas realized Ford was perfect for the role.
  • George Lucas based the character of Han Solo on his friend Francis Ford Coppola.
  • Mark Hamill revealed that, while filming the first scene of Luke, Han and Leia after their escape from the trash compactor (which was filmed before the compactor scenes), he noted that his hair should have been wet and matted down after being pulled into the dirty water. Harrison Ford just replied “Kid, it ain’t that kinda movie. If they’re looking at your hair, we’re all in big trouble.”

Star Wars Episode V- Empire Strikes Back (1980)

• Directed by Irvin Kershner
  • Never Say Never, Robocop 2, On Deadly Ground
• Starring Alec McGuinness, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, and James Earl Jones.
• Budget of 30.5Million and Box Office of 549 million
• Trivia
  • In order to avoid sharing creative rights, George Lucas decided to avoid using a major studio to finance this movie. Instead, he bankrolled the $18 million production himself, using a combination of his profits from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and a bank loan. Although the move was risky, it paid off several times over. Lucas recovered his investment within three months of the movie’s release. He then showed gratitude far beyond the Hollywood norm by sharing the profits with his employees (nearly $5 million in bonuses).
  • The shots where Luke uses his Jedi powers to retrieve his lightsaber from a distance were achieved by having Mark Hamill throw the lightsaber away, and then running the film in reverse.
  • George Lucas was so impressed by Frank Oz’s performance as Yoda that he spent thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign to try and get him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Lucas’ campaign ultimately failed because it was felt that a puppeteer wasn’t an actor. Lucas felt this wasn’t fair to Oz, who honestly didn’t care.
  • When Han Solo is about to be frozen, Princess Leia says, “I love you”. In the original script, Han Solo was supposed to say “Just remember that, Leia, because I’ll be back”, but at the time of filming, Harrison Ford wasn’t entirely certain he did want to come back for a third movie. There is a recurring legend that his line “I know” was ad-libbed. However, Alan Arnold’s book “Once Upon A Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back” includes a transcription of the discussion between Ford and director Irvin Kershner in which Ford suggested the line.
  • Yoda’s iconic manner of speech has the parts of speech in object-subject-verb order. Very few languages on Earth use this, and most are based in the Amazon river basin.
  • George Lucas decided that a battle on an ice planet was necessary because he felt that it was easy to “cheat” in space, because the background was black and you could hide errors easily. With a white background, the effects crews would have to work much harder, and the effects would be much more impressive.
  • Mark Hamill’s wife gave birth to their first son (Nathan Hamill) early one morning, and Mark went straight from the hospital to shooting. This was the day they filmed the shots of Luke climbing out of his snowspeeder before it is crushed by the Imperial walker, and Hamill broke his thumb during the stunt.
  • Boba Fett is never referred to by name in this movie. He is always referred to as “the bounty hunter” by other characters. However, a deleted scene included in the Blu-ray set shows Leia tending to Luke’s wounds and says “a bounty hunter named Boba Fett” has taken Han Solo.
  • One of the first ideas for Lando Calrissian was to have him as a clone who survived the Clone Wars, who leads legions of clones on a planet on which they settled. Another idea had Lando as the descendant of survivors of the Clone Wars, born into a family who reproduced solely by cloning. Originally, his name was “Lando Kadar”.
  • Billy Dee Williams said that whenever he picked up his daughter from elementary school, children would start arguments with him. They accused him of betraying Han Solo.
  • Boba Fett has only five lines
  • According to Carrie Fisher, the carbon freezing chamber set was extremely hot, consequently, Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca costume began to stink.
  • Voted #8 in Total Film’s 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time list (November 2005)
  • David Prowse was unaware that Darth Vader was Luke’s father until he saw this movie, and was quite upset with George Lucas afterward, saying his physical acting would have been completely different if he’d known the real line.
  • During his battle with Darth Vader, Luke’s hand is severed and he loses his light-saber (once used by Anakin/Darth Vader and given to Luke by Obi-Wan). As part of the Expanded Universe, Luke’s hand and light-saber were recovered and kept by the Emperor as trophies. Later, the hand was used to create a clone of Luke that also wielded the lost saber. After the clone’s death, Luke presented the light-saber to Mara Jade, his future wife.
  • There’s been a Mandela effect about people remembering that Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father”; in reality he said, “No, I am your father”. This line has been misquoted numerous times in pop culture.

Star Wars Episode VI- Return of the Jedi (1983)

• Directed by Richard Marquand
  • Wrote Nowhere to Run
  • Director of Jagged Edge and Birth of Beatles
• Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Ian Mcdiarmid, James Earl Jones and Alec Guinness
• Box office of 475.1 Million and Budget of 42.7 Million
• Trivia
  • It took six people to work the full-sized animatronic of Jabba the Hutt.
  • Carrie Fisher really cared about Warwick Davis’ well-being during filming, as he had to spend it in a hot Ewok costume. She also provided him with cookies and chocolate milk between takes. Davis later commented “She was everything an eleven-year-old Ewok could possibly wish for.”
  • The Emperor’s chair was mechanized so that it could rotate when the scene called for it. However, the mechanism never worked properly, so Ian McDiarmid had to make it move by shuffling his feet. A piece of tape on the floor told him when to stop so it would not be visible to the camera.
  • According to Ian McDiarmid, George Lucas originally cast him simply as the physical performance of the Emperor (similar to David Prowse as Darth Vader). This became evident to him when a producer told him that if he was able to get his voice close enough to Clive Revill’s (who portrayed the Emperor’s voice in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)) Lucas would let him use his on-camera vocals in the final cut of the movie. However, McDiarmid felt he could conduct a stronger, more wicked and demonic voice for the Emperor as opposed to Revill’s more aristocratic Emperor. Lucas, and even Steven Spielberg, were so impressed with his take that it ended up becoming a signature trait of the character.
  • In the 2004 DVD release, George Lucas explained the reason behind why Yoda told Luke that Darth Vader was his father. Lucas had consulted with a child psychologist during the making of the film. The psychologist said that unless it was unequivocally stated that Vader was Luke’s father, moviegoers age twelve and under would dismiss Vader’s claim to be Luke’s father as a lie. He decided to go through this when James Earl Jones stated he personally didn’t believe Vader was telling the truth in Empire Strikes Back, no matter how many explanations he was given.
  • Hayden Christensen mentioned in an interview that he didn’t fully know what George Lucas was up to when he was inserted into the 2004 Special Edition, otherwise he would have played the scene totally different.
  • Carrie Fisher complained about her costumes in the previous two movies to writer/producer George Lucas. He explained he wanted to set Leia apart from “eye candy damsels in distress” & wanted her to be a bold leader who could be looked up to instead of sought-after. Fisher thanked Lucas for being so thoughtful, but followed with the notion one could not tell “she was a woman”. Those complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba’s slave. The costume became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal framework that held the top together meant that the costume didn’t move well with her. Since Fisher didn’t like the industry standard solution of using double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top (and several scenes had to be re-shot when “wardrobe malfunctions” occurred).
  • The Jabba the Hutt puppet took Stuart Freeborn’s team three months to build, cost $500,000 to make, and weighed 2,000 pounds.
  • Originally, Yoda was not in the script. Yoda was added when George Lucas determined him best to properly confirm to Luke as to whether Darth Vader was his father or not
  • Ian McDiarmid, a prolific stage actor, based his character’s unusual voice on the Japanese method of using your stomach to project yourself. The result was a strange, guttural croak that Lucas decided was perfect for the character of Palpatine.
  • David Prowse only portrayed Darth Vader completely for the first half of the movie. In the second half of the movie, the character was played by Bob Anderson (stuntman) during the fight sequence, and Sebastian Shaw after the character is unmasked. James Earl Jones voiced the character throughout, with the exception of the unmasking scene.
  • Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to die at the end of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), as he didn’t want to play the character again. But George Lucas had a different idea and opted to have Han Solo frozen in carbonite and have him revived in this movie, in case Ford changed his mind about playing Han Solo for a third time. In Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Ford finally got his wish.
  • It was originally scripted that in the celebration scene on Endor. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yoda and Anakin Skywalker would be resurrected from the dead and join the celebration. However, it was changed to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Anakin Skywalker appearing only as Force ghosts.

Star Wars- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)

• Directed and Written By George Lucas
• Starring Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmind and Jake Lloyd.
• Box Office of 1.027 billion, budget of 115 million.
• Trivia
  • While writing the original Star Wars film, Lucas decided the story was too vast to be covered in one film. He introduced a wider story arc that could be told in sequels if it became successful. He negotiated a contract that allowed him to make two sequels, and over time created an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process. While writing the second film, The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas considered directions in which to take the story. In the original trilogy, Darth Vader was revealed to have been Anakin Skywalker, a once-powerful Jedi Knight, and a traitor to the Jedi Order. With this backstory in place, Lucas decided that the movies would work best as a trilogy. In the trilogy’s final episode, Return of the Jedi, Vader is redeemed through an act of sacrifice for Luke.
  • The first movie directed by George Lucas since Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).
  • Lucas began writing the Star Wars prequel trilogy on November 1, 1994. The screenplay of Star Wars was adapted from Lucas’ 15-page outline that was written in 1976, which he designed to help him keep track of the characters’ backstories and events that occurred before the original trilogy. Anakin was first written as a twelve-year-old, but Lucas reduced his age to nine because he felt that the lower age would better fit the plot point of Anakin being affected by his mother’s separation from him. Eventually, Anakin’s younger age led Lucas to rewrite his participation in the movie’s major scenes. The film’s working title was The Beginning, with the title not being changed to The Phantom Menace until shortly before the film’s completion. Lucas later revealed that the Phantom Menace title was a reference to Palpatine hiding his true identity as an evil Sith Lord behind the facade of a well-intentioned public servant.[29]
  • Kiera Knightley plays Sabe
  • When fully dressed and in make-up, Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley resembled each other so much that even Knightley’s mother, Sharman Macdonald, who visited the set, had trouble identifying her own daughter.
  • According to Jake Lloyd, there was a six-hour cut of the film that was screened for several people before the film was released, with those who saw it proclaiming it to be “mindbogglingly good”. Like the later “Lost Cut” of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), this cut has never been released publicly.
  • Ewan McGregor once stated that before filming began, he and Liam Neeson were taken to a private room where two Lucasfilm employees approached them with a long, locked wooden box. When opened, they saw 20 various light-saber hilts that they were being allowed to choose from to be their character’s official weapon for the movie. Ewan then went on to explain that George Lucas only wanted to allow them a rushed ten minutes to decide on which design they wanted because George believed that the actors should connect with their hilts through feeling and not through study.
  • Jake Lloyd has said that he retired from acting because of the trauma he experienced after playing Anakin Skywalker. According to Lloyd, other children constantly teased him about the role, for example, making lightsaber sounds whenever he walked by. Lloyd also said that the situation was made worse because, in his opinion, the film did not meet the fans’ expectations. Despite this, Lloyd has reprised the role of Anakin in several video games and has appeared at Star Wars conventions and events.
  • Reportedly, after a light-saber scene, Ewan McGregor could be overheard muttering, “‘Do I want to be in Star Wars?’ Fuck yeah!”
  • Tests were conducted to see if Yoda could be realized digitally, but it was determined that the technology was not up to scratch yet, and a puppet was used. A CGI model of Yoda was nevertheless created, but only used in one long shot, near the end, where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda discuss Anakin’s future. Yoda was finally realized as a fully digital character in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), and for the 2011 Blu-ray edition of this movie, the puppet was fully replaced by a digital Yoda.
  • EASTER EGG: The starship Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) can be seen briefly amongst the traffic flying around Coruscant.
  • Tupac Shakur (a Star Wars fan since childhood) expressed interest in reading for a role, even lobbying mutual friends of his and George Lucas’ to get them in touch with each other to set up a meeting so he could read, but his tragic murder in September 1996 prevented any such meeting from taking place. It has been speculated that he was up for the part of Mace Windu, but the character’s name was not publicly known before filming started, and it was not specifically written for an African-American until Samuel L. Jackson was cast. In early concept art, Windu was drawn as an alien and also with the likeness of concept designer Doug Chiang.
  • Before Samuel L. Jackson expressed his interest in joining the cast, Mace Windu was to be an animatronic character. This alien was later identified as an “Anx” and can be seen sitting in Watto’s box during the pod race (as Graxol Kelvyyn) as well as during the Senate scenes (as Senator Horox Ryyder).
  • The first Star Wars movie to not win an Oscar.
  • George Lucas originally wanted Sammo Kam-Bo Hung to be the light-saber fight choreographer.
  • Ian McDiarmid was surprised when George Lucas approached him, sixteen years after Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), to reprise the role of Palpatine, as he had assumed that a younger actor would play the part in the prequels. In fact, he was initially told by Lucas that he would play a senator. McDiarmid found out that he was about to play Palpatine when he arrived on set.
  • This is the only film in the Skywalker saga in which a force wielder uses a double-bladed lightsaber in a duel, (Darth Maul).

Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (2002)

• Written and directed by George Lucas
  • Jonathan Hales co wrote
    • The Young Indianan Jones Chronicles
  • Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christiansen Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid,  and Christopher Lee.
  • Box office of 653.8 million on a 115 Million Dollar Budget
  • Trivia
    • just before Anakin goes to search for his mother on Tatooine, he has a conversation with Senator Amidala. The camera pans to their shadows as they talk, and Anakin’s resembles that of Darth Vader. According to the DVD commentary, the Vader-like shadow that Anakin casts was not a visual effect, but a coincidence.
    • When Jango Fett gets into his ship after his fight with Obi-Wan, he bangs his head on the partially open door. This was intentional, and is a reference to a famous goof from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), where a stormtrooper accidentally bangs his head on a door.
    • The Senate votes to give the Supreme Chancellor sweeping emergency powers to go to war against the Separatist forces. This is the same ploy Adolf Hitler used to gain similar dictatorial power in mid 1930s Germany.
    • Samuel L. Jackson has said that the words “Bad mother-f*cker” are engraved on the hilt of his light-saber. The same words are famously printed on the wallet of Jackson’s character Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994)
    • Boba Fett is ten years old in this film, implying his time of birth (or rather creation, as he’s a clone of his father) was during the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).
    • The only Star Wars film that was not the top grossing film of the year in North America. It placed third after Spider-Man (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).
    • Terence Stamp declined to reprise his role as Chancellor Valorum, saying that “Actors prefer to work with actors.”
    • The forbidden love affair between Anakin and Padmé was strongly influenced by the forbidden love affair between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere in the Legend of King Arthur. Anakin, a Jedi Knight, falls in love with Padmé, a former Queen of Naboo, which it is forbidden for a Jedi Knight to fall in love. In the Legend of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table, has a forbidden love affair with Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur.
    • This is the only Star Wars movie to not feature Darth Vader’s iconic breath so far. In Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), one can obviously hear his breath, as he is seen on-screen. In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), after the end credits, his breath is heard, and in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), when Kylo Ren talks to Vader’s burnt mask, the breath is heard once again.
    • The film echoes many plot elements of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), although often reversed on themselves. This film begins in a mile-high city but ends in a desert wasteland. Empire began in a snowy wasteland, but ends at a city in the clouds. For the majority of both films, the three heroes are separated from each other: Obi-Wan (who trains Anakin) goes off on a mission by himself, just as Luke (who later trains Kylo Ren) goes off on his own to find Yoda. Han and Leia (Kylo Ren’s parents) are captured, and Luke must rescue them. In this film, it is Anakin and Padmé (Luke’s parents) who come to Obi-wan’s rescue. In both movies, a Sith tries to lure a Jedi to the Dark Side, who responds by saying “I’ll never join you” (Obi-Wan and Luke). Both films have C-3PO being disassembled, and repaired again by R2-D2. Anakin and Luke lose part of their right arms in duels with the villains at the movies’ climaxes, and they are saved due to the intervention of a friend (Yoda and Leia). In the end, the Galactic Republic tries to capture the villain (Count Dooku), but he manages to escape. This resembles the Empire trying to capture the hero (Luke), only for him to escape at the last moment.
    • The famous boy band *NSYNC filmed a scene of them playing Jedi in the nightclub scene near the beginning, but were cut out of the final film.
    • When Anakin is slaughtering the Tusken Raiders, Qui-Gon’s voice can be heard in the background. This is no accident. According to Star Wars canon, Qui-Gon’s Force-ghost tried to stop Anakin’s rage, but failed.
    • Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) has a much smaller role than in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), probably because his character had quickly become the target of fan anger after Phantom Menace. Jar Jar’s main contribution to the film is inadvertently giving Chancellor Palpatine the opportunity to grasp power. This has led to a fan theory that Jar Jar was, in fact, a secret Sith master in league with Palpatine all along; his clumsy behavior and silly demeanor were merely a ruse to hide his true nature from the Jedi (not unlike how Yoda initially tricked Luke in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)). Jar Jar’s true intentions were allegedly meant to be revealed over the prequel trilogy, but after the initial backlash, his role was substantially toned down. Ahmed Best partially concurred, saying that there were plans for Jar Jar that were never realized, confirming the existence of a deleted scene where Palpatine and Jar Jar are secretly talking, implying that Jar Jar was willingly helping Palpatine obtaining his domination goals. Best was unsure if his character was to have become “Darth Jar Jar” in the end, saying that only George Lucas knows that answer. Lucas has never publicly commented on this theory, though.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

• Written and Directed by George Lucas
• Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, and Jimmy Smits.
• Box Office of 868.4 Million and a Budget of 113 Million
• Trivia
  • George Lucas deliberately made the Darth Vader suit top-heavy (for instance adding weight on the helmet) to make Hayden Christensen not appear “too accustomed” to it in the movie.
  • The original cut of this movie ran nearly four hours. The opening battle/Palpatine rescue alone ran over an hour. The extra footage of the Palpatine rescue scene is shown in the video game for this movie, however.
  • The images of the volcanic eruption on Mustafar is real footage of Mt. Etna in Italy, which was erupting at the time of production.
  • Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen trained for two months in fencing and fitness in preparation for their epic battle. As a result of their practice, the speed at which Kenobi and Vader engage the duel (in the completed movie) is the speed in which it was filmed, and was not digitally accelerated.
  • Ewan McGregor had Lucasfilm make him a looped reel of all of Sir Alec Guinness’ scenes from the original trilogy so that he could study them and perfect both the accent and the pacing of his words belonging to Sir Alec Guinness.
  • Liam Neeson has said that he recorded a cameo as Qui-Gon Jinn, which was to feature in a scene with Yoda, further explaining the concept of a Jedi communicating from beyond the grave. In the script, the dialogue (in which Qui-Gon is heard, not seen) appeared in the scene in which Yoda is meditating on the secret asteroid base, just before Bail Organa informs him of Obi-Wan’s return with Padmé. The scene does not appear in the deleted scenes section of the DVD; however, an unfinished version was included in the Blu-ray release box set.
  • EASTER EGG: On the Options menu, press “11 Enter 3 Enter 8 Enter” (1138). Yoda will dance to hip-hop music.
  • Gary Oldman had agreed to be the voice of General Grievous, but pulled out of the movie because it was being made using actors who are not part of the Screen Actor’s Guild, of which Oldman is a member. George Lucas once quit the Writers’ Guild, Directors’ Guild, and the Motion Picture Association of America over a dispute concerning Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and has not been able to work with Guild actors since. The role was read by Duncan Young on-set, and finally voiced by Matthew Wood, who, being a Lucasfilm employee, submitted his reading under the name of Alan Smithee.
  • Count Dooku speaks a total of four lines.
  • James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Frank Oz (voice of Yoda), and Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine) are the only actors to reprise their roles from the original trilogy.
  • There exists concept art of a teenage Boba Fett killing Mace Windu during Order 66. Windu’s killer was changed to Palpatine, as George Lucas felt Boba was far too young to believably pose a challenge to a Jedi Master. Young Boba Fett’s efforts to exact revenge upon his father’s killers was explored in the 2nd season, episodes 20-22 of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008).
  • When Darth Vader is first revealed wearing his infamous biomechanical suit, everything around it is black except white smoke in the middle of the scene. This reverses when the audience first sees Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), where everything around him is white, except black smoke in the middle of the scene.
  • Padmé asking Anakin if he ever considered that they may be on the wrong side foreshadows Palpatine turning the Republic into the Galactic Empire.
  • This is the only film in the Skywalker saga and franchise in which the armoured and masked Darth Vader does not use a lightsaber in a duel.
  • In the Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) novelization, Darth Vader fell into a pool of lava. In this movie, he technically doesn’t touch the lava, but still gets burned
  • Ian McDiarmid claimed that George Lucas pushed for so many takes of the scene Palpatine kills Mace Windu that his maniacal exhausted collapse on his back of hysterical laughter at the end was not acting. Lucas was pleased with the take.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

• Directed by JJ Abrahams
• Starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Daisey Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac,
• Box Office of 2 Billion and a Budget of 300 million.
• Trivia
  • Star Wars creator George Lucas discussed ideas for a sequel trilogy several times after the conclusion of the original trilogy, but denied any intent to make it.[70] In October 2012, he sold his production company Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company.[71] Speaking alongside Lucasfilm’s new president, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucas said: “I always said I wasn’t going to do any more and that’s true, because I’m not going to do any more, but that doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more.
  • George Lucas was initially opposed to anyone else making Star Wars movies after he did, and he was personally divided on whether or not he wanted to make another trilogy. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, they got Lucas’ story treatments for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, however, the new writing team chose not to use them. However, when he attended the film’s red carpet premiere, he said he liked the film, and even received a standing ovation from the audience (despite having nothing to do with the film). A couple of weeks later, however, Lucas seemed to change his tune, and criticized the film for being too “retro”, and compared Disney to “white slavers”. Lucas quickly took back his comments.
  • When Finn and Rey ask Han if he is THE Han Solo, he replies, “I used to be,” which is a reply Ford himself regularly uses when fans ask if he is Harrison Ford.
  • In a real-life parallel to the film Fanboys (2009), Mark Hamill and John Boyega successfully lobbied director J.J. Abrams to allow Star Wars fan Daniel Fleetwood to see the film before official release, as Fleetwood had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and was not expected to live to see the film’s release date of December 15, 2015. Fleetwood was shown the film at a screening in his house, after Disney agreed. Fleetwood died November 10, 2015.
  • John Williams received his 50th Oscar nomination for scoring this film.
  • Kevin Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch visited the set. Smith, infamous for his open and talkative nature, was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement and J.J. Abrams had World War II-style propaganda posters titled “Loose Lips Sink Starships” hung up around the set, as a reminder to Smith not to reveal spoilers for the film to the public. True to his word, the only tidbit Smith revealed about his visit was that he cried when he stood on the Millennium Falcon set, as it reminded him of how much he loved “Star Wars” as a child.
  • Gary Oldman auditioned for the role that went to Max von Sydow. This is the second time he was considered for a part in a Star Wars film, as he was approached to voice General Grievous in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).
  • This film takes place 30 years after Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983). The film itself was released 32 years and seven months after that film.
  • Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Lawrence, and Shailene Woodley were considered for the role of Rey. Olsen refused the audition for the role, because she already had a contract with Marvel Studios for the role of Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and because the shoot dates for this movie overlapped with Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In April 2014, J.J. Abrams chose Daisy Ridley as Rey, to mimic the same type of selections made by George Lucas, with little-known actors for the leading roles. In 1976, Lucas chose Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill for their respective roles of Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.
  • Tom Holland auditioned for the (then unnamed) role of Finn but lost out to John Boyega. Holland believes he lost the role because he couldn’t stop laughing at his scene partner when she read the droid character’s lines as “beep-boops”.
  • Harrison Ford was paid $25 million for his appearance in the film. This is in stark contrast to the $10,000 he received for his role in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).
  • Luke Skywalker was meant to have a much larger role in the film, but his role was trimmed back out of fear that he would take attention away from the new characters.
  • Max von Sydow (Lor San Tekka) played Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980). Flash Gordon (1936) was one of George Lucas’ influences behind the Star Wars movies. Lucas wanted to remake Flash Gordon, but after failing to obtain the rights, he decided to make his own science fiction serial, which became Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). The Flash Gordon remake was released the same year as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  • Harrison Ford admitted that he fought for Han Solo not to survive the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983). He wanted Han to sacrifice himself, in order to give him a little bottom, as he does in this film. Lawrence Kasdan, co-screenwriter for Episode VI and now this movie, supported the idea, but George Lucas objected, because he didn’t want any of the main cast to die.
  • Mark Hamill reportedly received $1 million for his role. His total screen time was less than a minute, and he did not speak a single word.
  • Mark Hamill grew a beard and lost 50 pounds to reprise his role as Luke Skywalker.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2015)

• Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
  • Knives Out series
  • Brick
  • Brothers Bloom
• Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver.
• Budget of 317 million and a Box Office of 1.33 billion
• Trivia
  • After reading the script for the first time, Mark Hamill told writer/director Rian Johnson, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character. Now having said that, I have gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you’ve created and do my best to realize your vision”. He was surprised by the changes that Johnson made to Luke Skywalker. In order to get into the mindset of an older and weary Luke Skywalker, Hamill wrote a personal backstory for the character.
  • After first completing the arduous 600-foot climb on Ireland’s Skellig Michael island, Mark Hamill had hoped that he could avoid having to repeat the trek for additional scenes if he could somehow remain on the summit overnight, thus forfeiting the luxury of room service at his hotel. He suggested sleeping in a tent and ‘staying in character.’ However, after some inquiries were made with the Irish authorities, he was told by producer Kathleen Kennedy that he was not permitted to pitch a tent because the location is protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Although Disney decided not to use George Lucas’s story outlines for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX after the purchase of his company, a couple of Lucas’s ideas surfaced in this film, including Luke Skywalker living as a recluse and training a female Jedi (in Lucas’s outline her name was Kira). Kira is phonetically similar to the name of a character in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) – Qi’ra. Lucas considered using Maul in the sequel trilogy however, the character did not appear. Nevertheless he appeared as a crime lord in “Solo: A Star Wars Story”. a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • “I changed my hair” was a line that Carrie Fisher ad-libbed herself.
  • Ewan McGregor expressed his interest to reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in this film. So did Billy Dee Williams as Lando. Rian Johnson wanted to include them, but could not find a place in the story to naturally insert either character. Johnson stated he would had included Kenobi if it were the Alec Guinness version, but that he found complicated the idea of aging the younger version and neither wanted to recreate Guinness with CGI. in regards to Lando, Johnson stated he considered giving him the role that eventually became the new character DJ. But decided against because it would had resulted in Lando betraying the heroes. DJ’s betrayal mirrors when Lando betrays Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back, however Lando redeems and DJ is a much less moral character that never redeems.
  • Joaquin Phoenix turned down the role that eventually went to Benicio Del Toro.
  • When Rey confronts Kylo Ren over killing Han, she demands to know how he could do that when Ben had a father “who gave a damn” about him. Rey admits later that she knew all along that she can’t say the same about her own parents
  • According to Mark Hamill, Luke was supposed to walk past C-3PO without acknowledging him. Hamill said to Rian Johnson that he couldn’t do that. The director then allowed him to do whatever he wanted in that scene.
  • News of Yoda’s return in this film leaked out after reporters asked Frank Oz if he had any plans to return to the “Star Wars” series. Oz remarked that he had signed legal documents barring him from confirming or denying the answer to their questions which confirmed his involvement.
  • When Snoke interrogates Rey using the force, the Emperor’s theme can be heard playing in the background, with the camera panning to Ren as this happens. This is reminiscent of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) when the Emperor is shocking Luke with force lightning and the camera pans to Vader, with the same theme playing. There is an obscure rumor that detailed how Snoke might’ve been Emperor Palpatine possessed by the force Ghost of Darth Plagueis. Now that The Last Jedi has been released it’s possible that this is a means of foreshadowing Rey’s lineage.
  • Actor Tim Rose, who has played Admiral Ackbar since Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), has expressed disappointment about the way his character was handled. Rose was in tears after filming the last scene, then: “We finished all of our bits and they asked me to come down to camera. And I thought, “Oh well, maybe they’re going to say thank you for being one of the heritage characters and giving 30 years and all that.” But what they did was, they gave me a Millennium Falcon sign that had the day and the date on it, the scene number, and they said, “Can you look at camera and say “It’s a wrap?” Because that would be really funny.” After everything, after hoping there’d be something, after knowing there wasn’t going to be anything else, Ackbar’s final moment before he went into the box was a big joke about “It’s a wrap.” They just thought ‘Wouldn’t it be funny?” And that was the sum total of my life as Ackbar.”
  • Tom Hardy had filmed a scene where he plays a Stormtrooper recognizing Finn (John Boyega) while aboard Snoke’s ship near the end. At first, it seems as if the Stormtrooper is about to blow Finn’s cover, but eventually he merely expresses some surprise to see Finn being an officer, thinking he wasn’t “officer material”. The scene was cut from the film, but can be viewed as a deleted scene on the BluRay edition
  • Kylo Ren mentions that the strain of using the Force to establish a mental connection between people would kill Rey. Later, Luke does this to distract the First Order, which leads to his death. This is a power called Force Projection that has been hinted at in several different Star Wars-related media, but never shown or explained in the movies itself. It may very well be an advanced form of the Jedi Mind Trick, in which a Jedi can control a person’s mind and make them do things
  • After killing Snoke, Kylo Ren invites Rey to join him in ruling the galaxy together. This parallels what his grandfather Darth Vader did in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), when he invited his wife Padme to join him in overthrowing the Emperor and ruling the galaxy with him; later on, Vader did this again with his son Luke in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980). This is a continuation of the ‘rule of two’ mentioned in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), which states that due to constant power struggles, there can only be two Sith at a time: a master and an apprentice. Traditionally, when apprentices become too powerful, they will either overthrow the masters and take apprentices themselves, or the masters kill the old apprentices and take new ones. Either way, the cycle is always perpetuated.
  • Rian Johnson later admitted that he wasn’t fan of the character Snoke which probably explains why the character was abruptly dispatched in the film.

Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

• Directed by JJ Abrams
• Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Ian McDiramind, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.
• Budget of 275 Million and Box office of 1 Billion
• Trivia
  • Unused footage of Carrie Fisher shot for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) was incorporated by digitally removing the background and superimposing it elsewhere. Visual effects were used to change her wardrobe and add gray to her hair so the footage would match her appearance in Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017).
  • When George Lucas originally laid out plans for 12 episodes, then reduced it to nine, he said that C-3PO and R2-D2 would be the only characters to appear in all nine. This proves to be true: Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the only other characters to appear in every movie of the original and prequel trilogies, did not appear in the sequel trilogy. Anthony Daniels is the only actor to appear in all nine episodes. C-3PO also appears in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and most of the animated series including Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and Star Wars: Rebels (2014).
  • John Williams stated that this would be the final “Star Wars” film for which he would compose music.
  • In November 25, 2019, it was reported that a script for this film was leaked on the Internet. An actor (later revealed to be John Boyega by his own admission) had reportedly kept the script under the bed after changing apartments. After somebody was cleaning the place and found the script, the person attempted to sell it on eBay. Director J.J. Abrams confirmed that Disney and Lucasfilm bought the script back.
  • Actor Mark Hamill plays the voice of Boolio. Patrick Williams, who received the voice credit, is one of Hamill’s professional pseudonyms – a compilation of his brothers’ names.
  • When the trailer and title were first revealed in April of 2019, as well as the revelation that Ian McDiarmid would return as Emperor Palpatine, McDiarmid made a surprise appearance after the trailer was first shown at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. McDiarmid merely said three words, to loud cheers from the crowd: “Roll it again!” Followed by a mic drop. J.J. Abrams was apparently thrilled that the news of Palpatine hadn’t leaked online beforehand.
  • Ian McDiarmid had reservations about coming back to the Star Wars universe, especially since he (and the rest of the world) thought the Evil Emperor was dead at the end of Jedi: “According to Palpatine actor Ian McDiarmid, however, it was never Lucas’s intention to resurrect the villainous character. “I thought I was dead!” McDiarmid told Digital Spy in a recent video interview. “I thought he was dead. Because when we did ‘Return of the Jedi,’ and I was thrown down that chute to Galactic Hell, he was dead. And I said, ‘Oh, does he come back?’ And [George] said, ‘No, he’s dead.’ So I just accepted that. But then, of course, I didn’t know I was going to be doing the prequels, so in a sense he wasn’t dead, because we went back to revisit him when he was a young man. But I was totally surprised by this.”
  • Among the Jedi voices Rey hears during the “all Jedi” scene are: Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), Luminara Unduli (Olivia d’Abo), Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), Aayla Secura (Jennifer Hale), Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), younger Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), older Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness via digitally altered archive audio), Yoda (Frank Oz), Adi Gallia (Angelique Perrin), Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
  • Carrie Fisher’s death on December 27, 2016 initially caused re-writes for this movie to remove Leia altogether. Lucasfilm made it clear that they would not attempt to digitally re-create her likeness or performance like they did (with Fisher’s approval) in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), most likely due to the mixed reception of said scene and of those using Peter Cushing’s likeness. However, in July 2018, J.J. Abrams confirmed that Fisher will appear in this movie via unused footage from Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), with the writers and editors coming up with a clever way to re-purpose those scenes. Regardless of what they said previously, the performance of Carrie Fisher’s face, is shown to be attached to a CGI-body on some parts, as shown in making of videos.
  • Rey becomes the first movie Jedi to have a yellow lightsaber. Once she returns to Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia’s sabers, she activates her own, which seems to be made from her staff and has a yellow blade.
  • The final spoken word in the final installment of the Skywalker saga is the name “Skywalker.”
  • Palpatine’s plan to transfer his essence into Rey’s body is similar to a story in the Legends time line book called Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil, where Darth Bane, the creator of the Sith rule of two, attempted a Force power called Essence Transfer to transfer his life force /consciousness into his apprentice, Darth Zannah. Not only this story but also the Dark Empire story line where a resurrected Palpatine also in a clone body attempted to transfer his consciousness into an unborn Anakin Solo child of Han and Leia. Some fan theories speculate that Darth Sidious won and transferred himself into Rey, though none is confirmed.

Star Wars Facts

Star Wars Franchise has made a total of 10 Billion Dollars for 12 films that were released. 8.7 Billion for the 9 Movies Discussed.

Disney announced that there are 2 new films being made, one to be released in Dec 2025 and the other in Dec 2027