Total Film's 30 Coolest Star Wars Facts

Props

Ever thought that the communicator used by Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace looked sort of familiar?

That’s probably because it’s actually a Sensor Excel Razor for Women, only redecorated to give it an even glossier sci-fi sheen.

No wonder he looked uncomfortable whenever he used it.

Dooku vs Yoda

Though we’d already seen examples of Yoda’s formidable power in The Empire Strikes Back, Episode II was the first time the little green fella wielded a lightsaber – something the puppet had trouble with previously.

During rehearsals of Yoda’s fight with Count Dooku, a small Yoda model was put in place for Christopher Lee to use as a reference.

Except this Yoda model had been given a pair of vampire fangs as a joke about Lee’s historic role as Dracula.

Furry Shorts

Can you picture what Chewbacca would have looked like if he’d been clothed? That’s almost what happened, according to Mark Hamill.

The actor has said that studio execs weren’t happy about the fact that Chewie is essentially naked for the entirety of A New Hope, and attempted to get his costume redesigned with shorts.

Mother Issues

The budget on A New Hope was so limited that Lucas and his cast and crew decided to fly to England (from America) in economy rather than first class.

When Carrie Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, discovered this, she called Lucas to express her disdain. Luckily, Fisher herself was nearby and took the phone from Lucas to say: “Mother, I want to fly coach, will you fuck off?!”

Which is something we can all imagine Princess Leia saying, right?

The Clean Wars

During production of A New Hope, Lucas and his team constantly butted heads with the studio’s cleaners, who kept cleaning up the sets – particularly annoying for Lucas, who wanted his sets to look dirty and lived in.

Inspired by Gerry Anderson’s work on Thunderbirds, Lucas attempted to dirty up everything that would go on camera. The R2-D2 models in particular were kicked around and rolled in dirt.

Lining Up

The saga’s most-repeated line is “I have a bad feeling about this”. It originated in Episode IV (uttered by Luke) before being repeated by Han Solo in Episode IV, then Leia in Episode V and C3-PO in Episode VI.

The prequels continued the trend with Obi-Wan saying it in Episode I and Episode III, and Anakin in Episode II. There are a lot of bad feelings around in this galaxy far, far away…

Yoda

If Yoda looked familiar the first time you saw him (in The Empire Strikes Back), it’s probably because part of his likeness was based on Albert Einstein – in particular his wise eyes. The puppet was so lifelike, in fact, that director Irvin Kershner often gave it directions instead of puppeteer Frank Oz.

Interestingly, Oz only landed the job when original choice Jim Henson turned it down and recommended the puppeteer. Lucas was so impressed with Oz’s work that he lobbied for him to receive an Oscar nomination. Sadly it never happened.

A pop version of the original Star Wars theme that appeared in A New Hope was remixed by Meco, who created a disco version that included some of the Cantina Band song.

In a sure sign of the film’s sky-rocketing success, the song climbed to the number one spot on the Billboard Pop Chart in October 1977 and stayed there for two weeks. Time for a reissue, we say...

Sound Advice

Sound editor Ben Burtt’s genius knows no bounds – he turned to numerous unusual sources to create the many (MANY) sound effects that he needed for Star Wars.

Chewbacca’s growls were a mix-tape of various large mammals (mostly bears), while R2-D2’s signature whistles are actually baby sounds manipulated to sound electronic.

Meanwhile, the lightsaber sound effect was achieved by combining the sound of a movie projector with the feedback made by holding a stripped cable by a TV set.

Body Counts

Episode III contains the highest body count of any of the Star Wars films, with a total 115 deaths on screen.

That figure, of course, doesn’t factor in the deaths of the population of Alderaan, which was destroyed in Episode IV, nor the implied deaths that are not shown on-screen throughout the franchise.

The film with the saga’s lowest body count is The Empire Strikes Back, which has just 30.

From Beyond The Grave

In Revenge Of The Sith, George Lucas originally wanted to resurrect Peter Cushing using stock footage and CGI in order for him to appear as Tarkin – the character he played in A New Hope.

Sadly, footage of Cushing was deemed unusable and Lucas was forced to abandon his plan.

Going Solo

Though he was originally envisioned as some kind of Swamp Thing, Han Solo was later envisioned by Lucas as a black man, which prompted him to audition the likes of Glynn Turman and Billy Dee Williams.

After a change of heart, Lucas auditioned everybody from Jack Nicholson and Nick Nolte to Christopher Walken before finally settling on Harrison Ford.

The Force

During scripting of A New Hope, the Force was originally envisioned as a kind of galactic holy grail called the Kyber crystal.

That wasn’t the only thing that changed during pre-production. While the Force became more of an energy, Luke and his relatives were originally imagined as dwarves, while Han Solo was going to be a green-skinned monster who had a set of gills and no nose…

Asteroids

The asteroid sequence in The Empire Strikes Back is legendary for its special effects stories.

According to numerous SFX crew members, one of the asteroids in the sequence is actually a shoe, while another is a potato.

The shoe was reportedly chucked in because one of the SFX animators became so annoyed by Lucas requesting adjustments to the sequence.

Carry On Carrie

Harrison Ford coined a phrase that stuck when he found himself struggling with Lucas’ dialogue on A New Hope.

Frustrated, he raged: “George, you can type this shit, but you can’t say it!” It's a quote that's been attributed to both Ford and Carrie Fisher. Though we could buy either of them saying it, according to Anthony Daniels, it was Ford who voiced what everybody was feeling on set.

Proving that she could also be a quip machine, Fisher joked about having her breasts taped down under her costume: “As we all know, there is no underwear in space.”

The droid factory sequence in Episode II wasn’t in the film’s original script – it was added later by George Lucas.

Speaking of droids, Lucas’ original idea for R2-D2 came after he saw Silent Running and its trio of drones (Huey, Dewey and Louie). The likeness of R2-D2 and the drones prompted a lawsuit from Universal Studios, which was retracted when Fox countersued, noting the similarities between Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars…

Clone Troopers

There’s not a single live-action clone in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith.

No, really. They were all created using CGI, meaning that not a single clone helmet or costume was physically created for the threequel.

By the time Episode III rolled around, Lucas had become so reliant on digital effects that the film contains over 2,200 digital effects shots – more than the total contained in Episodes I and II.

In contrast, A New Hope had just 350 visual effects shots. Somewhat ironically, despite all the effects in Episode III, it’s the only Star Wars film not to receive an Oscar nom in the Best Visual Effects department…

Spielberg

Steven Spielberg was George Lucas’ first choice to direct Return Of The Jedi. However, because Spielberg was part of the Director’s Guild (which Lucas left on bad terms), Spielberg was forbidden from taking the gig.

Years later, though, The Beard did end up helping on Episode III. When Lucas realised how massive the film was going to be, he asked Spielberg to help him with certain sequences – including the epic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Spielberg went on to make War Of The Worlds having gained invaluable experience with modern day visual effects.

The Perfect Wookiee

Peter Mayhew was working as an orderly at a hospital in Yorkshire when he was cast as Chewbacca in A New Hope.

According to Star Wars legend, Lucas knew he was perfect within 10 seconds of meeting the Englishman – mostly because he was 7’2”. Sometimes size does matter…

As for the word ‘Wookiee’, the name came about after Terry McGovern did some voiceover work on THD 1138, in which he said: “I think I ran over a wookie back there.” Lucas liked the made-up word so much he noted it down for later use.

Blame Jar Jar

Perhaps realising how much of a hated figure Jar Jar had become after The Phantom Menace, Lucas made the surprisingly astute decision to make him into a subtle villain in Episode II.

While he’s standing in for Senator Amidala, it’s Jar Jar’s suggestion that Palpatine be given supreme powers – which the soon-to-be Emperor of course uses for great evil.

Jar Jar, then, could be held responsible for indirectly causing the fall of the Old Republic and the destruction of the Jedis. Typical.

During filming on Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, the film went under the working title of Blue Harvest in order to keep curious fans from attempting to get on-set. (That title was, of course, later used in Family Guy’s loving spoof.)

Meanwhile, the working title for Episode II was, believe it or not, Jar Jar’s Big Adventure – which would certainly have put many fans off attempting to infiltrate the film’s production.

Maul Him

The role of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace almost went to Benicio Del Toro. The actor wasn’t happy when Lucas removed most of Maul’s lines from the film, though, and he dropped out to be replaced by Ray Park.

In the end, Maul only speaks three lines in the entire film. Meanwhile, his double-ended lightsaber was a design lifted from comic-book series Tales Of The Jedi: The Sith War.

Origins

George Lucas’ plundering of non-English languages for names is legendary. On top of pinching the Dutch word for ‘father’ for Darth Vader, he also used the Sanskrit word for ‘warrior’ to name Yoda.

As for Jar Jar, that name was created by George Lucas’ son. Meanwhile, John Williams turned to a 13th Century Welsh manuscript for the chanting in his composition ‘Duel Of The Fates’.

He translated the lines ‘Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind in the head’ into Sanskrit.

Big Kids

Shove a lightsaber in any grown man’s hands and they’re immediately transformed into a giddy kid.

Even Ewan McGregor’s not immune – during the lightsaber duels in The Phantom Menace, he made lightsaber sounds that had to be fixed in post-production.

Hayden Christensen did the same...

Casting Rumours

B-movie actress Sybil Danning was originally up for a role in The Phantom Menace as a sexy witch who would eventually seduce Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side. She was linked to the role by Starblazer magazine in 1985.

This was clearly a story beat that Lucas still fleshing out, however, as the idea of a seductive witch was later dropped and Danning was never cast.

Wookies

An army of Wookiees was originally intended to help out on Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi, but Lucas opted to use a smaller furry animal instead – and the Ewok was born.

Strangely, the word ‘Ewok’ isn’t actually mentioned at all in the film.

We finally got a Wookiee battle to remember, though, in Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, which featured a young Chewbacca.

Anakin

Though Hayden Christensen ended up landing the role of Anakin in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones (because he “looked good” next to Natalie Portman), a number of high profile actors also auditioned.

Those actors included Paul Walker, Colin Hanks, Ryan Phillippe and Jonathan Brandis.

Grievous Harm

Early concept designs for Episode III’s General Grievous imagined him as a child sitting in a floating chair – an idea that Lucas threw back because he didn’t think it would be taken seriously. (And rightly so.)

Lucas also unexpectedly became an integral part in bringing the character to life. During production on the film, he developed a bad cough, which he recorded and used as Grievous’ hacking bark. Which is nothing if not resourceful…

The Numbers

The Jabba Palace sequence in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi involved 42 extras, 18 principal cast members, 10 puppeteers, nine mime artists, and 90 crew members – and took a month to film.

Plus a famous gold bikini that often wouldn’t behave itself – Carrie Fisher refused to use ‘tit tape’, meaning many sequences had to be reshot because of wardrobe malfunctions.

Also on the number front, the Death Star II in Jedi was 460% larger than the first (destroyed) one from A New Hope.