With the new Star Wars film looming, here are a few facts that you may not have known before to keep your excitement to the maximum.
1. Did you know Star Wars almost never happened? 20th Century Fox was ready to pull the plug on the project due to numerous faults in production. It was only after George Lucas fired his editors and stitched it together himself that it was allowed to continue.
Lucky they did, as the Star Wars franchise is now one of the biggest ever. Something that looks set to carry on with analysts predicting odds of 1 to 2 for the ‘Force Awakens’ to be the highest grossing film of 2016.
2. Every character you see has a rich and intricate backstory. Remember the alien rat that lives with Jabba the Hut in Episode VI? That’s Salacious Crumb, a monkey lizard member of the Kowakian species. Whether it be through fan love or official expansion, Star Wars has become incredibly complex.
3. There is a special division devoted to keeping canon within the Star Wars universe – the Lucasfilm Story Group are the keepers of Star Wars practices, and it is their job to maintain a cohesive story and background throughout the Star Wars franchise.
4. Mark Hamill had a car accident that scarred his face before shooting Episode V. His encounter with the Wampa in the film was written in to explain the fresh scars on Luke’s face in the universe.
5. Luke Skywalker was almost named Luke Starkiller, and Han Solo was going to be an alien (as well as a Jedi with gills). Luckily, the script was rewritten quite heavily leading up to production. A version of the original script exists now as a graphic novel.
6. Alec Guinness is on record as not liking Star Wars. The actor who first portrayed Obi-Wan is recorded as having asked a small child who loved the movies to never watch it again, as a favour to the actor himself! This didn’t stop him getting rich off of the film though, with his deal securing him 2 per cent of the box office – over £56million.
7. The film never reveals what species Yoda belongs to, and the little green alien is never attributed to a race.
8. E.T in Steven Spielberg’s hit spots a child sporting a Yoda mask on Halloween. Upon seeing the mask, E.T becomes excited and ‘Yoda’s Theme’ by John Williams begins to play. Returning the gesture to Spielberg, Lucas included E.T’s species in the republic senate during the events or Episode I.
9. The actors who play R2D2 and C3PO have a long-standing feud. Contrary to the close friendship shared by the two droids, the actors have held a rivalry for a very long time, with Daniels (C3PO) calling Baker (R2D2) a ‘sort of talisman’ when discussing Baker’s role in Episode VII. Baker has also gone on record as calling Daniels the ‘Rudest man I ever met’.
10. Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) actually wore slippers during his time onscreen. Cushing hated the officer’s boots his character was supposed to wear and instead took to fluffy slippers. The reason you never noticed is because Cushing simply insisted his scenes were all shot waist up!
The latest instalment ‘The Force Awakens’ has every fan (new and old) rabid, and with such a brilliant cast and crew there’s no way that this epic space saga will be anything less than spectacular!