14 Interesting Facts About Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

Name: Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
Released: 2017

Interesting Facts (3)

#001
Movie Insider wrongly lists Gugu Mbatha-Raw among the film's stars.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Have you never made a mistake in your work? Things like this can be undone. This isn't a mistake worth blowing out of proportion. When the mistake was noticed, it was corrected.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Rey waiting with her staff on the rocksImage: IMDb
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#002
Tim Rose, who plays Admiral Ackbar, was born on Disneyland's first anniversary, a neat coincidence given that this chapter of Star Wars belongs to Disney.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
A whole bundle of strange coincidences. An average person walking down the street bumps into another average person coming the other way, books fall to the ground, apologies are made and pardons begged, and the next day the same two people see each other in a restaurant. They go over to each other and sit down at each other's tables. Over time they become close friends. When they meet each other's families, the families are shocked. They confess to both of them. You're siblings. Strange things like this can happen.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Admiral Ackbar holds a clapperboard on setImage: IMDb
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#003
First mention of Books in the Star Wars Franchise.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Because, as far as I've been told and as far as I understand, Star Wars is a world. That world isn't like this world we live in. It's a world where very different things happen, and as far as I know it has philosophical sides to it too. That's why they haven't mixed the Star Wars world with the real world. Doing that would already be reducing that world's own internal realism. Yes, sometimes pieces from real life should be in fantasy or sci-fi films, but only up to a certain point. That's why not mentioning the books is the right decision. They shouldn't have been mentioned in this film either.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): A mechanical hand and hands reaching for booksImage: IMDb
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Production Story (4)

#004
Carrie Fisher was also a respected writer, often brought in to doctor other films' scripts. She eventually stopped taking those jobs because producers would ask for her story ideas, hire someone else to do the actual rewrite, and use her ideas without paying her. Rian Johnson, however, has said that Fisher helped write this film's script.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Rian Johnson did what he had to do. Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan didn't give him two episodes to direct for nothing. The man's a gentleman. But if there's any idea-stealing or borrowing going on, they should give him a share of the revenue too.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Carrie Fisher and Rian Johnson on setImage: IMDb
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#005
The mirror cave sequence grew out of many conversations with Force Awakens Production Designer Rick Carter about what lies at the heart of Rey's character.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
For example, as you can see in the trivia for Doctor Strangelove, the credits include the dialogues he had with Stanley Kubrick after a man told him that the machines people come up with have a sexual side to them. When you're doing something, thinking about something, you can turn it into a film scene, or the thing that comes to life in your head can be an inspiration.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Rey at the entrance of the mirror caveImage: IMDb
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#006
The film opened to a massive $220 million in the USA and Canada, then fell 76% to $71.7 million in its second weekend, which was still enough to keep it at number one.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Spider-Man: No Way Home had a budget of 200 million dollars. This film made 220 million dollars at the box office in its first weekend. In its second weekend, 71.7 million dollars. Even though this film isn't as high quality as the first Star Wars films, and from what I've heard and understood Star Wars is a quality series, the difference is very high. On one side there's a film made just for the box office, while on the other there's a film made perhaps to illuminate something.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Finn and Rose in Canto BightImage: IMDb
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#007
Its opening weekend alone outgrossed every earlier film by writer-director Rian Johnson put together.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
The issue here isn't the director Rian Johnson, nor is it his performance. It's because Star Wars is a worldwide brand.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Rian Johnson on set with Oscar Isaac and John BoyegaImage: IMDb
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Behind the Scenes (4)

#008
At a BAFTA screening, Mark Hamill and Rian Johnson revealed that Hamill had asked to play a CG character on top of Luke Skywalker, pointing out that he had done it before (he had done CGI work for the game Squadron 42 (2027), the standalone campaign of Star Citizen). In the film he plays Dobbu Scay, the character who slips money into BB-8 in the Casino scenes.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Mark Hamill has done voice work for video games too. But Mark Hamill always has one demand for the directors... For instance, after Batman: Arkham City he said he wouldn't do any voice work unless it was The Killing Joke. Still, he came back to the field with at least one more Batman game film.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Mark Hamill and Kylo Ren on the red carpetImage: Wikimedia Commons · Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0
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#009
After making the punishing 600-foot climb up Ireland's Skellig Michael for the first time, Mark Hamill hoped to avoid doing it again for extra scenes by simply spending the night at the top, room service be damned. He offered to sleep in a tent and 'stay in character.' After checking with the Irish authorities, though, producer Kathleen Kennedy told him tents were not allowed because the island is a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
People do grueling 600-meter climbs. And there's this too: even a man like Mark Hamill agrees to stay in a tent. Most artists aren't that easygoing.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Luke and Rey on the summit of Skellig MichaelImage: IMDb
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#010
Laura Dern said “pew” out loud every time she fired her blaster on set. It isn't audible, but one instance survives in the finished film, in the close-up of Holdo stunning her opponents at around 1:30:10.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Could be, because the truth is that crews on shows and films have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs behind the camera. They've probably done that too.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Two starships in spaceImage: IMDb
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#011
Contains a major spoiler — show
Hux slowly reaching for his blaster and then thinking better of it when he finds Kylo Ren unconscious on the floor was Domhnall Gleeson's idea, and Rian Johnson approved it.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Rian Johnson directed the two most talked-about episodes of Breaking Bad (Fly and Ozymandias). Anyone who's touched his work would agree, since he got the chance to direct two episodes of a show that's both my all-time favorite and, in my view, the best TV has to offer. He was also part of the crew on this film, both as director and screenwriter.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Photo contains a major spoiler — show
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Mark Hamill and Domhnall Gleeson at an eventImage: IMDb
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Characters & Cast (1)

#012
Mark Hamill was frank with writer-director Rian Johnson after his first read of the script: “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.” Johnson's take on Luke Skywalker caught him off guard, and to get inside the head of an old, weary Luke, Hamill wrote a personal backstory for him.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Mark Hamill... Ah, Mark Hamill... He voiced the Joker in Batman: Arkham City, the best game I've ever played, and made the game even better.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): Mark Hamill and Rian Johnson at an eventImage: IMDb
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Easter Eggs & References (1)

#013
Mark Hamill's children play the three Resistance fighters who pop out of the trenches on Crait.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
In the art world, people usually bring someone from their circle into their work. It might be a small role, an extra part, etc. But it doesn't always mean nepotism — that's an interesting bit of trivia too.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): The Last Jedi cast on stageImage: IMDb
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Career & Awards (1)

#014
Since Kenny Baker's death, Anthony Daniels has been the only actor to appear in every official Star Wars film.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
It's hard to get audiences used to someone else in place of an actor who shone in a film. But I don't know if his face is shown.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017): C-3PO and R2-D2 on the red carpetImage: IMDb
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Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work