50 Fun Facts About Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Which music superstar wanted to play Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace wearing prosthetic makeup?

Michael Jackson wanted to wear prosthetics for the part, but George Lucas insisted on a computer-generated character, and Stomp performer Ahmed Best won the role.

Which erupting volcano gave the Revenge of the Sith crew real lava footage for the planet Mustafar?

Mount Etna erupted in Italy while the film was shooting, so camera crews were sent to capture it from several angles and the shots were spliced into the Mustafar backgrounds.

Which lightsaber color did the actor playing Mace Windu personally request for Attack of the Clones?

Purple broke the rule of blue or green blades for heroes and red for villains. The actor had not even known which part he had until his first day on the Episode I set.

Which famous droid turns out to have been built by the young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace?

C-3PO appears without his metal covering, so on set a puppeteer dressed to blend into the background worked a skeletal figure while Anthony Daniels read the lines off camera.

Which actress, cast as Natalie Portman's lookalike, plays the decoy queen in The Phantom Menace?

Keira Knightley looked so like Natalie Portman in costume that, by her own account, their mothers could not tell them apart. She plays the handmaiden Sabé.

Which screen epic does The Phantom Menace's podrace mirror, down to Anakin's rivalry with Sebulba?

Ben-Hur's chariot race is the model for the podrace, and Anakin's feud with Sebulba echoes the hero's with his former friend Messala.

Which boy band shot a background cameo for Attack of the Clones that was almost entirely cut?

NSYNC were reportedly invited to please George Lucas's daughters. The scene was removed in post-production, though they stay briefly visible in a crowd shot from above.

Which war did George Lucas say shaped Revenge of the Sith's story, rather than the conflict in Iraq?

The Vietnam War was under way when George Lucas first wrote the storyline, and he said that conflict, not Iraq, influenced it, though he found the parallels striking.

Which original trilogy hero fights beside Yoda on the planet Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith?

Chewbacca helps Yoda escape the clone troopers ordered to kill him. Early drafts also put a ten-year-old Han Solo on the planet, a part that was never cast or shot.

Which North African country played Tatooine in The Phantom Menace, where a sandstorm wrecked the sets?

Tunisia was used again for Tatooine, with Mos Espa built outside Tozeur. The storm struck after the third day of shooting, yet the crew still left on the planned date.

Which command from Darth Sidious turns clone troopers on their Jedi generals in Revenge of the Sith?

Order 66 is obeyed across the galaxy at once because the clones are conditioned for obedience. Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi are among the few Jedi who survive it.

Which Scottish actor studied Alec Guinness's old performances to play the young Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Ewan McGregor was chosen from a shortlist of fifty actors, each compared with pictures of the young Alec Guinness, and used a vocal coach to sound more like him.

Which Irish actor plays Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi who finds Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace?

Liam Neeson won the part although George Lucas had wanted an American, because Lucas judged him a master actor the rest of the cast would look up to.

Which actor became the adult Anakin Skywalker after Leonardo DiCaprio met George Lucas but declined?

Hayden Christensen beat a long list of hopefuls. On set he made lightsaber noises with his mouth until George Lucas told him the sound effects would be added later.

Which actor returns uncredited to voice the armored Darth Vader at the end of Revenge of the Sith?

James Earl Jones recorded the lines, while the costume was rebuilt with shoe lifts and a muscle suit so the film's own Anakin could wear the armor for the first time.

Which unusual weapon does Darth Maul wield against two Jedi in the climax of The Phantom Menace?

A double-bladed saber lets Darth Maul fight both Jedi at once, and his spinning style with it later inspired the 2003 viral video Star Wars Kid.

Which composer scored all three Star Wars prequels, including the choral theme Duel of the Fates?

John Williams gave up scoring Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire so that he could write the music for Revenge of the Sith and three other films due that year.

Which desert people abduct Shmi Skywalker, whose son then massacres their camp in Attack of the Clones?

Tusken Raiders had held her for a month when Anakin found her barely alive. She died in his arms, and he later confessed the killings to Padmé.

Which famous Star Wars bounty hunter appears as a boy, a clone raised as a son, in Attack of the Clones?

Boba Fett is an unaltered clone of the army's genetic template, created as part of that bounty hunter's price for supplying his genes. Daniel Logan plays the boy.

Which veteran screen villain, then 78, plays the fallen Jedi Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones?

Christopher Lee played the close-ups himself, but for the acrobatic duel with Yoda his face was superimposed on a stunt performer's body.

Which rival film beat The Phantom Menace to all three Academy Awards it was nominated for?

The Matrix took Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing, leaving the Star Wars film empty-handed on Oscar night.

What does Count Dooku slice from Anakin Skywalker in their duel at the end of Attack of the Clones?

His right arm is replaced with a mechanical one before he secretly marries Padmé on Naboo, with only two droids as witnesses.

Which senator from Alderaan adopts the newborn Leia at the end of Revenge of the Sith?

Bail Organa, played by Jimmy Smits, takes Leia home to raise as his own daughter, while her twin brother is hidden with relatives on Tatooine.

Which superweapon's plans does Count Dooku deliver to Darth Sidious at the end of Attack of the Clones?

The Death Star is first seen as a set of designs carried away from the battle, and by the last scenes of the next film its frame is under construction.

On which Italian lake stands the villa used as Padmé's Naboo retreat in Attack of the Clones?

Como is overlooked by the Villa del Balbianello, used for the lake retreat scenes with computer-generated imagery in place of the building's true exterior.

On which ocean planet does Obi-Wan Kenobi find a clone army being grown in secret for the Republic?

Kamino's cloners say the army was requested years earlier in the name of a Jedi Master who has since died, and Obi-Wan tracks the army's genetic template from there.

What does Jar Jar Binks propose the Senate grant Chancellor Palpatine in Attack of the Clones?

Emergency powers let Palpatine raise the clone army at once. As a joke at the character's expense, the film's working title was Jar Jar's Great Adventure.

Which winged junk dealer on Tatooine owns Anakin Skywalker and his mother in The Phantom Menace?

Watto won the pair in a podracing bet with Gardulla the Hutt, then lost the boy the same way by backing Sebulba against him.

Which classic monster film is echoed when Darth Vader first rises in his armor in Revenge of the Sith?

Frankenstein, the 1931 horror classic, is the model for the transformation scene, which was later named Scene of the Year at the Empire Awards.

Which New Zealander plays the bounty hunter cloned to build an army in Attack of the Clones?

Temuera Morrison went on to play Commander Cody and every other clone trooper in Revenge of the Sith.

Which actor came back as Palpatine sixteen years after playing the Emperor in Return of the Jedi?

Ian McDiarmid was surprised to be asked, having assumed a younger actor would play the senator who schemes his way up to Supreme Chancellor.

On which planet does the arena battle that opens the Clone Wars erupt in Attack of the Clones?

Geonosis also holds the droid factory, whose chase sequence was added in reshoots after George Lucas decided that stretch of the film needed a quicker pace.

Which Sith Lord's power to cheat mortality does Palpatine dangle before Anakin in Revenge of the Sith?

Darth Plagueis could create life and keep others from dying, Palpatine says, yet was killed in the end by his own apprentice.

Which martial arts champion from the stunt crew was promoted to play Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace?

Ray Park so impressed George Lucas in a test tape of lightsaber moves that he got the role, though his voice was judged too squeaky and dubbed by another actor.

Which Sith name does Count Dooku bear as Palpatine's secret apprentice in Attack of the Clones?

Darth Tyranus is a former Jedi Master who once mentored Qui-Gon Jinn, and he fronts the Separatist movement as a puppet leader for his own master.

Which director friend of George Lucas helped plan the Mustafar duel as a guest on Revenge of the Sith?

Steven Spielberg oversaw pre-visualization of an unused chase and suggested designs for the lava duel. He, Ron Howard and Robert Zemeckis had all been approached to direct Episode I.

Which television spin-off did the Revenge of the Sith art team study to design the planet Kashyyyk?

The Star Wars Holiday Special was the art department's starting point, and the planet's limestone peaks were shot for real at Phuket in Thailand.

On which sinkhole planet does Obi-Wan Kenobi hunt down and kill General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith?

Utapau is where the cyborg general hides the Separatist leaders before sending them on to a volcanic world, and its administrator, Tion Medon, is played by Bruce Spence.

Which director, daughter of an old friend of George Lucas, plays a handmaiden in The Phantom Menace?

Sofia Coppola was preparing her directing debut, The Virgin Suicides, and asked to watch the shoot, so she was offered a part in the royal entourage.

Which British star was lined up to voice General Grievous before a sound editor took the part?

Gary Oldman withdrew, and supervising sound editor Matthew Wood won the role after submitting his own audition under the initials A.S., for Alan Smithee.

In which ancient language does the choir sing Duel of the Fates in The Phantom Menace?

Sanskrit was used for a loose translation of lines from an archaic Welsh poem, Cad Goddeu, and the syllables were rearranged so freely that the meaning is lost in the singing.

Where does George Lucas make his blue-faced cameo as Baron Papanoida in Revenge of the Sith?

At the opera house on Coruscant he shares the screen with his daughter Katie, and his son Jett also appears in the film as a young Jedi-in-training.

Which dead Jedi Master is named as the one who commissioned the clone army in Attack of the Clones?

Sifo-Dyas supposedly asked for the army, yet he had died before the request was allegedly made, the first sign that someone else was behind it.

Which Supreme Chancellor is ousted after Queen Amidala calls a no-confidence vote in The Phantom Menace?

Finis Valorum, played by Terence Stamp, was described by George Lucas as a good but beleaguered man, a little like Bill Clinton.

On which remote planetoid does Padmé Amidala give birth to Luke and Leia in Revenge of the Sith?

Polis Massa sits in an asteroid field of the same name. Padmé names the twins there and dies soon after, still believing there is good in their father.

Which shapeshifting assassin is killed by an employer before revealing a name in Attack of the Clones?

Zam Wesell, a Clawdite played by Leeanna Walsman, makes two attempts on Padmé's life before the Jedi capture her at the Outlander Club on Coruscant.

Engines scavenged from which airliner were the reference for the podracers in The Phantom Menace?

Boeing 747 engines, four of them, were salvaged from a jet junkyard outside Phoenix, Arizona, and full-size replicas were shipped to the desert set as a guide.

Which working title of The Phantom Menace was later reused for the DVD's making-of documentary?

The Beginning gave way to the final title late on, which George Lucas later said points to Palpatine hiding his Sith identity behind a public servant's face.

Which Italian royal residence supplied the interiors of the Theed court of Naboo in The Phantom Menace?

The Palace of Caserta was used for four days after closing to visitors, while scenes with explosions were filmed on replica sets back at the studio in England.

Which film alone had earned more worldwide than The Phantom Menace by the end of its first run?

Titanic stayed ahead, but the 1999 release took $924 million, and a 3D reissue in 2012 later lifted its total past a billion dollars.