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It's probably the franchise that has had the biggest cultural impact on cinema, but even still, fans around the world are discovering hidden gems and trivia contained within the Star Wars universe.
George Lucas' space opera has spanned almost 40 years now, and inspired generations of movie writers, actors and directors to follow in his footsteps and further their passion for movie-making. In a few short months we'll have a brand new chapter to add to the story and a new generation again can look to the screen in awe and fall in love with Luke, Han, Chewy and Leia.
We've put together a list of some of the best trivia from the films, so you can memorize and dazzle fellow fanboys before The Force Awakens. Enjoy!
1 - Prior to the release of A New Hope, Lucas screened the movie for a few director friends. Most predicted it would flop, with Brian De Palma allegedly calling it the worst film he'd ever seen. So sure was he that he had failed, Lucas didn't attend the premiere; Instead he went on holiday with the only friend that was certain the film would be a huge success - his buddy Steven Spielberg. Oh, and while they were away, they came up with an idea for a movie about a dashing archaeologist who travels the globe in search of adventure and lost treasures!
2 - James Earl Jones and David Prowse, who play the voice and body of Darth Vader respectively, have never met.
3 - Speaking of David Prowse, there was a 50/50 chance he could have ended up playing Chewbacca! Both he and Peter Mayhew were given a choice of which tall, suited character they'd like to play. Prowse said he wanted to play a bad guy and Mayhew wanted to play a good guy. Beyond that, they ha no idea of what the roles would be.
4 - Star Wars; A New Hope was the first science fiction film to be nominated for a Best Picture award at The Oscars.
5 - Endor is Elvish name of Middle-Earth from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
6 - For security reasons, the most anticipated film of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi, was sent to the lab under the name Blue Harvest. This title was inspired by Red Harvest, the story on which Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo was based (Lucas was a huge fan!). Still today if you go to www.blueharvest.com you'll be taken to the official Star Wars website.
7 - David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct Return of the Jedi, but turned it down in order to direct a passion project of his own, Dune. Just think about how insane that could have turned out to be...a David Lynch Star Wars movie!
8 - The TIE in TIE Fighter stands for Twin Ion Engine.
9 - During filming for The Phantom Menace, Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he dueled (wouldn't you?!) and they had to be removed during post-production.
10 - Because of the heavy use of CGI and its rise to prominence around the time the movie was being made, the decision was made to only build sets to the height of the actors, with the rest of the backgrounds being filled in by CGI at a later time. However, Liam Neeson was is so tall that all of the sets had to be built an extra few inches, at a cost of around $150,000 to production.
11 - The rapper Tupac Shakur was a huge Star Wars fan and actively campaigned for the part of Mace Windu, a role that ultimately went to Sam Jackson. Tupac was to meet with George Lucas to read for the part, before his murder in 1996 meant that the meeting never took place.
12 - The Senate voting to give the Supreme Chancellor sweeping powers to start a war with Separatist forces is the same ploy Adolf Hitler used to launch his rise to dictatorship in Germany in the 1930s.
13 - In Attack of the Clones, Anakin has a conversation with Senator Amidala during which the camera pans to their shadows and Anakin's resembles Darth Vader. It's claimed that this wasn't a special effect, but is entirely a coincidence.
14 - The original cut of Revenge of the Sith runs to over 4 hours, with the first entire hour being the opening battle and Palpatine rescue.
15 - Ewan McGregor was clearly having fun during this trilogy, as he's said to have requested to play one of the Emperor's red-robed Imperial Guards. It's never been revealed whether or not Lucas let him, and it's kinda great that we might never know!
So there you have it; a bluffer's guide to sounding like a Star Wars super fan! Hope you enjoyed the few pieces of trivia and we'd love to hear some more from you guys if they're juicy enough!
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