Trivia for
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) More at IMDbPro »

• George Lucas initially said that no characters from the original movies would appear in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) apart from a baby Luke and Leia. However, the final movie also has Yoda, Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Palpatine, Chewbacca, Grand Moff Tarkin, Mon Mothma, R2-D2, and C-3PO all of whom had appearances in Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) or Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
  
  
• Apart from providing the voice of R2D2 and the heavy breathing of Darth Vader, which he has done since Star Wars (1977), Ben Burtt provided the voices for every Battle Droid, Super Battle Droid and Buzz Droid in Revenge of the Sith.
  
  
• The medical droid (FX-7) that had repaired Luke Skywalker's hand in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is very similar to the droid (FX-9) shown working on Darth Vader in the Imperial rehabilitation center.
  
  

• Composer John Williams added to his opening score an homage to composer Joel McNeely's work from the score to "Shadows of the Empire", which was a set of books, toys, and a video game written to take place between Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). It can be heard briefly during the battle scene over Coruscant.
  
  
• The Clone Trooper vehicles featured during the battle on Kashyyyk are the ten-wheeled HV6 Juggernaut armored personnel carriers, while the mini two-legged AT-RT light walkers, and the AT-AP pod walkers are forerunners to the Imperial AT-ST mini walkers featured in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
  
  
• The name of the lizard that Obi-Wan rides is Boga. Boga is the name of a popular soft drink in Tunisia, which Lucas has also filmed scenes in. He even named a planet after a city in this country (Tatooine)
  
  
• Tom Stoppard did a "script polish" for the film. Something that he's done on many Lucasfilm productions.
  
  
• Bail Organa's ship at the end is a real set. No blue screen work was used for those scenes.
  
  
• After the opening battle, as the transport lands at the senate building in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen the Millennium Falcon (or a ship of similar model, Corellian Engineering Corporation YT series YT-1300 Transport) can be seen landing.
  
  
• Every clone trooper in the film is a CGI. Not a single clone costume or helmet was created.
  
  
• Ewan McGregor had Lucasfilm make him a looped reel of all of Alec Guinness's scenes from the original movies so that he could study them.
  
  
• Ewan McGregor apparently asked if he could also play one of the Emperor's red-robed Imperial Guards. However it's not known whether he did or not.
  
  
• George Lucas originally intended have Peter Cushing reprise his role as Tarkin, years after his death, through the use of stock footage and digital technology. However, the idea was scrapped when the footage of Cushing was deemed unusable.
  
  
• In the battle duel scene with Count Dooku, the imprisoned Palpatine originally had more dialog which he was to shout at Anakin. One of his lines pertained to Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) in which Palpatine exposed Dooku as paying the Tusken Raiders to kidnap, torture and kill Shmi Skywalker.
  
  
• The very last scene of the movie (where Obi Wan hands away Luke) was the first shot to be filmed. Background plate photography for the sun setting over the Lars Homestead set in Tunisia was filmed during production of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) in 2001.
  
  
• Has the highest body count of any of the 'Star Wars' films.
  
  
• The newest addition to Separatist army are the Crab Droids seen at the battle on Utapau, as well as the flying droid gunships and the NR-N199 Tank Battle droids at the battle on Kashyyyk which are in fact amphibious versions of the Corporate Alliance Tank Battle droids first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).
  
  
• Liam Neeson has said that he recorded a cameo as Qui-Gonn Jinn, which was to feature in a scene with Yoda, further explaining the concept of a Jedi communicating from beyond the grave. In the script, the dialog (in which Qui-Gonn is heard, not seen) appeared in the scene in which Yoda is meditating on the secret asteroid base just before Bail Organa informs him of Obi-Wan's return with Padme. The scene does not appear in the deleted scenes section of the DVD, nor does it appear in any known release of the film.
  
  
• In the opening sequence when the second Separatist ship is destroyed, a piece of debris flies into the Clone Star destroyer that shot it. That piece of debris is a Kitchen Sink. It was it put in there by ILM as a joke from someone saying, "We're throwing everything in the sequence but the kitchen sink."
  
  
• The images of the volcanic eruption on Mustoufar was real footage of Mt. Etna in Italy which was erupting at the time of production
  
  
• The squadron of blue-striped clone troopers that Darth Vader leads into the Jedi Temple is called the 501st Legion, named after an organization of costume fans, also known as Vader's Fist.
  
  
• As the Darth Vader mask is being lowered onto Anakin's face at the end, there is a shot from his P.O.V. of the inside of the mask. There is a triangular silver item between the eyes of the mask. This item is the actuator (read-write mechanism) from a computer hard-disk drive.
  
  
• Clone Trooper Commander Cody was named in honor of the old comic hero Commando Cody.
  
  
• EASTER EGG: On the Options menu, press "11 Enter 3 Enter 8 Enter" (1138). Yoda will dance to hip-hop music.
  
  
• Christopher Lee filmed all his scenes in two days.
  
  
• The original cut of the film ran nearly four hours. The opening battle/Palpatine rescue alone ran over an hour.
  
  
• C-3PO has the last words in this movie ("Oh, no!") and the first words in Star Wars (1977) ("Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor.")
  
  
• Bail Organa's Corellian Corvette (the one with the white interior walls) is the same ship as Princess Leia's, which is captured in during Star Wars (1977). Leia's was just painted red.
  
  
• Members of starwars.com's "Hyperspace" determined the look of Obi-Wan Kenobi's new astromech droid R4-G9 by entering a poll on starwars.com between July and August of 2003. Presented with four different color schemes, they picked the bronze and copper design (not unlike the red domed R4-P17 from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)). Naturally this droid became one of the earliest action figures released for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).
  
  
• In the Wookiee army scene, there are only 10 guys in Wookiee suits. The rest were computer duplicated.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: Early on in the film during the dogfight, as a laser cannon is destroyed one of the clone troopers is sent flying from the explosion and screams a Wilhelm.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [George Lucas] The sound of General Grievous' coughing is George Lucas's own coughing. After developing a bad cough during production, Lucas had it recorded and used as Grievous' own cough.
  
  
• Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2) are the only actors to appear in all six "Star Wars" films. In second place is Frank Oz (Yoda) who appeared or performed a voice in five of the films and in third place are James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Ian McDiarmid (Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious) who all appear in four of the films (unless one counts McDiarmid appearing in the 2004 DVD Special Edition in which he replaces the old actor and reprises his role as Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)). The character of Obi-Wan Kenobi also appeared in all six films but was played by two different actors, Sir Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor.
  
  
• The movie was originally supposed to feature a sub-plot with Padme and the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance, then led by Bail Organa and Mon Mothma. In the interest of time and the need to focus on Anakin's seduction by Palpatine, these scenes were deleted. They can, however, be seen in the DVD "Deleted Scenes" sequence.
  
  
• There are over 2,200 visual effects shots in this film, more than Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) combined. Star Wars (1977) only had 350 such shots.
  
  
• This is the only Star Wars movie that did not receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. The film's only nomination was for its make-up, which it lost to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
  
  
• Anthony Daniels (without C-3PO costume), George Lucas and his daughters Katie Lucas and Amanda Lucas all have cameo appearances in the Opera scene, as well as several members of the special effects team (Rob Coleman and John Knoll amongst others) and a number of characters from earlier Star Wars movies.
  
  
• The young Jedi that rushes from the Temple towards Bail Organa's speeder during the Jedi Purge is played by George Lucas' son Jett Lucas.
  
  
• When Vader is being fitted with the helmet and subsequently breaks free of the shackles, George Lucas decided at the last minute to change the position of Vader's arms from up to down by his side (the original shot can be seen in the trailers). This is why, after breaking free from the bonds, Vader appears to raise his arms, when in fact it is the necessary transition from computer-generated arms to live action arms.
  
  
• When writing the back story for _Star Wars(1977)_, George Lucas named the Emperor Palpatine as an homage to his friends Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader and their film Taxi Driver (1976), in which a politician is named Palatine. While the name Palpatine is not used on-screen until Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), it can be found in the Prologue of the novelization of Star Wars (1977), which was written by Lucas. In this film, Palpatine draws his lightsaber from his sleeve, another sly reference to Taxi Driver (1976), in which Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) draws his gun from his sleeve.
  
  
• The cans containing reels of the film were appropriately but falsely marked with the title "The Bridge" for at least one pre-release screening.
  
  
• Shaak Ti had two death scenes filmed. One where General Grievous kills her aboard the Federation Cruiser and another where Anakin Skywalker kills her during the raid of The Jedi Temple. Both scenes were cut from the film.
  
  
• The final scene on Tatooine, where Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers the infant Luke to his aunt and uncle, is often referred to as the "Harry Potter scene". Composer John Williams included a small 11-tone musical cue in the scene reminiscent of his score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). It can be heard when Obi-Wan arrives at Owen and Beru's house.
  
  
• As Anakin settles into Palpatine's viewing box, take a look at box adjacent to the Chancellor's. It is filled with notable names from Industrial Light & Magic. Seated from left to right (first row) are Visual Effects Producer Jill Brooks, Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman, Visual Effects Producer Janet Lewin, (and back row) Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Producer Denise Ream, and Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll. If you look at the shots that favor Palpatine during his wistful retelling of the Darth Plagueis yarn, you'll see Knoll sitting over his shoulder.
  
  
• Hyperspace's Set Diarist and Star Wars Insider columnist Pablo Hidalgo appears in the establishing shot of the interior of the Opera House, walking down the aisle dressed in a long green robe as Janu Godalhi.
  
  
• After their climactic duel, Obi-Wan can be seen picking up Anakin's lightsaber, which he later gives to Anakin's son Luke in Star Wars (1977).
  
  
• Yoda rubs his head while deep in thought. George Lucas requested this of the animators as an homage to Takashi Shimura's signature gesture in Shichinin no samurai (1954)
  
  
• The hot rod speeder car driven by Sen. Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) is based on the front of a Tucker that is parked at Skywalker Ranch.
  
  
• This film marks Peter Mayhew's first return to the big screen since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). Between the two films, the only other movie he has done was Doragon bôru GT: Gokû gaiden! Yûki no akashi wa sû-shin-chû (1997) (TV), made for TV in which he voices one of the characters.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [George Lucas] The blue skinned Baron Papanoida who appears just outside the entrance to Palpatine's private box at the Galaxies Opera House.
  
  
• Clone Commander Bacara's number is 1138, in reference to George Lucas' THX 1138 (1971).
  
  
• As Yoda has been created digitally since Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), one of the puppets of Yoda created for the filming of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was used as a reference point for the ease of actors on-set during re-shoots in late summer 2004. Time in the Lucasfilm archives had not been kind to the puppet, which had acquired an incidentally comically contorted look on its face.
  
  
• Originally, a young Han Solo was going to make an appearance in the film, living among the Wookies on Kashyyyk.
  
  
• George Lucas allowed his friend Steven Spielberg to help design some sequences during pre-production. This was partly because Spielberg wanted the experience of using the 'pre-visualisation' techniques pioneered by ILM as he was going to use them for War of the Worlds (2005). It was also because Lucas felt that his roles as Writer, Director, Executive Producer and Financier were taking up too much of his time and he needed another director to bounce ideas off. Spielberg's main contribution was in the climactic lightsabre duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin.
  
  
• 'Ling Bai' had filmed several scenes for the movie that were later cut. There was a rumor that George Lucas cut these scenes after Bai Ling posed for Playboy. He has, however, denied this rumor and has said that her scenes were cut 8 months before she posed for Playboy, and the photos had nothing to do with his decision.
  
  
• The Darth Vader mask for this film was rebuilt from scratch, using a new digital design to computer-lathe the base master, from which molds were made to cast the on-screen costume masks. The resulting masks are, for the first time in Star Wars history, truly symmetrical.
  
  
• The role of Captain Antilles was originally offered to Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.
  
  
• All shots of C-3PO had the entire green screen set reflecting in his shiny gold armor, so digital effects artists in post-production had to digitally repaint C-3PO's armor frame by frame to remove any traces of the set.
  
  
• The battle with Wookiees dates back to the earliest screenplays of Star Wars (1977). Originally, the Wookiees were supposed to help the Rebels conquer an Imperial bunker. This idea was the basis for the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), but instead of using Wookiees, George Lucas decided to use a smaller furry race and call them Ewoks.
  
  
• The planet name "Utapau" appears in the early drafts of two previous Star Wars films. In Lucas's first draft of the very first movie, Utapau was the home planet of Kane, Anakin and Deak Starkiller. The planet's desert terrain eventually became the planet Tatooine. Utapau was also the original name for Naboo in the first draft of the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
  
  
• Actors Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen trained for two months in fencing and fitness in preparation for their fight sequences.
  
  
• A subscription service offered by Lucasfilm offered fans the chance to watch various stages of the production via a webcam.
  
  
• Although no live-action location filming was done during principal photography, post-production filming was done in Thailand, Switzerland and China to represent background plates for the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk.
  
  
• One of the early concepts for General Grievous was a small child sitting on a floating chair, guarded by two IG88 droids from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). George Lucas rejected this look as a child would not be taken seriously as the deadliest hand to hand fighter the galaxy has seen, which is how he wanted Grievous to be portrayed. Instead, part of the final look for General Grievous' face was inspired by the shape of a bathroom detergent spray nozzle.
  
  
• The Wookiee costumes from this film sport a new arterial system that pump ice cold water to help cool down the actor wearing the suit.
  
  
• In August 2004, a rumor started floating around the Internet that George Lucas had decided to make Episodes VII, VIII and IX after all, after the supposed discovery that Lucasfilm employees had signed non-disclosure agreements barring them from speaking about the films. Lucas later refuted the rumor, stating he still has no intention of making a third trilogy. Lucas has said in interviews he plans on making a live action TV series and a cartoon series.
  
  
• A process of applying chrome to rubber was developed during production, allowing lightsaber hilts to be made of rubber and used in stunts without hurting the actors.
  
  
• The first teaser trailer (released on 5 November 2004) was code-named "Sand Dogs".
  
  
• In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), The look of the Clone troopers was a cross between the Mandalorian armour worn by Jango Fett and the storm troopers of Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). In this movie, the look of the clone troopers edges a bit more towards the look of the stormtroopers, but still retains a few elements of the Mandalorian armour.
  
  
• The character Mas Amedda is played by two actors in this film: Jerome Blake and David Bowers. Blake played the role previously in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Likewise, Bowers played the role previously in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). In this film, For the scenes shot in Australia during principal photography, Bowers played the part. For new scenes/pickups shot in England, Blake reprised the role.
  
  
• Francis Ford Coppola suggested Christopher Neil to George Lucas to be the dialog coach. Lucas said that given the emotional intensity of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), and the fact that he rarely has time to converse with the actors, it would be ideal for someone else to be there to get the strongest performances possible.
  
  
• Hayden Christensen gained 24.2 pounds (11 kilograms) for this film. He did so by eating six meals a day.
  
  
• Obi-Wan Kenobi says the series' trademark line, "I have a bad feeling about this," during one of the first scenes of the film. See also Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).
  
  
• George Lucas deliberately made the Darth Vader suit top-heavy (for instance adding weight on the helmet) to make Hayden Christensen not appear "too accustomed" to it in the movie.
  
  
• Gary Oldman had agreed to be the voice of General Grievous, but pulled out of the film because it was being made using actors who are not part of the Screen Actor's Guild, of which Oldman is a member. The role was read by Duncan Young on set, and finally voiced by Matthew Wood, who, being a Lucasfilm employee, submitted his reading under the name of Alan Smithee.
  
  
• During production the Mon Calamari opera was nicknamed "Squid Lake".
  
  
• Ian McDiarmid is doubled by a trained stuntman for his light-saber battles and more physically demanding shots, such as when Palpatine scrambles away from Mace Windu. As with Christopher Lee, computer effects were quite sloppily used to put the actor's face over the face of the stunt double. McDiarmid stated in numerous interviews that he was pleased that his character, even if not himself personally, was finally involved in some action sequences. For the sword fight between Windu and Sidious, however, the demands for camera angles and close-ups meant that stunt coordinator Nick Gillard had to teach the two actors the entire fight sequence, which was then shot partly with the stunt performers, and partly with Jackson and Mcdiarmid.
  
  
• Deleted scenes that are included in the DVD include: Shaak-Ti's execution by General Grievous, followed by the subsequent escape of Obi-Wan and Anakin by swimming through a fuel tank they get to by cutting a hole in the floor with their light-sabers, and Yoda's arrival in Dagobah.
  
  
• The opening shot of the film lasts 76 seconds after the disappearance of the opening crawl, the longest of any Star Wars film.
  
  
• There was originally slated to be a scene in the film in which the spirit of Qui-Gon communicates with Yoda. However, Liam Neeson was too busy filming Batman Begins (2005), so this was never done.
  
  
• During the production of this film, Lucas also filmed a scene for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Ian McDiarmid, who first played Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), was filmed in prosthetic make-up for use in the character's first appearance as a hologram in Empire, replacing the unknown woman and the voice of Clive Revill.
  
  
• 'Aiden Barton', the toddler who portrayed the infant Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, is the son of crew member Roger Barton.
  
  
• In the first draft of George Lucas' screenplay, the movie was to open with a huge montage sequence showing the end of various battles of the Clone Wars on seven different planets across the Galaxy. Each planet was to be distinctly different from the other and was described as "Bridge world", '"Ring World", "Crystal world" and "Kelp world" amongst others. This idea evolved into the sequence where we see various Jedi dying at the hands of the Clones on different planets. Four planets made it into this montage: Mygeeto (Crystal world), Felucia, Saleucami and Cato Neimoidia (Ring World).
  
  
• Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Elijah Wood, 'Dean Devlin (I)' and Liam Neeson are all known to have visited the set of the last ever Star Wars movie during filming.
  
  
• Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard has a cameo as Cin Drallig, a Jedi Anakin kills in the video recording Obi-Wan watched.
  
  
• The entire movie was shot on the Sony HDC-F950 High Definition camera, using Sony's HDCAM SR digital video format. The Camera itself retails for about US$150,000. George Lucas has said that he plans to never shoot a movie on film again.
  
  
• When Obi-Wan finds General Grievous on Utupau, his first words are, "Hello, there." In Star Wars (1977), when Obi-Wan is first introduced, his words to R2-D2 are, "Hello, there."
  
  
• The color palette of the movie was inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko. George Lucas is a big fan of the painter.
  
  
• General Grievous's breathing problems in this film, as well as his exposed gut-sack (later exploited by Obi Wan) are caused by his brief encounter with Mace Windu in "Star Wars: Clone Wars" (2003). Mace Windu "force-gripped" Grievous as the General was making off with Palpatine, crushing the cyborg's chest panel.
  
  
• At the time it was filmed, the prop representing Bail Organa's speeder was built from the windshield to the rear. It wasn't until post-production that the front of the vehicle's design was chosen. Lucas based the hood and front of the speeder on the design of the Tucker automobile. Unlike the Tucker, Bail's speeder only has the 'cyclop's eye' headlamp, and not the outer two headlamps.
  
  
• Total number of screen wipes: 40
  
  
• According to the extra material, the climactic fight between Vader and Kenobi took upwards of 70,000 man hours to create - doing the math, this constitutes the work of one man for more than 25 years, given roughly normal hours per day (which probably no one ever did working on this production).
  
  
• The only film in the series to have a PG-13 rating.
  
  
• The volcanic world of Mustafar was designed to look like George Lucas's vision of hell.
  
  

• SPOILER: Silas Carson has two death scenes in this movie. One as Ki-Adi Mundi and the other as Nute Gunray. This is the third time he's died in a Star Wars movie. He was killed at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) where he played the pilot blown up in the Trade Federation hanger.
  
  
• SPOILER: Body count: 115
  
  
• SPOILER: This is the only Star Wars film that does not contain R2-D2 in the final shot.
  
  
• SPOILER: During the lightsaber duel scene with General Grievous, it is briefly shown that the second hand that Obi-Wan cuts off is holding a duplicate of Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
  
  
• SPOILER: Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) said he knew that he must die in this film, so he told George Lucas he would only do the film if Mace Windu goes out in a blaze of glory and not "like some sucka". On an American late-night talk show, he confirmed that he did indeed have a meaningful death scene; and he does not go out like "some punk".
  
  
• SPOILER: The first draft of the script also explained the mystery surrounding Anakin's conception. In the confrontation scene between Anakin and Palpatine (where Palpatine confesses to Anakin he is Darth Sidious), he would also explain that he used the power of the Force to will the midichlorians to start the cell divisions that created Anakin. This explanation was later deemed unnecessary by George Lucas and subsequently cut.
  
  

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