- 3 hours ago
Breaking down the most controversial Star Wars movie of all time.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Okay, so let's face facts here. There is, simply put, no more divisive Star Wars movie than The
00:05Last Jedi, which, depending on who you ask, is either a masterpiece or a flaming dumpster fire.
00:11This blockbuster took one look at the Force Awakens' safe, unambitious franchise resurrection
00:17and offered up a more daring, boundary-pushing sequel that carved its own subversive path
00:22and split the fanbase right down the middle. Yet, love it or hate it, the discourse surrounding
00:26The Last Jedi is so pervasively exhausting that you couldn't really be blamed for dipping out and
00:31just not engaging with the movie one way or another. And so, away from all of the toxicity,
00:36there's probably plenty that you actually don't know about The Last Jedi, from fascinating aspects
00:41of its production to sneaky easter eggs, cameos, and happy accidents that ultimately made the movie
00:46what it is. So let's take a look at them today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:50and this is 20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars The Last Jedi.
00:5420. Mark Hamill Hated Luke's Characterization
00:58Perhaps the single most divisive aspect of The Last Jedi was Luke Skywalker's characterization,
01:04reinventing him as a more world-weary, beaten-down, exiled Jedi, and one who even considered killing
01:10Kylo Ren years prior. Fans weren't the only one upset by this, as even Mark Hamill himself
01:15wasn't best pleased with how Luke was written. Enough so that he made it very clear to the director,
01:20stating in an interview during the movie's press tour that he said,
01:23I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you've made for this character.
01:28Now, having said that, I've gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you've
01:32created and do my best to realize your vision. Hamill did, however, later apologize for
01:37voicing his doubts and insecurities in public, and added that despite his creative misgivings,
01:43that Johnson made an all-time great movie.
01:4519. The Porgs Were Created For One Specific Reason
01:49Another relatively polarizing aspect of The Last Jedi was the introduction of the Porgs,
01:54a species of bird native to the planet where Luke exiled himself. The creatures were compared
01:59to Ewoks by some fans, who felt that they were blatant merch bait intended to appeal to very young
02:05children. Yet in actual fact, the Porgs actually came about as a result of practical problem-solving
02:10during shooting.
02:11While filming the scenes on the Irish island's Skellig Michael, the shoot was constantly interrupted
02:16by native puffins who would fly into shot. And so, because the puffins were a protected
02:21species and couldn't be touched, the director simply decided to include the puffins in the
02:25film but alter their appearance with CGI, because this was actually cheaper and easier than having
02:30them all painted out digitally. And so, the Porgs were born.
02:3418. Obi-Wan Was Almost In It
02:37Rian Johnson admitted after the film's release that he did toy with the idea of having Obi-Wan
02:42Kenobi appear as a Force ghost instead of Yoda, and yet rejected the idea for one major reason,
02:48and that was the casting. Due to the original Obi-Wan actor Alec Guinness having passed away
02:52many years ago, Johnson would have had to either use a CGI double or simply bring Ewan McGregor into
02:58the fold. And while McGregor was eager to reprise the role, Johnson wasn't quite as convinced.
03:03Ultimately, Johnson felt that having Mark Hamill interact with the McGregor version of
03:06Obi-Wan, an iteration of the character he's never shared the screen with before,
03:10wouldn't feel authentic. As fun as it would have been to see Obi-Wan in the movie,
03:14Johnson was probably right here.
03:1617. Carrie Fisher Helped Polish The Script
03:19You may or may not know that the late, great Carrie Fisher spent many years in Hollywood working
03:24a side gig as a script doctor. And in that job, she helped polish the scripts for numerous huge
03:29movies such as Hook, Sister Act, and The Wedding Singer, and even punched up the dialogue for the
03:34Star Wars prequels. Though Fisher more or less retired from script doctor work after the prequels
03:39came out, she did end up helping Rian Johnson complete the script for The Last Jedi. According
03:44to Johnson, he visited Fisher's house and they went over the entire script in fine detail,
03:48with Fisher making numerous suggestions, including rewriting much of Leia's own dialogue.
03:53Script doctors typically go uncredited for their work and their contributions may only be revealed years
03:58or even decades later. Yet due to Fisher's untimely passing before The Last Jedi's release,
04:03it was fitting for Johnson to make that information public during the press tour.
04:0716. Kylo Ren's Scar Was Actually Changed Between Movies
04:11Near the end of The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren takes a shot to the face from Rey's lightsaber,
04:16leaving him with a significant scar running from his hairline down to his jaw. However,
04:20a few eagle-eyed fans noticed that Kylo's scar had subtly changed between the movies,
04:25shifting from between his eyebrows to instead cutting through his right eyebrow and going
04:29further down his right cheek. In a now-deleted tweet, Johnson said that he made the call himself,
04:34and it was purely for the sake of his own aesthetic preferences. While it's unlikely that the fans
04:39would have been hugely bothered by the original scar placement, this just goes to show the many
04:43hundreds of tiny creative decisions that go into even the most seemingly mundane parts of a massive
04:48blockbuster movie.
04:4915. Tatiana Maslane, Gina Rodriguez, Olivia Cooke, and others were considered for Rose.
04:55The role of Resistance member Rose Tico was heavily sought out in Hollywood, as of course
05:00eventually went to the largely unknown Kelly Marie Tran. It's especially impressive on Tran's part,
05:05considering that she had to fend off competition from a bevy of considerably more parts. Ultimately,
05:10hiring an unknown actor to play Rose may have been for the best, though, allowing her to function as
05:14an easy audience surrogate without the distracting potential a more high-profile performer might have
05:19brought to the role.
05:2014. Mark Hamill Also Plays a Secret Second Role
05:24In addition to finally giving Luke Skywalker a full reprise in The Last Jedi, Mark Hamill also plays a
05:30secret second character in the film who appears in the movie's divisive Canto Bight sequence.
05:35Hamill asked Rian Johnson if he could play a CGI creation in the film in addition to his upfront
05:40duties, and ended up being cast as Dobu Skay, the mischievous drunk amphibian gambler who hilariously
05:46mistakes BB-8 for a slot machine and inserts a coin in him. Hamill not only provided the small
05:51voice role for the character, but according to Hamill himself, also wore a motion capture suit
05:55on set to act out his movements.
05:5713. It Was The First Star Wars Film To Show Books And Paper
06:01You probably remember that Luke Skywalker had custody of a collection of sacred Jedi text on his
06:07exiled planet, but you may not have put two and two together and appreciated that this is actually
06:11the first time that we've ever seen books and paper in the canonical cinematic universe.
06:16The presence of the Jedi text confirms once and for all, after so many decades, that paper does
06:21indeed exist as we know it in the world of Star Wars, despite information typically being stored
06:26and presented digitally. It's a fascinating sliver of low-key world-building that has evidently been
06:31taken for granted by most fans, confirming just how damn ancient those Jedi texts truly are.
06:3612. The DJ Character Was Almost Lando Calrissian
06:40Benicio Del Toro has a small but vital role in the film as DJ, an underworld codebreaker who ends
06:46up double-crossing the resistance to General Hux in order to win his own freedom. In the early
06:50scripting stages, however, the role was actually written for Lando Calrissian, but Rian Johnson
06:55ultimately decided to reinvent the part as an entirely new character because he didn't want
06:59to have Lando categorically betray the heroes. Lando's certainly no stranger to subterfuge or looking
07:05out for number one, but at least he usually does the right thing in the end. DJ, on the other hand,
07:09he never gets his redeeming moment and effectively just disappears out of the story after turning on
07:14Finn and Rose. Lando, of course, finally returns to the franchise in The Rise of Skywalker, albeit
07:19only in a piecemeal, strictly fans-serving capacity.
07:2211. BB-8 Says I've Got A Bad Feeling About This
07:26It was initially reported that The Last Jedi was the first film in the Skywalker saga to omit a
07:31variation of the iconic phrase, I have a bad feeling about this, but yet that's actually not
07:35the case. Instead, Rian Johnson decided to get a little cute with this one and include the one-liner
07:40in a highly concealed form. Johnson confirmed that BB-8 actually says the very same phrase
07:45to Poe Dameron in the movie's opening scene, making a series of binary beeping noises as they
07:50take on the first order. Upon hearing and understanding BB-8's anxiety, Poe responds with,
07:55Happy beeps here, buddy, come on. And Johnson said of the inclusion,
07:58It seemed like a fun character to deliver that line. I think originally I had Poe respond,
08:02Oh, I got a good feeling about it, keep your chin up. And then I made it a little less explicit just
08:07to make it more fun.
08:0810. George Lucas Thought That It Was Much Better Than The Force Awakens
08:12Back in 2019, then-Disney CEO Bob Iger released his memoirs, which included the revelation that
08:18George Lucas wasn't actually too keen on Star Wars The Force Awakens. He said,
08:22He didn't hide his disappointment. There's nothing new, Lucas said. In each of the films in the original
08:27trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories, new characters,
08:31and new technologies. In this one, he said,
08:33there weren't enough visual or technical leaps forward. It's perhaps fitting then that Lucas
08:37was reportedly far more impressed with the more original boundary-pushing The Last Jedi.
08:42After seeing the film, Lucas called it beautifully made, and spoke directly with Johnson to praise
08:46him further. To date, Lucas hasn't offered up his opinion on The Rise of Skywalker, though the fact
08:51that he was absent from its world premiere could definitely be telling.
08:549. Carrie Fisher's Dog Gary Has A Cameo
08:57If you know much about Carrie Fisher's personal life, you're very likely aware that she adored
09:02her pet French bulldog, aptly named Gary Fisher. In addition to travelling with Fisher everywhere she
09:07went, Gary actually ended up making a sneaky cameo appearance in The Last Jedi, showing up as an alien
09:13pet by an unidentified creature in the Canto bite sequence. It's a fleeting appearance that's tricky
09:18to spot, but it was indeed confirmed by Rian Johnson on the eve of the film's release,
09:22and better yet, apparently Gary had quite the ball watching himself on the big screen at the movie's
09:27premiere.
09:278. Maz Kanata's Role Was Cut Down During Rewrites
09:31After Maz Kanata was given such a strong and memorable introduction in The Force Awakens,
09:35fans understandably expected to see more of her in The Last Jedi. But alas, Maz shows up for just a
09:41minute-long cameo appearance in the film, and left fans both mystified and disappointed.
09:45However, Maz originally had a much larger role in the story, as she was initially supposed to appear
09:50at the Resistance base on Crait. With the concept art from the book The Art of Star Wars The Last Jedi
09:55confirming this, J.J. Abrams even shot a scene for The Force Awakens which showed Maz returning to the
10:00Resistance base. Yet because there wasn't anything for her to do but simply sit around, it was decided
10:04to remove it. And so, this had a knock-on effect on The Last Jedi, resulting in Maz's role being
10:09reduced during rewrites. And in the end, this is all we got.
10:137. Frank Oz Helped Direct and Edit The Yoda Scene
10:16One of The Last Jedi's biggest surprises was the unexpected appearance of Yoda, who shows up in Force
10:21Ghost form, not as a digital creation, but as a classic, practical puppet. In addition to Frank
10:27Oz providing the voice for Yoda and operating the Yoda puppet, he actually helped direct the scene
10:31on set and then went into the editing room with Rian Johnson to provide added assistance. Given Oz's
10:36decades of experience working with puppets, Johnson invited him to help shape the Yoda scene in post-production.
10:42Oz primarily aided Johnson in editing around the puppet to maximise its presence on screen and make Yoda
10:47feel real to the audience. And you know what? This was definitely a success.
10:526. Anthony Daniels Was Disappointed By C-3PO's Small Role
10:56Now, Mark Hamill wasn't the only legacy actor a little miffed about his character's treatment in
11:00the movie. Anthony Daniels was also unhappy with C-3PO's role in The Last Jedi. In Daniels' case,
11:06it was less about the creative particulars of C-3PO's presence than the sheer size of his role,
11:11with Daniels saying,
11:12in The Last Jedi I became a table decoration, which I regretted because C-3PO was worth more
11:17than that. Now, Daniels isn't really wrong, in that C-3PO spends most of the film aboard Vice
11:22Admiral Holdo's ship and doing little of major consequence. Ironically, Daniels was decidedly
11:27far more enthusiastic about his part in The Rise of Skywalker, with the film giving C-3PO far more to
11:32do. 5. Rose's Personality Was Changed During Production
11:36Curiously, the movie's most air quotes, controversial and divisive character was one who
11:41underwent a fair reworking during production. Though when we first meet Rose, she's something
11:45of a resistance fangirl and remains a pillar of chirpy optimism throughout, Rian Johnson originally
11:50wrote her as a more dour and cynical character. Once he cast Kelly Marie Tran and saw how she
11:55interacted with John Boyega, he tweaked Rose to be less surly and more hopeful. He said,
12:00the character was written as more of an Eeyore type initially in the script, so she was a little
12:04more grumpy and didn't really trust Finn. The more I got to know Kelly, she just has this open,
12:09beautiful spirit, and I thought you have to see that at the beginning of this character.
12:13That's got to be what this character is about. It was really because of Kelly that the whole
12:17dynamic of the character changed, thank God. Would a less open-hearted take on the character have
12:22changed fan perception of Rose? Well, considering the bigoted basis of many fans' issues with Rose,
12:27probably not, unfortunately.
12:284. Joseph Gordon-Levitt Voiced The Alien Slow and Low
12:32Joseph Gordon-Levitt starred in Rian Johnson's stellar directorial debut,
12:35Brick, and later his 2012 sci-fi masterpiece Looper, and has made cameo appearances in all
12:41of Johnson's other films since. Gordon-Levitt had a voice cameo in The Last Jedi, portraying
12:45the alien creature known as Slow and Low during the Kanto Bight sequence. The character's peculiar
12:50moniker is a reference to the Beastie Boys song Slow and Low, what with executive producer J.J.
12:56Abrams being a huge fan of the rap group. With Gordon-Levitt having appeared in every single
13:00Johnson movie in some capacity to date, we can expect to either see or hear him in the
13:05Knives Out sequel Glass Onion due out later this year.
13:083. It's the only main Star Wars movie without a lightsaber duel
13:12The Last Jedi is the first mainline film in the series without a lightsaber duel. Though Rogue
13:17One lacked a saber fight the year before The Last Jedi, this is the first of the nine main Skywalker
13:22saga movies without one. But despite Kylo Ren and Rey using their laser swords to dispose of Snoke
13:28and his Praetorian guards during the iconic throne room scene, they're the only ones using
13:32lightsabers in this sequence, so it's not actually a duel. And of course, just when it seems like
13:36we're going to get an epic showdown between Kylo Ren and Luke at the film's end, we learn that Luke
13:41simply force-projecting himself onto that location, preventing the possibility of a duel.
13:45It's a totally on-brand move for a Star Wars movie so concerned with upending audience
13:50expectations, even if, like some of the movie's other creative calls, it did leave some fans
13:54firmly disappointed. 2. Tom Hardy's Cameo as a Stormtrooper Was Cut
13:59Just about everybody wants to make a cameo appearance in Star Wars, and after Daniel Craig
14:04made a brilliant appearance as a Stormtrooper in The Force Awakens, fans were eager to see who would
14:09show up in The Last Jedi. Yet despite persistent pre-release reports that Tom Hardy would be playing
14:14a Stormtrooper, he was nowhere to be seen or heard, and Rian Johnson later revealed that his role was
14:19actually cut. The deleted scene was eventually released, showing Hardy playing a southern-accented
14:23stormtrooper who knows Finn, and seeing him suited up in captain's uniform for his mission sees him
14:28express surprise that he's climbed the ranks, while seemingly oblivious to Finn's defection from the
14:33First Order. Johnson hasn't ever confirmed why Hardy's role was cut, though it's safe to say that
14:37it was either due to pacing – I mean, after all, the final cut was 152 minutes long – or because
14:42Hardy's southern caricature was perhaps a little bit too silly for its own good.
14:461. Actor Timothy D. Rose Was Left In Tears Over Admiral Ackbar's Death
14:51Many fans were left disappointed by the death of Admiral Ackbar at the hands of Kylo Ren,
14:55but nobody was more crestfallen than Timothy D. Rose, who played Ackbar in 1983's Return of the
15:01Jedi and returned to portray him in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. In addition to expressing
15:06frustration with the secrecy on set while shooting both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, Rose felt
15:11that Ackbar's death was treated as a joke on set. He said,
15:14We finished all of our bits and they asked me to come down to camera and I thought,
15:18oh well, maybe they're going to say thank you for being one of the heritage characters and giving
15:2130 years and all that. But what they did was ask me to look at the camera and say,
15:25it's a wrap. I was actually in tears in the suit because I thought, after everything,
15:29after hoping there'd be something, after knowing that there wasn't going to be anything else,
15:33Ackbar's final moment before he went into the box was a big joke about it's a wrap.
15:38Rose's comments have earned him a lot of sympathy from fans, who also felt that Ackbar should have
15:42received a more ceremonious and meaningful demise, rather than being disposed of so flippantly.
15:47To compensate for this, though, General Ackbar's son was introduced as a minor character in The
15:51Rise of Skywalker. And there we go, my friends, those were 20 things you didn't know about Star
15:56Wars The Last Jedi. I hope that you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it
16:00down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, so you can go follow me over on
16:03Twitter at RetroJ, but the O is a zero, or you can swing by Instagram, where it's the same handle,
16:08RetroJ, but the O is a zero. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome,
16:13never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
Comments