58 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know about the Star Wars Movies

1. The actor who played Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guiness, thought of the Star Wars films as “fairy-tale rubbish”.

2. Despite this, he negotiated a deal to earn 2% of the gross box office receiptsfor the movies he appeared in, earning him over $95 million.

3. Harrison Ford was paid $10,000 for his performance in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

4. Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin, found his costume boots so uncomfortable that he wore slippers during many of his scenes, and insisted his feet just never be in the shots.

5. The sound of the TIE Fighter engines is actually the sound of an elephant callmixed with the sounds of a car driving on wet pavement.

6. Steven Spielberg made a bet with George Lucas for a percentage of the Star Wars films, which has earned him millions of dollars since.

7. While shooting the scene in the trash compactor, Mark Hamill held his breath for so long that he burst a blood vessel in the side of his face. They had to adjust framing while shooting the rest of the scene to avoid showing the blemish.

8. Many of the buildings constructed to be used in shots of Tatooine are still standing in Tunisia. In fact, some of them are still used by locals.

9. Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles, is Ewan McGregor’s uncle.

10. Luke Skywalker was originally going to be named Luke Starkiller, and retained the name up until the film begin shooting. Luckily, the name was never mentioned, so it was changed to Skywalker with little effort.