behind the scenes

Here you can expect an assortment of trivia, and quotations from various official sources such as interviews, featurettes and documentaries. Transcripts from commentary are as accurate as possible, but certain things may be phrased slightly differently with apologies, because I'm copying it all down myself.

The Force Awakens Commentary

"[...] So we went backwards to go forward. We embraced everything that we could that felt to us distinctly star wars in order to tell a story that was very much about moving forward, and new characters and a completely new storyline."

"When we were talking about the characters that we wanted to tell the story about, we had Rey, we had Kylo Ren, Poe and Finn."

"We wanted to give Poe a little bit of a sense of humor, and this was actually a reshoot we did at Bad Robot. One of them was a shot earlier when Poe fires and hits the stormtrooper who goes down and marks Finn. That was an idea that came in reshoots to have Poe be responsible for the death that causes Finn's breakdown."

"And you just know their [Poe & Finn] friendship is forever."

"The idea was that Finn had been so dehumanized by the First Order. And it's their friendship, it's Poe giving him a proper name that just shows Finn that he's important and that he matters."

"[Finn] knew what he was being asked to do was wrong. And my wishful thinking was that people who know they're in a dangerous and wrong situation might even subconsciously remember that they've seen it before and that Finn walked away from the First Order, because he knew it was wrong, and maybe they will too."

"Originally when I thought of Poe, I thought he would seem to die here and come back later, but then when Larry and I wrote the script, we just killed him. And when I showed the script to Oscar Isaac, who I really wanted to be in the movie, he said he really wanted to do it, but he'd died in, like, four other movies in the first act. And is there any way he could live. And it was Michelle Rejwan, co-produced of the movie, who said “You know, Poe used to live, you could have Poe live again.” And I was like, "No, no, no. I think you see it coming." She's like, “Yeah, yeah, but it's really happy and the movie needs something happy at that point." So I called Oscar and said, "All right, you live.” And he agreed to be in the movie.”

Rey and Finn's relationship was originally a lot more contentious. "[..] we needed to change their dynamic. Originally, they were much more angry at each other. And, truthfully, it wasn't working. Originally in this scene, Finn revealed that he was a stormtrooper. And in this scene, she had never heard of Luke Skywalker. Which didn't really make sense because later she's heard of Han Solo, and she's been wearing the Rebellion helmet. You just didn't quite buy it. So the idea was that her life was so isolated and so sad and so without hope, that the most optimistic thing, Luke Skywalker himself, was nothing but a myth, and the idea is that Finn brings this hope to her. Also this really fun concoction that Finn is lying to her, that his truth that he's actually a stormtrooper is being covered up with this lie about being with the Resistance, which allows for that great moment for Daisy to sort of fall for this guy. “Who's this daring, brave, good man?" But, of course, he's lying. And she's so lost in her own life that even when she hears the name Luke Skywalker, here, she doesn't even believe it's real. And changing their relationship and their attitudes and what they tell each other, I think helped enormously, in sort of bringing forward the sweetness and kind of relatability that these characters needed." Some of Finn and Rey's banter was also rewritten to better fit John Boyega and Daisy Ridley's real life friendship.

"This next moment [Rey and Finn in the TIE Fighter blast] really is a lesson from George Lucas. He would bring characters together, then separate them, then bring them together again, and then separate them. And he kept doing it, and every time they would reunite, it would bond them further. So, in this moment, she feels she might have lost Finn, which is meaningful to her. And when he wakes up, he asks her, "Are you okay?" which no one has ever asked her. And now she extends her hand to him. And now they're friends."

"This moment coming up, where Rey makes this turn, and Finn fires at the TIE Fighter and destroys it, was, again, all about their relationship, that their rhythm, their timing, how well they work together. She does this, so he could do this. [...] Thanks to everyone's work, including John Williams, these two characters are now bonded forever, as well."

The Force Awakens Trivia

• john williams returned to compose for the trilogy, partially because he was so enchanted with daisy ridley's performance that he couldn't fathom anyone else getting to write rey's theme.
• while filming the battle on tuanul, oscar isaac accidentally scraped up his nose by trying to mimic the recoil of poe's blaster and hitting himself in the face with the prop.
• the sound effect used whenever kylo ren uses the force, is derived from the sound of one of the production crew's cats purring.
• they had a bb-8 prop that was used exclusively for wiggling.

The Last Jedi Trivia

• oscar isaac filmed both the last jedi and annihilation at the same time, as they were being shot on the same lot. he'd walk between productions, still in full poe costume.
• the smoke after bb-8 launches the credits at the canto bight police force, was real.
• the throne room fight took so many takes to film, that when they finally finished it, daisy ridley and adam driver were so excited that adam driver lifted her into a fireman's carry and they ran around the set.
• rose's hairtie is actually made of electrical cords.
• the final scene between leia and amilyn, was the brainchild of laura dern and carrie fisher. laura dern wanted a moment with leia, that would respect the character and speak to how much leia meant to her.
• poe and rey were originally meant to meet at the end of the force awakens and it was originally filmed (and remained in the novelization), but was removed so that they could meet at the end of this film at the request of rian johnson. oscar isaac referenced it as being their version of the iconic "i know from the love confession in the empire strikes back.

The Rise of Skywalker Trivia

• the destruction of kijimi was a practical effect, rather than cgi.
• while a good chunk of the speeder chase was cgi, a lot was filmed practically and on location for the final cut to be as realistic as possible. the speederbikes the first order used were real, modified vehicles.
• according to writer chris terrio, d-0 represents that no matter how badly you were previously treated or where you come from, you can find new belonging. he felt this was the heart of rey, finn and poe's dynamic, as they all had troubled pasts but made a family with each other.
• the final scene between poe and leia, where poe is confiding that he's unsure if he can do what she had done, was oscar isaac's idea. he wanted a moment between the two characters to highlight their bond, and it ended up flourishing into the final scene where lando gives poe advice, and he seeks out finn's help.
• the civilian's fleet includes plenty of recurring characters: the ghost from star wars rebels is seen prominently (and lands on ajan kloss at the end of the film), although it's unconfirmed who is piloting it. zay versio appears in the novelization, and the colossus from star wars resistance appears, with kaz xiono, as well. wedge antilles is shown in the falcon with lando, arriving minutes after his step son's, snap wexley, death in the initial wave of the battle. overhearing so many people arrive, including old friends, is enough to move poe to tears in the novelization, and it takes him several seconds to regain composure and lead them.
• rey's outfit is meant to be a visual homage to leia's outfit in a new hope.
• although he enjoyed filming the speeder chase, oscar isaac said that his favorite scene to film was the moment on the roof between poe and zorii, as it was a rare moment of vulnerability from poe, and he liked the dynamic of zorii knowing who poe is, and being able to pull him out of his despair for it.

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