Breaking down the most controversial Star Wars movie of all time.
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00:00 Okay, so let's face facts here. There is, simply put, no more divisive Star Wars movie than The
00:05 Last Jedi, which, depending on who you ask, is either a masterpiece or a flaming dumpster fire.
00:11 This blockbuster took one look at the Force Awakens' safe, unambitious franchise resurrection
00:17 and offered up a more daring, boundary-pushing sequel that carved its own subversive path
00:22 and split the fanbase right down the middle. Yet, love it or hate it, the discourse surrounding The
00:26 Last Jedi is so pervasively exhausting that you couldn't really be blamed for dipping out and just
00:32 not engaging with the movie one way or another. And so, away from all of the toxicity,
00:36 there's probably plenty that you actually don't know about The Last Jedi, from fascinating aspects
00:41 of its production to sneaky easter eggs, cameos and happy accidents that ultimately made the movie
00:46 what it is. So let's take a look at them today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and this is
00:51 20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars The Last Jedi.
00:55 20. Mark Hamill Hated Luke's Characterisation
00:59 Perhaps the single most divisive aspect of The Last Jedi was Luke Skywalker's
01:03 characterisation, reinventing him as a more world-weary, beaten-down, exiled Jedi,
01:08 and one who even considered killing Kylo Ren years prior. Fans weren't the only ones upset by this,
01:14 as even Mark Hamill himself wasn't best pleased with how Luke was written, enough so that he made
01:19 it very clear to the director, stating in an interview during the movie's press tour, that he
01:23 said "I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you've made for this character. Now,
01:28 having said that, I've gotten it off my chest, and my job now is to take what you've created and do
01:33 my best to realise your vision." Hamill did, however, later apologise for "voicing his doubts
01:38 and insecurities in public" and added that despite his creative misgivings, that Johnson made an
01:43 all-time great movie. 19. The Porgs Were Created
01:47 For One Specific Reason Another relatively polarising aspect of The
01:51 Last Jedi was the introduction of the Porgs, a species of bird native to the planet where Luke
01:57 exiled himself. The creatures were compared to Ewoks by some fans, who felt that they were blatant
02:02 merch bait intended to appeal to very young children. Yet in actual fact, the Porgs actually
02:07 came about as a result of practical problem-solving during shooting. While filming the scenes on the
02:12 Irish island Skellig Michael, the shoot was constantly interrupted by native puffins who
02:17 would fly into shot. And so because the puffins were a protected species and couldn't be touched,
02:22 the director simply decided to include the puffins in the film but alter their appearance with CGI,
02:28 because this was actually cheaper and easier than having them all painted out digitally.
02:32 And so, the Porgs were born. 18. Obi-Wan Was Almost In It
02:37 Rian Johnson admitted after the film's release that he did toy with the idea of having Obi-Wan
02:42 Kenobi appear as a Force ghost instead of Yoda, and yet rejected the idea for one major reason,
02:47 and that was the casting. Due to the original Obi-Wan actor Alec Guinness having passed away
02:52 many years ago, Johnson would have had to either use a CGI double or simply bring Ewan McGregor
02:58 into the fold, and while McGregor was eager to reprise the role, Johnson wasn't quite as convinced.
03:03 Ultimately, Johnson felt that having Mark Hamill interact with the McGregor version of Obi-Wan,
03:07 an iteration of the character he's never shared the screen with before, wouldn't feel authentic.
03:12 As fun as it would have been to see Obi-Wan in the movie, Johnson was probably right here.
03:16 17. Carrie Fisher Helped Polish The Script You may or may not know that the late,
03:21 great Carrie Fisher spent many years in Hollywood working a side gig as a script doctor,
03:26 and in that job she helped polish the scripts for numerous huge movies such as 'Hook', 'Sister Act',
03:31 and 'The Wedding Singer', and even punched up the dialogue for the 'Star Wars' prequels.
03:35 Though Fisher more or less retired from script doctor work after the prequels came out,
03:40 she did end up helping Rian Johnson complete the script for 'The Last Jedi'.
03:43 According to Johnson, he visited Fisher's house and they went over the entire script in fine detail,
03:48 with Fisher making numerous suggestions, including rewriting much of Leia's own dialogue.
03:53 Script doctors typically go uncredited for their work, and their contributions may only be revealed
03:57 years or even decades later, yet due to Fisher's untimely passing before 'The Last Jedi's' release,
04:03 it was fitting for Johnson to make that information public during the press tour.
04:07 16. Kylo Ren's Scar Was Actually Changed Between Movies
04:11 Near the end of 'The Force Awakens', Kylo Ren takes a shot to the face from Rey's lightsaber,
04:16 leaving him with a significant scar running from his hairline down to his jaw. However,
04:20 a few eagle-eyed fans noticed that Kylo's scar had subtly changed between the movies,
04:25 shifting from between his eyebrows to instead cutting through his right eyebrow and going
04:29 further down his right cheek. In a now-deleted tweet, Johnson said that he made the call himself,
04:34 and it was purely for the sake of his own aesthetic preferences. While it's unlikely that
04:38 the fans would have been hugely bothered by the original scar placement, this just goes to show
04:42 the many hundreds of tiny creative decisions that go into even the most seemingly mundane parts of
04:47 a massive blockbuster movie. 15. Tatiana Maslany,
04:51 Gina Rodriguez, Olivia Cooke, and others were considered for Rose
04:55 The role of Resistance member Rose Tico was heavily sought out in Hollywood, as of course
05:00 eventually went to the largely unknown Kelly Marie Tran. It's especially impressive on Tran's part,
05:05 considering that she had to fend off competition from a bevy of considerably more established and
05:09 well-known actresses. This included the likes of Tatiana Maslany, Gina Rodriguez, and Olivia Cooke,
05:14 all of whom made the shortlist and may have even been screen-tested for the part. Ultimately,
05:19 hiring an 'unknown' actor to play Rose may have been for the best, though, allowing her to
05:23 function as an easy audience surrogate without the distracting potential a more high-profile
05:27 performer might have brought to the role. 14. Mark Hamill also plays a secret second role
05:33 In addition to finally giving Luke Skywalker a full reprise in The Last Jedi, Mark Hamill also
05:38 plays a secret second character in the film who appears in the movie's divisive canto bite
05:43 sequence. Hamill asked Rian Johnson if he could play a CGI creation in the film in addition to
05:48 his upfront duties, and ended up being cast as Dobu Skei, the mischievous drunk amphibian gambler
05:54 who hilariously mistakes BB-8 for a slot machine and inserts a coin in him. Hamill not only provided
05:59 the small voice role for the character, but according to Hamill himself, also wore a motion
06:04 capture suit on set to act out his movements. 13. It was the first Star Wars film to show
06:09 books and paper You probably remember that Luke Skywalker had custody of a collection of
06:14 sacred Jedi text on his exiled planet, but you may not have put two and two together and appreciated
06:19 that this is actually the first time that we've ever seen books and paper in the canonical cinematic
06:24 universe. The presence of the Jedi text confirms once and for all after so many decades that paper
06:30 does indeed exist as we know it in the world of Star Wars, despite information typically being
06:35 stored and presented digitally. It's a fascinating sliver of low-key world building that has
06:39 evidently been taken for granted by most fans, confirming just how damn ancient those Jedi texts
06:44 truly are. 12. The DJ character was almost Lando Calrissian Benicio del Toro has a small but vital
06:51 role in the film as DJ, an underworld codebreaker who ends up double-crossing the Resistance to
06:56 General Hux in order to win his own freedom. In the early scripting stages, however, the role was
07:01 actually written for Lando Calrissian, but Rian Johnson ultimately decided to reinvent the part
07:06 as an entirely new character because he didn't want to have Lando categorically betray the heroes.
07:11 Lando's certainly no stranger to subterfuge or looking out for number one, but at least he usually
07:15 does the right thing in the end. DJ, on the other hand, never gets his redeeming moment and
07:20 effectively just disappears out of the story after turning on Finn and Rose. Lando, of course, finally
07:25 returns to the franchise in The Rise of Skywalker, albeit only in a piecemeal, strictly fan-serving
07:30 capacity. 11. BB-8 says "I've got a bad feeling about this." It was initially reported that The
07:36 Last Jedi was the first film in the Skywalker saga to omit a variation of the iconic phrase
07:41 "I have a bad feeling about this," but yet that's actually not the case. Instead, Rian Johnson
07:46 decided to get a little cute with this one and include the one-liner in a highly concealed form.
07:50 Johnson confirmed that BB-8 actually says the very same phrase to Poe Dameron in the movie's
07:55 opening scene, making a series of binary beeping noises as they take on the First Order. Upon
08:01 hearing and understanding BB-8's anxiety, Poe responds with "Happy beeps here, buddy, come on,"
08:05 and Johnson said of the inclusion, "It seemed like a fun character to deliver that line. I think
08:10 originally I had Poe respond, 'Oh, I got a good feeling about it, keep your chin up,' and then I
08:14 made it a little less explicit just to make it more fun." 10. George Lucas thought that it was
08:19 much better than The Force Awakens Back in 2019, then-Disney CEO Bob Iger released his memoirs,
08:25 which included the revelation that George Lucas wasn't actually too keen on Star Wars The Force
08:30 Awakens. He said, "He didn't hide his disappointment. There's nothing new," Lucas said.
08:34 In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds,
08:38 new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said,
08:42 "There weren't enough visual or technical leaps forward." It's perhaps fitting, then,
08:46 that Lucas was reportedly far more impressed with the more original boundary-pushing The Last Jedi.
08:51 After seeing the film, Lucas called it "beautifully made" and spoke directly with Johnson
08:55 to praise him further. To date, Lucas hasn't offered up his opinion on The Rise of Skywalker,
08:59 though the fact that he was absent from its world premiere could definitely be telling.
09:03 9. Carrie Fisher's Dog, Gary, Has a Cameo
09:07 If you know much about Carrie Fisher's personal life, you're very likely aware that she adored
09:11 her pet French bulldog, aptly named Gary Fisher. In addition to travelling with Fisher everywhere
09:16 she went, Gary actually ended up making a sneaky cameo appearance in The Last Jedi,
09:21 showing up as an alien pet by an unidentified creature in the Kanto Bight sequence. It's a
09:26 fleeting appearance that's tricky to spot, but it was indeed confirmed by Rian Johnson on the eve of
09:30 the film's release, and better yet, apparently Gary had quite the bull watching himself on the
09:34 big screen at the movie's premiere. 8. Maz Kanata's Role Was Cut Down
09:39 During Rewrites After Maz Kanata was given such a strong and
09:42 memorable introduction in The Force Awakens, fans understandably expected to see more of her in The
09:47 Last Jedi. But alas, Maz shows up for just a minute-long cameo appearance in the film and
09:52 left fans both mystified and disappointed. However, Maz originally had a much larger
09:56 role in the story, as she was initially supposed to appear at the Resistance base on Crait,
10:01 with the concept art from the book The Art of Star Wars The Last Jedi confirming this.
10:05 J.J. Abrams even shot a scene for The Force Awakens which showed Maz returning to the
10:09 Resistance base, yet because there wasn't anything for her to do but simply sit around,
10:13 it was decided to remove it. And so, this had a knock-on effect on The Last Jedi,
10:17 resulting in Maz's role being reduced during rewrites, and in the end, this is all we got.
10:21 7. Frank Oz Helped Direct and Edit The Yoda Scene
10:25 One of The Last Jedi's biggest surprises was the unexpected appearance of Yoda,
10:29 who shows up in Force Ghost form not as a digital creation, but as a classic, practical puppet.
10:35 In addition to Frank Oz providing the voice for Yoda and operating the Yoda puppet,
10:39 he actually helped direct the scene on set and then went into the editing room with Rian Johnson
10:43 to provide added assistance. Given Oz's decades of experience working with puppets,
10:47 Johnson invited him to help shape the Yoda scene in post-production. Oz primarily aided
10:52 Johnson in editing around the puppet to maximize its presence on screen and make
10:56 Yoda feel real to the audience. And you know what? This was definitely a success.
11:01 6. Anthony Daniels Was Disappointed By C-3PO's Small Role
11:05 Mark Hamill wasn't the only legacy actor a little miffed about his character's treatment in the
11:09 movie. Anthony Daniels was also unhappy with C-3PO's role in The Last Jedi. In Daniels' case,
11:15 it was less about the creative particulars of 3PO's presence than the sheer size of his role,
11:20 with Daniels saying, "In The Last Jedi, I became a table decoration, which I regretted,
11:24 because 3PO was worth more than that." Daniels isn't really wrong, in that C-3PO spends most
11:30 of the film aboard Vice Admiral Holdo's ship and doing little of major consequence. Ironically,
11:35 Daniels was decidedly far more enthusiastic about his part in The Rise of Skywalker,
11:39 with the film giving 3PO far more to do.
11:41 5. Rose's Personality Was Changed During Production
11:45 Curiously, the movie's most air-quotes "controversial and divisive" character was
11:49 one who underwent a fair reworking during production. Though when we first meet Rose,
11:54 she's something of a resistance fangirl and remains a pillar of chirpy optimism throughout,
11:58 Rian Johnson originally wrote her as a more dour and cynical character. Once he cast Kelly Marie
12:03 Tran and saw how she interacted with John Boyega, he tweaked Rose to be less surly and more hopeful.
12:08 He said, "The character was written as more of an Eeyore type initially in the script,
12:12 so she was a little more grumpy and didn't really trust Finn. The more I got to know Kelly,
12:16 she just has this open, beautiful spirit, and I thought you have to see that at the
12:20 beginning of this character. That's got to be what this character is about. It was really because of
12:25 Kelly that the whole dynamic of the character changed, thank God." Would a less open-hearted
12:30 take on the character have changed fan perception of Rose? Well, considering the bigoted basis of
12:34 many fans' issues with Rose, probably not, unfortunately.
12:37 4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt Voiced The Alien, Slow and Low
12:41 Joseph Gordon-Levitt starred in Rian Johnson's stellar directorial debut,
12:44 'Brick' and later his 2012 sci-fi masterpiece 'Looper', and has made cameo appearances in all
12:49 of Johnson's other films since. Gordon-Levitt had a voice cameo in 'The Last Jedi',
12:54 portraying the alien creature known as 'Slow and Low' during the 'Canto Bight' sequence.
12:58 The character's peculiar moniker is a reference to the Beastie Boys' song 'Slow and Low',
13:03 what with executive producer J.J. Abrams being a huge fan of the rap group. With Gordon-Levitt
13:07 having appeared in every single Johnson movie in some capacity to date, we can expect to either
13:12 see or hear him in the 'Knives Out' sequel 'Glass Onion' due out later this year.
13:16 3. It's the Only Main Star Wars Movie Without a Lightsaber Duel
13:21 'The Last Jedi' is the first mainline film in the series without a lightsaber duel. Though 'Rogue
13:26 One' lacked a saber fight the year before 'The Last Jedi', this is the first of the nine main
13:31 Skywalker saga movies without one. For despite Kylo Ren and Rey using their laser swords to dispose
13:36 of Snoke and his Praetorian guards during the iconic throne room scene, they're the only ones
13:41 using lightsabers in this sequence, so it's not actually a duel. And of course, just when it seems
13:45 like we're going to get an epic showdown between Kylo Ren and Luke at the film's end, we learn that
13:50 Luke simply forced projecting himself onto that location, preventing the possibility of a duel.
13:54 It's a totally on-brand move for a Star Wars movie so concerned with upending audience expectations,
14:00 even if like some of the movie's other creative calls, it did leave some fans firmly disappointed.
14:04 2. Tom Hardy's Cameo as a Stormtrooper Was Cut
14:09 Just about everybody wants to make a cameo appearance in Star Wars, and after Daniel
14:13 Craig made a brilliant appearance as a stormtrooper in 'The Force Awakens',
14:16 fans were eager to see who would show up in 'The Last Jedi'. Yet despite persistent pre-release
14:21 reports that Tom Hardy will be playing a stormtrooper, he was nowhere to be seen or heard,
14:25 and Rian Johnson later revealed that his role was actually cut. The deleted scene was eventually
14:30 released, showing Hardy playing a southern-accented stormtrooper who knows Finn, and seeing him
14:35 suited up in Captain's uniform for his mission, sees him express surprise that he's climbed the
14:39 ranks, while seemingly oblivious to Finn's defection from the First Order. Johnson hasn't
14:43 ever confirmed why Hardy's role was cut, though it's safe to say that it was either due to pacing
14:48 (after all, the final cut was 152 minutes long) or because Hardy's southern caricature was perhaps
14:53 a little too silly for its own good. 1. Actor Timothy D. Rose
14:57 Was Left in Tears Over Admiral Ackbar's Death Many fans were left disappointed by the death of
15:02 Admiral Ackbar at the hands of Kylo Ren, but nobody was more crestfallen than Timothy D. Rose,
15:07 who played Ackbar in 1983's 'Return of the Jedi' and returned to portray him in both 'The Force
15:12 Awakens' and 'The Last Jedi'. In addition to expressing frustration with the secrecy on set
15:17 while shooting both 'The Force Awakens' and 'The Last Jedi', Rose felt that Ackbar's death was
15:21 treated as a joke on set. He said, "We finished all of our bits and they asked me to come down
15:26 to camera and I thought, 'Oh, well, maybe they're going to say thank you for being one of the
15:29 heritage characters and giving 30 years and all that.' But what they did was ask me to look at
15:33 the camera and say, 'It's a wrap.' I was actually in tears in the suit because I thought, after
15:38 everything, after hoping there'd be something, after knowing that there wasn't going to be
15:41 anything else, Ackbar's final moment before he went into the box was a big joke about 'It's a
15:46 wrap.'" Rose's comments have earned him a lot of sympathy from fans, who also felt that Ackbar
15:50 should have received a more ceremonious and meaningful demise, rather than being disposed of
15:55 so flippantly. To compensate for this, though, General Ackbar's son was introduced as a minor
16:00 character in 'The Rise of Skywalker'. And there we go, my friends. Those were 20 things you didn't
16:04 know about 'Star Wars The Last Jedi'. I hope that you enjoyed that and please let me know what you
16:08 thought about it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go
16:12 follow me over on Twitter @RetroJay but the O is a zero. We can swing by Instagram where it's the
16:17 same handle, @RetroJay but the O is a zero. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome,
16:22 Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.