Trivia / Revenge of the Sith

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: It actually is technically possible for someone to die of a "broken heart" as Padmé purportedly does after Anakin's fall. Major emotional trauma can cause body organs to stop functioning properly, causing conditions such as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy which can lead to death.
• Acting for Two:
  • As in the previous two films, Ki-Adi Mundi and Nute Gunray are both played by Silas Carson.
  • Temuera Morrison provides the voices for all the clone troopers.
  • Ewan McGregor asked to portray one of the Red Guards flanking Palpatine aside from Obi-Wan, but it is unknown if they granted this wish.
  • The infant Luke and Leia were both played by Aidan Barton.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Hayden Christensen was the one who suggested that Anakin gain Sith eyes as he falls to the Dark Side. George Lucas was initially against the idea, but he eventually came around to it midway during production.
• Approval of God: George Lucas approved of every change Matt Stover made in his novel.
• Billing Displacement:
  • Despite prominent billing as part of the cast, Christopher Lee is only in the movie for three minutes.
  • Oliver Ford Davies received billing during the Co-Starring section for reprising his role as Sio Bibble, despite only making a non-speaking background cameo during the ending of the film, which is cropped out in the fullscreen version.
  • Ahmed Best is also in the same Co-Starring section despite Jar Jar not having much more screen time and only one brief line.
  • Matthew Wood, who voices major antagonist General Grievous, isn't billed at all.
• Content Leak: The film was leaked online mere hours before its launch.
• Corpsing: Ewan McGregor seems to have a hard time holding back a chuckle when he comments on Anakin "killing younglings".
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Natalie Portman considers this movie her favorite of the three Star Wars movies she was in.
• Deleted Role:
  • Liam Neeson has said that he recorded a cameo as Qui-Gon 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 dialogue (in which Qui-Gon 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 Padmé. The scene does not appear in the deleted scenes section of the DVD, but an unfinished version was included in the Blu-ray release box set. Neeson later returned again when this idea was used in The Clone Wars.
  • Genevieve O'Reilly was cast as a young Mon Mothma serving as a senator beside Padmé, along with a number of new characters, and they held a couple of meetings to establish official opposition to Palpatine's executive power called the Delegation of 2000. The scenes remained canon but was removed for serving no purpose other than baiting fans with the origins of the Rebellion. While O'Reilly and several of the other actors playing the members of the Delegation of 2000 are still present and credited in the finished film, their only appearance is in the background when Palpatine is greeted by senators after his rescue. O'Reilly was not forgotten, though, and would officially reprise the role in a more substantial form in Rogue One, Andor, and Ahsoka .
• Deleted Scene: See here.
• Descended Creator:
  • Director/writer George Lucas portrays Baron Papanoida. He also recorded the sound for General Grevious's cough from his own cough when he was ill with bronchitis during filming.
  • Matthew Wood, a supervising sound editor at Lucasfilm subsidiary Skywalker Sound (where he previously worked on all three installments of the Star Wars prequel trilogy) performs the voice of General Grievous.
• Development Gag: In earlier scripts for A New Hope, Utapau was the name of the planet that would eventually become Tatooine. It appears in this film as the planet where Obi-Wan fights General Grievous.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Hayden Christensen gained twenty-four pounds for this movie. He did so by eating six meals a day.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • According to Ross Beadman, who played the Jedi youngling, Hayden Christensen shouted "Boo!" on the set in order to add to his fear. This resulted in his backward stumble. Hayden would apologize to Beadman years later for doing this.
  • George Lucas intentionally put extra weight into the Darth Vader helmet so that when Hayden Christensen first walks around in the Vader suit, he almost stumbles, since Anakin/Vader's not used to the Vader suit yet. He is also too short to fit in the classic costume (David Prowse was 5 inches taller than Christensen) so they had to build a new one that bumps him up to the appropriate height. He actually saw mostly though the mouth grill rather than the eyes.
• Kids' Meal Toy: This film had both different toys and watches from Burger King for the theatrical and home video releases. In some parts of Europe, certain toys from the theatrical promotion were offered, while New Zealand offered a different set with only the wind-up Yoda coming from the USA theatrical promotion. The Quick promotion in Belgium had two toys, including a different version of the aforementioned wind-up Yoda toy. Also as a result of the "Sponge-nappings" that occurred during their The Spongebob Squarepants Movie promotion in 2004, inflatable Darth Vaders attached to the roofs of select restaurants were guarded by Stormtroopers. In a similar vein to the McDonald's Happy Meal promotion for Batman Returns, this promotion was boycotted by parents due to the film's PG-13 rating.
• Looping Lines: Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor had to record grunts for when they were fighting. That's right. Grunts. Christensen came up with an interesting method for doing his- he did push-ups in the recording booth!
• Missing Trailer Scene: A strange example in which the footage is missing from a movie other than the one being advertised. The Revenge of the Sith teaser trailer has a Framing Device with the events of the prequels getting narrated by footage of Obi-Wan from A New Hope. The trailer uses a close-up shot of Obi-Wan when he says, "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic." In the actual film, this line was spoken in a wide shot. To make the trailer, they actually had to go into the Lucasfilm archives to find that unused clip of Alec Guinness delivering the line in close-up.
• No Stunt Double: Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen did their duel themselves. They trained for two months in fencing and fitness in preparation and as a result, the speed in which they engage the duel is the speed in which it was filmed, and was not digitally accelerated.
• The Original Darrin: An interesting case with Mas Amedda. In The Phantom Menace, which was filmed in England, he was played by Jerome Blake. For Attack of the Clones, which was filmed in Australia, he was played by David Bowers. While Bowers reprised the role for the principal photography in Australia, Blake reprised the role during additional photography in England. Only Bowers was credited for the role, but Blake received a mention in the Special Thanks section.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Several of the minor characters changed actors from Attack of the Clones. Saesee Tiin went from Jesse Jensen, plus archival footage of Khan Bonfils from The Phantom Menace, to Kenji Oates, Kit Fisto went from Daniel Zizmor and Jesse Jensen's brother Zachariah to Hayden Christensen's stunt double Ben Cooke, Luminara Unduli went from Mary Oyaya to Fay David, Stass Allie went from Lily Nyamwasa to Nina Fallon, Rune Haako went from Alan Ruscoe to Sandy Thompson, and Ask Aak and Passel Argente, who were both played by Steven Boyle, were instead played by Paul Spence and Marty Wetherill, respectively.
  • In the Japanese dub, Takashi Inagaki voices Palpatine due to his previous actor Katsuhiko Kobayashi dying of hepatocellular carcinoma on May 6, 2005.
  • In the previous two installments, the European Spanish dub had given Palpatine two different voice actors, Jordi Dauder for his civilian persona and Joan Massotkleiner for his Sidious visage. In this film, Dauder took over both roles.
• Preview Piggybacking: The final trailer of Fantastic Four (2005) was attached to many United States screenings since both films are distributed by Fox.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle:
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi's hairstyle was deliberately cut shorter than it was in Attack of the Clones due to Ewan McGregor's dislike of his "Jedi Mullet", and in order to make him closely resemble Alec Guinness's portrayal of the character in A New Hope. The last scene of the film was actually shot during AOTC, resulting in Ewan McGregor having to put his hood up to disguise the fact that he still had his mullet.
  • Anakin was initially given a ponytail for his look in this film but Hayden Christensen was not a fan, saying he felt it was too pretty. They took the existing wig and undid the ponytail, ruffling it out to give a slightly more rugged look, though McGregor teased him for now having his own "Jedi Mullet." George was fine with it, feeling helping to make the actors more comfortable is ideal. Others commented that it made him resemble Luke a little bit more.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • All of George Lucas's adopted children appear in minor roles in this film, in addition to Lucas himself. As Anakin enters the opera house, Lucas is talking to Katie, who is playing his character's daughter as well and Amanda plays a red-haired Senator who walks by. As some troopers are trying to dismiss Senator Organa during the attack on the Jedi Temple, they're attacked by Jett Lucas (whose character name is Zett Jukassa).
  • Aidan Barton, who plays the infant Luke and Leia, is the son of editor Roger Barton.
  • Producer Rick McCallum's daughter Mousy plays Bene, one of the Padawans killed by Anakin.
• Refitted for Sequel:
  • The original title◊ for Episode VI was Revenge of the Jedi, but Lucas changed that feeling that vengeance wasn't quite the Jedi way. The Sith, however...
  • The track "Love Pledge and the Arena" from the Attack of the Clones soundtrack was originally meant for that film's arena sequence, but was mostly cut in favor of recycled music from The Phantom Menace. However, key portions of the track were instead utilized for Sith, during the invasion of the Jedi Temple and the battles of Kashyyyk and Utapau.
  • Count Dooku was initially imagined as an advanced droid lieutenant (among other options) before Christopher Lee signed up. This concept was recycled for General Grievous.
• Role Reprise: James Earl Jones returned to voice Darth Vader 22 years after Return of the Jedi, as did many of his famous foreign dubbing voices, such as Georges Aminel in the French version. Peter Mayhew likewise returns as Chewbacca for the first time since Return of the Jedi.
• Scully Box: Hayden Christensen insisted that he be the one in the Darth Vader suit. But because he is a bit shorter than David Prowse, the suit had to be built in a way that it rose off Christensen's torso and shoulders to match Prowse's intimidating height. This meant Christensen was actually looking out of the helmet's mouth grille rather than its eyes.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Tarkin appears in passing towards the end largely because they found an actor (Wayne Pygram) with an astonishing resemblance to a younger Peter Cushing and couldn't bear to not cast him!
• Spared by the Cut: In prior cuts, Shaak Ti was killed in the beginning by General Grievous. This scene was cut, and Ti's death was changed to her being killed by Vader in the Temple Massacre. However, that second scene was also cut, removing Shaak Ti's death from the film continuity entirely. Ti then returned in The Force Unleashed, where she was fought and killed by Starkiller. This remained her canonical death until Star Wars was acquired by Disney, putting nearly all the Expanded Universe material into the non-canonical Legends continuity. Shaak Ti's canonical death was then established to be during Order 66 just like in the second deleted scene.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: LEGO Star Wars was released a few weeks before Revenge of the Sith and contains a playable version of the entire movie (albeit modified by Rule of Funny, Compressed Adaptation, and Speaking Simlish).
• Two Voices, One Character: While Matthew Wood provided General Grievous' voice, some of Grievous' coughing was done by George Lucas himself, who had bronchitis at the time.
• Uncredited Role:
  • George Lucas had an uncredited role as Baron Papanoida.
  • James Earl Jones wasn't credited for voicing Darth Vader again.
  • Tom Stoppard was an uncredited script doctor on the screenplay.
• What Could Have Been: Enough for its own page.
• Word of Saint Paul: Samuel L. Jackson has stated that Mace Windu beat Palpatine, while the novelization implies that Sidious threw the fight to manipulate Anakin (something that is also backed by a Lucasfilm executive). The film, which the novelization differs a fair lot from at several points, leaves it ambiguous.

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