As much as “Star Wars” is about an amazing story set in a galaxy far, far away, a key takeaway from ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ proves it still really is all about the merchandising. In particular, one of the key ships from ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ had to be changed because of a design flaw in one of the toys which were scheduled to be released. Now, any fan could tell you that toys are big business for Lucasfilm and the “Star Wars” franchise over the years, but it seems a bit amazing that it ended up changing the look of something in the film!
The ship in question was Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren‘s ship the “TIE Silencer.” The VFX team had already started in on the post-production work, but halfway through the sequence where Kylo took his ship out to hunt the rebels down was when director Rian Johnson saw the problem.
According to VFX Supervisor for Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) Mike Mulholland:
“Initially, the plan was to have missiles on the underside, and shoot them off, and that was it. But halfway through production Rian got a toy, a prototype toy of the Kylo fighter. And they had the missiles on the side wings! So we went and redesigned a bit of it [in the movie] so that we could open it up and pop them out.
I’ve heard of the toys’ influence in the past, but that was the first time for me.”
As the toy was still a prototype, you would think they could have gone to the toymaker in question and have them fix the problem but apparently, it was quicker to change the CGI for the film.
So there you have it, folks, a toy changed the look and weaponry of one of the critical starcraft in the film.
Are you annoyed that one of the leading causes for spoilers in films these days ended up changing the look of one of the ships in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Radio Times
