20 Lesser Known Facts Surrounding The Making Of Star Wars

4. Duel Of The Sanskrit

We all remember the music from the lightsaber battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul. The music, along with the choral work, still gives me chills when I watch the Jedi and Sith battle it out at the climactic point in Episode I: The Phantom Menance. The words are actually taken from a poem by Robert Graves called The White Goddess. But Graves based his version off of the original early Celtic work called The Battle of Achren or Cad Gaddeau. In it, there is one line, which says: "Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind, in the head." After finally finding the line he liked, Williams took it and translated it into Sanskrit, because he felt it sounded more appropriate for the composition. So when listening to Duel of the Fates, what we actually hear is a translation of a translation. And that, my friends, is why John Williams is the man.

3. George Lucas Is Losing Money From Star Wars (Because Of An Old Bet)

What? Lucas is actually losing money from Star Wars? Thirty-seven years later, Star Wars is still on the list of the top 100 highest grossing movies of all-time. When adjusted for inflation, it comes in at second, placing only after Gone with the Wind. Don't worry: he's still raking in the money. But he's also losing quite a little bit because of a bet he made with Steven Spielberg before Star Wars was released. Now, I have no idea if he's still paying this bet off, but Spielberg claims that he actually is. While Lucas was working on post-production of Star Wars, you see, he visited his good friend Steven Spielberg on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Seeing Spielberg making this movie on a huge set, he relayed to him that he believed Star Wars would be a huge flop and made a bet. George would give Spielberg 2.5% of Star Wars if Spielberg agreed to give him 2.5% of Close Encounters. Spielberg was so sure Star Wars would be a hit that he agreed to take the gamble. It was almost like betting on a pod-racer that had never finished a race. Of course, we know what happened. It's estimated that Spielberg has made around $46 million from this bet, and it still continues to grow if he hasn't let his good friend off the hook yet.