Anecdotes

Liam Neeson was so eager to be in the film that he signed on without having read the script.

Ewan McGregor recalled that his performance in the film consisted of "walking into rooms and looking up".

During filming, Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he dueled. George Lucas explained many times that the sound effects would be added in by the special effects people later on. Ewan said "I kept getting carried away."

Sets were built only as high as the tops of the actors' heads, and computer graphics filled in the rest. Liam Neeson was so tall that he cost the set crew an extra $150,000 in construction.

According to Jake Lloyd, there was a six-hour cut of the film that was screened for several people before the film was released, with those who saw it proclaiming it to be "mindbogglingly good". Like the later "Lost Cut" of La guerre des étoiles (1977), this cut has never been released publicly.

Warwick Davis: Davis, who played Wicket in La guerre des étoiles VI: Le retour du jedi (1983), is sitting next to Watto during the pod race scene. He also plays Anakin's friend Wald, a Rodian child.

Nathan Hamill: Mark Hamill's son portrays a law clerk in Naboo identified as Rehtul Minnau. He would later appear in Star Wars: Les derniers Jedi (2017) as a Resistance member named Saile Minnau, implying that he is a descendant of his previous character.

John Knoll: The visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic plays the Naboo pilot who gets killed during the space battle with the Trade Federation. It happens after Ric Olié says "The deflector shield is too strong."

Rick McCallum: The producer appears on the right, in a floppy wide-brim hat, when Queen Amidala meets Senator Palpatine.

Ben Burtt: The sound designer appears to the left of Rick McCallum (with goatee).

George Lucas: [1138] The Droid smashed by Jar Jar Binks during the battle has serial number 1138 on his back. THX 1138 (1971) was Lucas's first film and starred Robert Duvall.