EntertainmentPosted at: Apr 26 2025 7:25PM


‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas explains reason behind Jedi Grandmaster Yoda’s backward speech

Los Angeles, Apr 26 (UNI) Attending the 45th anniversary screening of the universally acclaimed ‘Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back’ movie, legendary ‘Star Wars’ creator and filmmaker George Lucas explained the reason behind Jedi Grandmaster Yoda’s backwards speech, saying that it was a deliberate move to direct viewer attention to his words.
Appearing at the TCM Classic Film Festival for the screening, Lucas explained many things, in particular his friendship with ‘Godfather’ director Francis Ford Coppola, his initial disinterest in studio-filmmaking, and how he had already mapped out the story for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ before the original film was even made.
Though, majority of his time was spent elaborating on his early life and friendship with Coppola, Lucas spoke about his writing process to host and moderator Ben Mankiewicz, reported Variety.
“I write like a blueprint,” he told Mankiewicz. “It’s not got a lot of detail on it. And when I got the script (for ‘Star Wars’) done, there were 130 to 180 pages. So, I cut it into three parts and said, ‘I’ll focus on the first one, because we’ll never get enough money to make the whole thing.’”
For the majority of the event, Lucas playfully avoided questions on the ‘Star Wars’ lore, and recounted an account of his earliest days on the set of Coppola’s ‘Finian’s Rainbow’, and the subsequent partnership that developed between the two youngest people on the ill-fated musical. “I was 22, Francis was 27. He had a beard, I had a beard. We both had long hair. We’re both film students,” said Lucas. “Everyone else on the crew was like 65 years old.”
Finally, Mankiewicz was able to get a piece of key ‘Star Wars’ trivia from him – the reason behind Yoda’s weird speech pattern. Explaining the reason behind it, the director said, “Because if you speak regular English, people won’t listen that much,” Lucas said. “But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying.”
Yoda, who was first introduced in the 1980 film, became a cultural icon due to his short stature, wrinkly green skin, unusual speech, and words of wisdom. Always intended to be the ultimate teacher after Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi’s introduction in ‘A New Hope’, much of Yoda’s reception was based more on his words as a philosopher and teacher, rather than a warrior – something which the prequel trilogy later added.
“He was basically the philosopher of the movie,” Lucas continued. “I had to figure out a way to get people to actually listen — especially 12-year-olds.”
In the prequel films, Yoda was done through a computer model instead of his original puppet form, and was shown to be an old but extremely powerful warrior, who fought with incredible speed, agility, and wielded Force powers which were even more powerful than those wielded by Sith Lord Darth Sidious – who later became The Emperor.
While the chat was pretty light on details about the production of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Lucas recounted the studio’s lack of support for ‘Star Wars’, first in hesitating to agree upon the deal memo he drafted. “I said, ‘I’ll do it for $50,000, to write and direct and produce… But I do want the sequels.’ And I wanted the rights because I’m going to make those movies no matter what happens to this one.”
The 80-year-old said that he added another condition to his contract that would again be life-changing, both for him and the entertainment industry as a whole. “I said, ‘besides that, I’d like licensing.’ They went, ‘What’s licensing?’” Unimpressed by the film, and coloured by the history of movie merchandising to that point, the studio capitulated to his demands.
“They talked to themselves, and they went, ‘He’s never going to be able to do that. It takes them a billion dollars and a year to make a toy or make anything. There’s no money in that at all.’”

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