24 December 2019/January 2020 | Scholastic Action

Or maybe not! The makers of Star Wars have found backdrops for their imaginary planets—right here on Earth. BY TOD OLSON

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PAIRED TEXTS

harshest: most unpleasant and difficult to experience

graphics: pictures or images

landscapes: areas of land that have a particular appearance

monks: members of a religious group of men who live apart from other people

species: a group of animals or plants that are similar

VOCABULARY The Wadi Rum desert, in

the Middle Eastern country of

Jordan, is one of the harshest places on Earth. Temperatures

can climb above 100 degrees,

and the sun bakes everything in

sight.

But last fall, the Wadi Rum

came to life with activity. Robots

rolled through the orange sand,

and a giant, furry creature

named Chewbacca stomped

around in the heat. For several

weeks, the Wadi Rum was not

just a desert on Earth—it was

IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY. . .the Star Wars planet Pasaana.

A film crew was making The

Rise of Skywalker, the last movie

in the famous series. The job

was a major challenge for the

crew. They had to build roads

into the desert and huddle in

tents during sandstorms. The

actors sweated through chase

scenes.

Of course, they all could have

stayed home and filmed the

movie in a Hollywood studio.

The landscapes could have

been added to the background

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THE PLANET: Ahch-To THE REAL PLACE: Skellig Michael, Ireland

In The Force Awakens, the

character Luke Skywalker is

found hiding out on the distant

planet Ahch-To. But Ahch-To is

actually a rocky island called

Skellig Michael, about 7 miles

off the coast of Ireland.

Skellig Michael rises

715 feet above the Atlantic

Ocean. Nearly 1,500 years ago,

a group of Irish monks rowed

to the island and carved more

than 600 stairs into the rock. At the top, they built a home out of

stone. Luke lives in the huts that the monks once lived in.

Today, Skellig Michael is home to thousands of seabirds. One

species, the puffin, seemed especially cute to the creators of Star

Wars. The porgs, the little creatures that live with Luke on Ahch-To,

were inspired by the puffin.

Or maybe not! The makers of Star Wars have found backdrops for their imaginary planets—right here on Earth. BY TOD OLSON

www.scholastic.com/action | December 2019/January 2020 25

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MOVIE MAGIC Star Wars movies are often

filmed in real-life locations like this one. Can you guess why?

IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY. . .later by computer graphics

experts. But the movie’s

director—the person who

leads all the actors and crew

members—wanted everything

to look real, with sand in the

actors’ hair and sun shining in

their eyes.

Over the years, the creators

of Star Wars have made dozens

of imaginary planets seem real.

How? With help from some

strange places right here on

Earth. Here’s a quick tour of

a few.

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Skellig Michael

Puffin A scene from The Last Jedi

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26 December 2019/January 2020 | Scholastic Action

THE PLANET: Hoth THE REAL PLACE: Hardanger Glacier in Norway

If you love Star Wars, you’ll remember the icy planet Hoth in The

Empire Strikes Back. But you don’t have to be a fan to be amazed by

the planet’s real-life location.

The Hoth scenes were filmed in Norway on the Hardanger Glacier,

a field of ice and snow that stays frozen all year. No roads lead to

Hardanger, so visitors must travel by train—if they dare. Deep

cracks called crevasses are hidden in the ice.

No one on the Star Wars crew fell into a crevasse, but

the worst storm in 50 years blew in while they were there.

However, the weather didn’t halt production. The crew

needed to shoot a scene of Luke escaping from an ice

monster’s cave. So they filmed him emerging from

the hotel’s door into the storm!

THE PLANET: Crait THE REAL PLACE:

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia The end of The Last Jedi takes you to the planet Crait. Giant robots

from the evil First Order attack across a huge, white field that is

extremely bright. It can’t possibly be real, right?

But it is. The Crait scenes were filmed in Bolivia on the salt flats of

Salar de Uyuni. Long ago, the area was covered with saltwater lakes.

However, thousands of years ago, the water dried up, leaving behind

10 billion tons of salt in a field the size of Connecticut.

In the rainy season, this flat, white field floods with water, which

reflects the sky. The water turns the salt flats into the world’s largest

mirror—and the coolest battlefield in the galaxy. •

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www.scholastic.com/action | December 2019/January 2020 27

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Until the 1970s, most movies

and TV shows were filmed on

giant sets inside studios. The sets

were built to look like faraway

places. But many moviemakers

today like to film out in the

world to make their movies look

real. How did they find that

creepy forest for Stranger Things?

Or mountains for the imaginary

country of Wakanda in Black

Panther?

That’s a job for people like Ilt

Jones, a location manager for

films. To find Wakanda, Jones

traveled all over South Africa,

exploring beaches and climbing

mountains. At one point, he

spotted a rhinoceros that was

“as big as a bus.”

In addition to finding the

locations for films, location

managers also set them up

HEY, WHERE’S THE ACTIVITY? It’s now online! Teachers: Look for the

Synthesizing Skill Builder at scholastic.com/action.

ACTIONACTIVITY

SEARCHING FOR WAKANDAHow do moviemakers find the perfect places to film? Ask Ilt Jones.

for filming. For

one movie, Jones

selected a location in the jungles

of Vietnam. He had to transport

the equipment and crew there in

tiny boats—on a river filled with

snakes.

Still, not everything presented

on-screen is filmed on location.

Filmmakers regularly use

computer-generated imagery

(CGI). For example, most

of Black Panther was shot in

Georgia, but CGI experts used

photos from South Africa to

create the backgrounds.

That certainly made Jones’s

job easier. Still, he would hate

to see CGI take over completely.

“I’m paid to find the most

interesting, beautiful parts of the

world,” says Jones. “It’s a great

job.” •

GO FURTHER!

FIND MORE ACTIVITIES

THIS IS WAKANDAThe city is CGI—but the mountains are real!

A scene from The Empire Strikes Back

A scene from The Last Jedi

INFORMATIONAL TEXT

SALAR DE UYUNI, BOLIVIA