100 Fun Facts About Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

Attack of the Clones co-writer Jonathan Hales had scripted which hero's boyhood adventures for TV?

Indiana Jones. Hales had written episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, so Lucas brought him in on the third draft of Attack of the Clones, which became the shooting script.

Which film followed Attack of the Clones?

Revenge of the Sith. It closed the prequel trilogy in 2005 as the first Star Wars film rated PG-13, and Lucas said he wouldn't take a five- or six-year-old to see it.

Ten years after The Phantom Menace, Anakin holds which Jedi rank?

Padawan. The nine-year-old slave boy is now Obi-Wan's apprentice, and during the Clone Wars Yoda assigns him a learner of his own, Ahsoka Tano.

On which planet does Attack of the Clones stage its arena battle, the first of the Clone Wars?

Geonosis. Its insect-like natives build the Separatists' battle droids, and as the fighting ends Dooku slips away with their design for a planet-killing weapon: the Death Star.

On which ocean planet does Obi-Wan discover the clone army?

Kamino. All trace of the planet had been erased from the Jedi Archives, so Obi-Wan had to work out where the missing world was before he could meet its cloners.

Which bounty hunter serves as the genetic template for the clone army?

Jango Fett. Apart from his considerable pay he demanded only one thing: an unaltered clone for himself, whom he raises as his son Boba.

Which Jedi Master kills the clone army's template during the arena battle?

Mace Windu. He beheads the bounty hunter in front of the man's young son Boba, who grows up hating the Jedi and later bombs Windu's starship in a failed attempt to kill him.

Which moisture farmer freed and married Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker?

Cliegg Lars. He rode out with thirty farmers to rescue her after her abduction, and only four came back; his son Owen later raises her grandson Luke.

Who abducted Shmi from the Lars homestead?

Tusken Raiders. Anakin finds his mother barely alive in their camp a month later, and when she dies in his arms he slaughters the whole tribe.

On which planet do Anakin and Padmé secretly marry in Attack of the Clones?

Naboo. A Jedi is forbidden such an attachment and could be expelled for it, so the wedding stays secret, with only two droids as witnesses.

Which limb does Dooku sever from Anakin during their duel?

Right arm. Anakin goes to his wedding with a mechanical replacement, and a generation later, as Darth Vader, he cuts off his own son Luke's right hand in another duel.

Which Separatist leader demanded Padmé's death as the price of his support for Dooku?

Nute Gunray. Padmé had broken his invasion of her home planet ten years earlier, and the Trade Federation viceroy wanted her dead in retaliation before he would commit to the Separatists.

Who proposes the vote that grants Palpatine emergency powers?

Jar Jar Binks. Standing in for the absent Padmé, he is nudged into it by Palpatine's allies, and the vote lets the Chancellor mobilise the clone army.

Which bounty hunter is hired to make the first attempts on Padmé's life?

Zam Wesell. After a speeder chase across Coruscant the Jedi corner her in a nightclub, but her employer shoots her with a toxic dart before she can name him.

In Attack of the Clones, Anakin tells Padmé he dislikes what for being coarse, rough and irritating?

Sand. He is setting the desert world where he grew up a slave against the soft, smooth surroundings of her home, and the complaint doubles as his attempt to flirt with her.

In whose name was the clone army in Attack of the Clones secretly ordered?

Sifo-Dyas. The Jedi Master foresaw a war and commissioned the army behind the Jedi Council's back, so by the time Obi-Wan stumbles on it he is dead and no other Jedi knows it exists.

By what Sith name is Sidious's apprentice known in Attack of the Clones?

Darth Tyranus. It is Count Dooku's secret Sith name, and it slips out when the clones' template tells Obi-Wan he was recruited by 'a man called Tyranus'.

Which actor plays the Separatist leader Dooku?

Christopher Lee. Then nearing 80, he fenced in the close-ups himself, and a stunt double took over for the shots that needed the most vigorous footwork.

Which New Zealand actor plays the bounty hunter cloned for the Republic's army?

Temuera Morrison. Because every clone shares his face and voice, he later re-recorded the original Boba Fett's lines for the 2004 DVD of The Empire Strikes Back.

Who plays young Boba Fett in Attack of the Clones?

Daniel Logan. The New Zealander was 13 when he filmed the part, and he came back as a grown man to voice the same boy in The Clone Wars.

Which actor plays Senator Bail Organa in Attack of the Clones?

Jimmy Smits. His senator goes on to adopt the infant Leia, and Smits was still playing her father twenty years later in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

Which Australian plays Owen Lars in Attack of the Clones?

Joel Edgerton. His young farmer grows into Luke's Uncle Owen, and Edgerton came back twenty years later in Obi-Wan Kenobi, where Owen confronts an Inquisitor hunting the boy.

In Attack of the Clones, what does Obi-Wan mind-trick a nightclub dealer into no longer wanting to sell?

Death sticks. Obi-Wan waves a hand and adds, 'You want to go home and rethink your life', and the dealer repeats the words and walks out.

Which Australian plays Dormé, Padmé's handmaiden?

Rose Byrne. She has only a brief appearance, yet in the year she filmed it she won best actress at the Venice Film Festival for The Goddess of 1967.

Jocasta Nu, sure that an unrecorded planet cannot exist, holds which Jedi Temple job?

Librarian. Her boast that 'if an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist' is wrong: the missing planet had been erased from her archives, and Obi-Wan finds it anyway.

What kind of business does Dexter Jettster run on Coruscant?

A diner. Its four-armed cook, an old friend of Obi-Wan's, recognises the toxic dart at a glance after the Jedi Temple's own analysis droids had failed to match it to any known culture.

Which star met George Lucas about playing Anakin but declined, saying he wasn't ready to take that dive?

Leonardo DiCaprio. He later confirmed the meeting and called it the 'same scenario' as his one meeting with director Joel Schumacher about playing Robin, another franchise part he felt he wasn't ready for.

Which boy band filmed a cameo for Attack of the Clones that was cut in post-production?

NSYNC. The daughters of George Lucas and producer Rick McCallum wanted them in, so several members filmed scenes as Jedi, though Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass sat it out.

In Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku tells the captive Obi-Wan that he once trained which Jedi?

Qui-Gon Jinn. Dooku uses the bond with Obi-Wan's late master to ask for his help, then tells him the truth, that a Sith Lord now controls the Senate, and Obi-Wan refuses to believe it.

The cloners in Attack of the Clones engineer their soldiers to do what at twice the normal human rate?

Age. Growth acceleration turns an embryo into a combat-ready soldier in about ten years, which is how an army ordered only a decade earlier is standing ready when Obi-Wan arrives.

While drafting The Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas first imagined which new character as a clone?

Lando Calrissian. Early notes made him one of a clan of identical clones, part of Lucas's first attempt to explain the 'Clone Wars' mentioned in the original film.

In which city was Attack of the Clones mainly filmed?

Sydney. All four earlier Star Wars films had been based at studios near London, but Lucas moved Episodes II and III to Fox Studios Australia.

Which Italian lake's Villa del Balbianello stood in for Padmé's retreat in Attack of the Clones?

Lake Como. The romance scenes were shot at the villa, and a few years later the Bond producers brought a wounded 007 to the same house to recover in Casino Royale.

The Plaza de España that plays Theed in Attack of the Clones is in which Spanish city?

Seville. Four decades earlier the same sweeping plaza had played the British Army's headquarters in Cairo in Lawrence of Arabia.

Which company built the digital cameras that shot Attack of the Clones entirely without film?

Sony. Lucas had wanted its high-definition cameras for The Phantom Menace, but they weren't ready in time, and the final version reached this set only a week before shooting began.

What lightsaber colour did Samuel L. Jackson request for his Jedi in Attack of the Clones?

Purple. Jackson asked George Lucas for it so he could pick himself out in the big battle scenes, breaking the saga's rule of blue or green for heroes and red for villains.

Ewan McGregor shaved for which film, forcing a fake beard in the Attack of the Clones reshoots?

Black Hawk Down. McGregor had already cropped his hair and shaved for the war film when Lucas called him back in 2001, so Obi-Wan wears a hairpiece and a false beard in the added scenes.

Whose puppet performance did the animators copy when Attack of the Clones made Yoda fully digital?

Frank Oz. He still voiced the part, and ILM's Rob Coleman copied even the puppet's quirks: 'When Frank would move the head, the ears would jiggle.'

How did Attack of the Clones put its armoured clone troopers on screen?

Computer animation. The trick carried into the sequel, where even a clone seen without his helmet is an actor's head on a digital body: he wore a blue bodysuit and the armour was added later.

What is the title of Attack of the Clones' love theme?

Across the Stars. John Williams wrote it for Anakin and Padmé, and in 2019 he rearranged it for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who made it the title track of their album together.

Which Empire Strikes Back theme plays as the army departs in Attack of the Clones?

The Imperial March. Darth Vader's theme swells as the Republic's new troops assemble and depart, foreshadowing the Empire that the Republic is about to become.

Which weapons does the bounty hunter's ship drop on Obi-Wan in the asteroid chase of Attack of the Clones?

Seismic charges. Each one draws in the sound around it, then bursts in a wave of brilliant blue light that shatters the asteroids in Obi-Wan's path.

Which inaugural New York festival hosted the Attack of the Clones premiere in May 2002?

Tribeca Film Festival. Robert De Niro and his partners had just founded it to revive Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks, and the screenings raised money for the Children's Aid Society.

Attack of the Clones earned its only Oscar nomination, at the 2003 ceremony, in which category?

Visual Effects. The four-man Industrial Light & Magic team lost on the night to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and its motion-captured Gollum.

Which superhero film outgrossed Attack of the Clones in North America in 2002?

Spider-Man. It opened two weeks earlier and stayed ahead, which made this the first Star Wars film that failed to finish as the biggest earner of its year.

Who won the 2003 Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor for Attack of the Clones?

Hayden Christensen. He took the same Razzie again for the trilogy's final film, yet Lucasfilm brought him back as Anakin two decades later in the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka series.

In the droid factory of Attack of the Clones, whose head ends up welded onto a battle droid's body?

C-3PO. The swap sends both his head and his body into the first battle of the Clone Wars on the enemy side, until R2-D2 puts him back together.

Which author wrote the adult novelization of Attack of the Clones?

R. A. Salvatore. Three years earlier the creator of the dark elf Drizzt had written Vector Prime, the Star Wars novel in which Chewbacca is killed.

The clone troopers of Attack of the Clones became the first generation of which soldiers of the Empire?

Stormtroopers. The clones' white armour was designed as an ancestor of theirs, and under the Empire the clones were phased out in favour of ordinary human recruits.

Matt Doran, the nightclub dealer in Attack of the Clones, played Mouse in which 1999 film?

The Matrix. Doran played Mouse, the rebel crew's programmer, and three years later turned up as the hustler Obi-Wan brushes off with a Jedi mind trick.

Which actress, later an Oscar winner for Black Swan, plays Padmé Amidala in Attack of the Clones?

Natalie Portman won a Teen Choice Award for the role, her second of three turns as Padmé.

Nightmares about his mother draw Anakin Skywalker back to which home planet in Attack of the Clones?

Tatooine is where Anakin learns that his mother was sold to a moisture farmer, who freed and married her.

Which composer conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in his own score for Attack of the Clones?

John Williams recorded the score in January 2002, with the London Voices choir singing alongside the orchestra.

Count Dooku carries the plans for which superweapon away from the battle in Attack of the Clones?

Death Star schematics appear as a hologram, which George Lucas said implies the weapon's first contractors were the film's insect-like droid builders.

Before he becomes Emperor, Palpatine holds which office of the Galactic Republic in Attack of the Clones?

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is voted vast emergency powers as war looms, and the new army is mobilised under them.

Which dark-side power does Count Dooku turn on Anakin Skywalker during their duel in Attack of the Clones?

Force lightning subdues Anakin before Dooku wounds Obi-Wan as well, leaving Yoda to face him.

In Attack of the Clones, which former owner tells Anakin Skywalker that his mother was sold to a moisture farmer?

Watto once owned both Skywalkers, having won them from Gardulla the Hutt in a podracing bet, and later lost the boy in another wager.

Which North African country hosted desert location filming for Attack of the Clones, as for earlier Star Wars films?

Tunisia had tested earlier crews with temperatures up to 125 °F, but the film's new digital cameras ran without complications.

In Attack of the Clones, what name is used for the Jedi pupils whom Yoda instructs at the Temple?

Younglings get their lessons from the centuries-old Yoda himself, who also leads the Jedi Council.

Which apprentice is assigned to Anakin Skywalker in the 2008 animated film set soon after Attack of the Clones?

Ahsoka Tano was first meant to train under Obi-Wan, but George Lucas reassigned her so that Anakin had to become a mentor.

Attack of the Clones held which studio's opening-weekend record until X2 took it the next year?

20th Century Fox released the film on May 16, 2002, and its $80 million weekend was then the third-highest three-day opening of all time.

The dystopian cityscape of Coruscant in Attack of the Clones refers to which 1982 science-fiction film?

Blade Runner, set in a future Los Angeles, underperformed in cinemas before becoming a cult film.

The clone army's template in Attack of the Clones wears the armour of which warrior culture?

Mandalorian armour was George Lucas's choice for the bounty hunter, though he decided the character would not come from their planet.

Which invaders from The Phantom Menace help fund Count Dooku's droid army in Attack of the Clones?

Trade Federation money sits beside that of the Techno Union and other mega corporations behind the Separatist droid factory.

Senator Bail Organa, introduced in Attack of the Clones, represents which planet in the Galactic Republic?

Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia Organa, whom the senator later raises as his adopted daughter.

Attack of the Clones was cut to 120 minutes for a later release in which cinema format?

IMAX projectors of the time had technical limits, so the film was digitally up-converted and shown in an edited version.

Which future aunt of Luke Skywalker appears in Attack of the Clones as a farmer's girlfriend?

Beru Whitesun is played by Bonnie Piesse, who returned to the part two decades later in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

Which actor is credited as R2-D2 in Attack of the Clones, having first played the droid in 1977?

Kenny Baker wore a harness that secured the droid's shell to his body, though a total of 15 R2-D2s were on this film's set.

Which Scottish actor, who first played the Emperor in 1983, plays Palpatine in Attack of the Clones?

Ian McDiarmid re-created his diabolical Emperor for the character's hidden side, but made the public Palpatine pleasant and charming.

Which original-trilogy actor appears without his costume as a nightclub patron in Attack of the Clones?

Anthony Daniels plays Dannl Faytonni, a con man in a blue uniform who is seen reacting as Obi-Wan disarms an assassin.

Which bounty hunter's starship pursues Obi-Wan Kenobi through a planetary ring in Attack of the Clones?

Slave I is a pursuit craft loaded with hidden weaponry, with a reputation earned over decades of capturing fugitives.

Besides his fee, what did the army's genetic template keep as payment in Attack of the Clones?

An unmodified clone was his price: a copy with no tampering, whom he raised as his son Boba.

What unusual feature sets Count Dooku's lightsaber apart when he first appears in Attack of the Clones?

A curved hilt marks his weapon, a variation later shared by his apprentice Asajj Ventress.

Which sound designer, creator of the lightsaber hum, also edited Attack of the Clones?

Ben Burtt also shot rough videomatics on a household camera, with production assistants acting out scenes before a green screen.

Which Ewan McGregor musical had just used the sound stages where Attack of the Clones was filmed?

Moulin Rouge! overran its shooting schedule and had to clear out of the stages to make way for the Star Wars production.

A 2013 3D re-release of Attack of the Clones was cancelled so Lucasfilm could focus on which film?

The Force Awakens took priority, though the 3D version was still shown to fans at Celebration Europe II in July 2013.

Which publisher issued the four-issue comic book adaptation of Attack of the Clones?

Dark Horse Comics held the Star Wars licence from 1991 until it returned to Marvel in 2015.

Besides a supporting-actor prize, Attack of the Clones won a Golden Raspberry Award in which category?

Worst Screenplay was one of two wins from seven Golden Raspberry nominations, which also included Worst Picture and Worst Director.

Which rhinoceros-like beast is set upon Anakin Skywalker in the execution arena of Attack of the Clones?

Reek is the name of the leathery brute, which later went berserk and charged droids and Jedi alike.

An attempt on Padmé Amidala's life in Attack of the Clones is similar to a scene in which James Bond film?

Dr. No has its villain order James Bond killed with a tarantula; Padmé's attackers use venomous arthropods instead.

George Lucas likened Palpatine's rise through emergency powers in Attack of the Clones to which dictator's?

Adolf Hitler was likewise granted emergency powers as Germany's head of government; others have compared the plot to Octavian and Napoleon.

A conversation at the Plaza de España in Attack of the Clones recreates a scene from which David Lean epic?

Lawrence of Arabia won seven Oscars in 1963, including Best Picture; the recreated scene is a conversation about a senator serving.

The first teaser trailer for Attack of the Clones played in cinemas with which Pixar film in November 2001?

Monsters, Inc. carried the first of three teasers; another followed two weeks later with the first Harry Potter film.

Attack of the Clones broke the Thursday box-office record held by which 1996 science-fiction blockbuster?

Independence Day gave up the record to a $30.1 million opening day, a mark that itself lasted only until 2003.

The actor who plays Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones wrote that the name comes from a Japanese word meaning what?

Poison is the meaning of the Japanese word doku, the origin the actor gave in his autobiography.

Which Samurai Jack creator directed the 2003 animated shorts that pick up after Attack of the Clones?

Genndy Tartakovsky developed the series in two weeks with a small crew, and it won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

Count Dooku flees to Coruscant at the end of Attack of the Clones aboard what kind of starship?

A solar sailer unfurls sails for interstellar flight; his was built by the same insect-like species that ran the droid factory.

Which prime minister oversees the creation of the Republic's army in Attack of the Clones?

Lama Su is the lanky leader of a storm-swept world, and he was still in power when the Empire rose.

Which producer of all three Star Wars prequels called Attack of the Clones the first film made by virtual filmmaking?

Rick McCallum had earlier produced the 1997 Special Editions of the original trilogy to test new digital technology.

Which artist, known for Back to the Future posters, painted the theatrical poster for Attack of the Clones?

Drew Struzan also designed the original Industrial Light & Magic logo, and his art was one of four alternate covers for the soundtrack.

Which archduke controls the battle droid factories that Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers in Attack of the Clones?

Poggle the Lesser led his insect-like people throughout the war, commanding the droid armies in two battles for his home planet.

Which former royal residence north of Naples served as an Italian location for Attack of the Clones?

Palace of Caserta, begun in 1752 as the main home of the Bourbon kings, has five floors and 1,200 rooms.

Which venomous multi-legged arthropods are used in an attempt to assassinate Padmé Amidala in Attack of the Clones?

Kouhuns come from a jungle planet but can live almost anywhere, and their venom is particularly deadly to humanoids.

Which Swedish actress returns as Anakin Skywalker's mother, Shmi, in Attack of the Clones?

Pernilla August first played the part in The Phantom Menace; at home she is also known as a director and screenwriter.

Which newly appointed captain of security guards Padmé Amidala in Attack of the Clones, succeeding Captain Panaka?

Gregar Typho backed the plan for the senator to evade assassins by slipping away in secret with Anakin.

Obi-Wan Kenobi meets the cloners on the rain-swept platforms of which place in Attack of the Clones?

Tipoca City is where a gentle aide greets him, explaining that the cloners had long been expecting a Jedi envoy.

Which Pulitzer-winning film critic gave Attack of the Clones only two stars out of four?

Roger Ebert had praised the earlier Star Wars films, but said this one left him without a single memorable line of dialogue.

Which Tom Clancy thriller ended the two-week run of Attack of the Clones at the top of the box office?

The Sum of All Fears rebooted the Jack Ryan series, with a younger lead playing the analyst at an earlier stage of his life.

Which TV channel first aired the Clone Wars animated shorts that follow Attack of the Clones?

Cartoon Network ran the shorts from November 2003 to March 2005, the first Star Wars television series since Ewoks.

Outside North America, which country delivered the largest gross for Attack of the Clones, $78.1 million?

Japan earned the film $78.1 million, well ahead of the $58.7 million taken in the United Kingdom and Ireland.