Star Wars: 'Lighting the Spark' Explores the Leia and Kylo Ren Showdown

With the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Digital HD, fans are now able to get an inside [...]

With the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Digital HD, fans are now able to get an inside look at one of the of the epic space battles in the film, as well as a pivotal showdown between mother and son.

The featurette called "Lighting the Spark: Creating the Space Battle" goes in depth on every aspect of production for the space showdowns between the Resistance and the First Order. The clips give great insight into writer and director Rian Johnson's vision as well as how Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic made it happen.

Johnson spoke about how the early battle affects the Resistance and General Leia Organa in particular.

"Leia's whole thing in this movie," Johnson said. "And realizing, for me, her character has been defined from the very first film by loss. It's hard for her to see the romance of 'Oh, we took out the big ship.' You see that finally starting to get to her."

The featurette goes on to explore Leia's differences with Poe Dameron, the hot shot pilot whose persistence causes major losses for the Resistance fleet. While their relationship causes major growth for Poe by the end of the movie, it all began with a slap. And that was hard to get right on camera.

"That was one of the first things that we shot," said actor Oscar Isaac, referring to the scene where Leia strikes Poe for his insubordination. "And I think we did 24 takes. That was very surreal, to be slapped by Princess Leia repeatedly."

The Resistance then goes on the run in search of a new base, but the First Order takes out many of their remaining forces in a devastating blow delivered by Leia's son, Kylo Ren.

"It was fun getting to see Kylo kind of be a badass pilot, and realizing 'Oh yeah, he comes from that stock. He's his father's son,'" Johnson said.

Kylo's TIE Fighter was obviously meant to evoke Darth Vader's own starship. He ends up delivering a devastating blow to the Resistance flagship's hangar bay, but when it comes to taking out the bridge and Leia, he can't help but hesitate.

"Ok, you're a great pilot, you're a bad ass pilot, you're blowing everything up," Johnson said. "But then of course, instantly having him butt up against that moment with Leia — Now you have your mother in your sights. What are you going to do now?"

Fans can see the rest of the special feature by purchasing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, now available on Digital HD. Blu-ray and DVD versions will be released on March 27th.

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