Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s Iconic Death Star Duel Was Filmed on Adam Driver’s Birthday

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released early on digital last week, and while the digital version doesn’t include deleted scenes, there’s still some fun behind-the-scenes content to check out. One of the coolest behind-the-scenes features is The Skywalker Legacy, a feature-length documentary that charts the making of the new movie. Recently, Nerdist shared eight of the most interesting facts learned from the documentary ranging from Alec Guinness’s granddaughter has a cameo to an array of John Williams-related easter eggs. Another fun fact that was revealed in the documentary was that the big Death Star battle between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) was filmed on Driver’s birthday, which is November 19th.

“There are a few stars of the documentary. One of them is stunt coordinator Eunice Huthart, a hilarious, enthusiastic, and heavily accented British woman whose passion for her job is absolutely contagious,” Nerdist writes. “Another is Adam Driver, the actor behind Kylo Ren and Ben Solo, whose devotion for his character extended into all of his stunts. As Huthart explains at one point, Driver insisted on doing all of his own stunts even when she protested. He explains in the documentary how protective he is over Kylo’s body language. Eventually, Huthart relented–especially after seeing how much better it looked with the actor doing the stunts.”

They added, “All of this paves the way for a special little treat for Driver: The most difficult stunt sequence in the film–the lightsaber battle with Kylo Ren and Rey aboard the Death Star ruins–was partially filmed on his birthday. ‘It was really physically exhausting, and we were wet and soaked and cold and on wires–I loved it,’ Driver says with glee in the documentary. ‘How many times are you gonna get a chance to do that?’”

The bonus extras included in the digital release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker can be seen in their entirety below:

• The Skywalker Legacy – The story lives forever in this feature-length documentary that charts the making of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
• Pasaana Pursuit: Creating the Speeder Chase – Dive into the making of the movie’s epic landspeeder chase and discover how this spectacular sequence was brought to the screen.
• Aliens in the Desert – See what it took to create the Pasaana desert scenes, from the sheer scale and complexity of the shoot to its colorful details.
• D-O: Key to the Past – Explore the ship that connects Rey to the mystery of her missing parents and get to know the galaxy’s newest, irresistible droid.
• Warwick & Son – Warwick Davis, who played Wicket in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, dons the Ewok costume once more; this time joined by his son Harrison.
• Cast of Creatures – The team behind the film’s memorable creatures reveal the puppetry, makeup, prosthetics and digital magic that bring them to life!

Digital Exclusive:

• The Maestro’s Finale – Composer John Williams reflects on his body of work for the Star Wars saga and shares insights on scoring Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st.