Links to Star Wars, Ireland has...
STAR Wars fans around the world mark May The Fourth today.
The unofficial day of celebration comes from the film’s iconic line: “May The Force Be With You” beloved by followers of the films.
George Lucas’s first movie, Star Wars, was released in 1977 and was the beginning of the biggest sci-fi franchise of all time.
But did you know the epic space opera has many Irish connections?
Here, we look at the Irish links to Star Wars.
HARRISON FORD AND CARRIE
FISHER
The two most famous characters in the Star Wars series have Irish roots.
Carrie Fisher - who played Princess Leia and Harrison Ford - Han Solo - have descendants from here.
Fisher told before how her great, great grandfather was from Co Donegal, but left after he was wrongly accused of being a horse thief in a case of mistaken identity. Fisher was given the Oscar Wilde award from the US Ireland Alliance in 2015 for her contribution to film and television. She died a year later, aged 60.
Ford was born in Chicago to a Jewish mother and an Irish father, Christopher. He once said: “I feel Irish as a person and Jewish as an actor.”
DOMHNALL GLEESON
Gleeson (40) thrilled fans when he appeared as a new Star Wars villain General Hux in the sequel trilogy, which ran from 2015 to 2019.
The Dubliner, whose dad is legendary actor Brendan Gleeson, made the sinister role as the ruthless first commander of the First Order’s Starkiller Base his own.
He even gave General Hux an evil English accent.
He said before walking onto the Star Wars: The Force Awakens set was “pretty epic” and trying on the uniform for the first time was “brilliant.”
LIAM NEESON
Neeson plays fan favourite Qui-Gon Jinn, regarded by fans as “the quintessential Jedi.” He shines in the lead role of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Probably one of the biggest Irish movie stars of all time, it was Liam Neeson’s imposing presence that got him the role.
George Lucas said of the Antrim man: “Liam is the master Jedi, the centre of the movie. He’s like Alec Guinness in the first movie.
“You think: How are we going to find another Alec Guinness (the original Obi-Wan Kenobi)? With that nobility and strength?
“Liam was the guy who could do it. He had the presence,” George Lucas said.