Filming Star Wars in Wadi Rum, Jordan
Wadi Rum, Jordan, plays a key role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While Wadi Rum has already entered the Star Wars universe as the location for the moon Jedha in the film Rogue One, the final installment of the Star Wars ennealogy used the stunning desert landscape as an entirely different planet. The epic desert location is the fictional planet Pasaana, which serves as the launch point for the film’s plot.
Filming in Wadi Rum has become a favorite of Hollywood location scouts. Dazzling audiences in 1962, Wadi Rum appeared on the big screen in Lawrence of Arabia and lived up to Lawrence’s depiction of it as “vast, echoing, and god-like.” Jordan’s Wadi Rum is the alien planet of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus as well as Mars in Scott’s The Martian. The director was so impressed with the location that he returned two years later to shoot a few short scenes for All The Money in the World. Nearly fifty films have been shot in Jordan with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker handling the largest budget
With the Wadi Rum desert as a prominent feature in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the actors and filmmakers needed to stay in the Kingdom of Jordan for a month during shooting. The above video captures their perception of the country as well as their experience filming here. Also check out Annie Leibovitz’s fantastic behind the scenes photographs shot while filming in Wadi Rum and beyond here.
This vehicle, piloted by Finn and Po, was used in the Wadi Rum chase scene. It can currently be seen at Taj Cinemas in Amman.
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