Film - Star Wars: The Skellig Awakens

Skellig Michael

In a new behind the scenes clip, JJ Abrams explains why he chose Irish island Skellig Michael for Star Wars: The Force Awakens...

The UNESCO world heritage site that is Skellig Michael (yes it's a place, although it would make a cool character name) is located on the Wild Atlantic Way on Ireland’s west coast and has been wowing audiences since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where the final scenes of this record-breaking movie were filmed.

This new behind the scenes video (no spoilers, don't worry) gives fans a unique insight into the film makers’ choice of Skellig Michael as a location for Star Wars & how it fit with Abram’s goal of creating a real & authentic backdrop for the movie.

In it, Tommy Harper, the Executive producer recalls the moment they discovered the Skellig islands:

“I got an email from Rick Carter [Production Designer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens]. He sent this link, and it was Skellig Island. J.J. [Director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens] immediately wrote back and said, “I love you! This is the best.””

Since 1977, the renowned movie franchise has travelled through many galaxies, and this time, director J.J. Abrams along with cast and crew arrived at a little village called Portmagee, County Kerry, on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. From here, they travelled eight miles (12 Km) by sea to a dream film location, Skellig Michael, which the crew described as “from another time and place”.



Filming began in August 2014, and J.J. Abrams [Director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens] remembers the excitement, “I can’t believe they let us shoot there. I mean, it was so beautiful.”

Martin Joy [Supervising Location Manager of Star Wars: The Force Awakens] declared, “We were just blown away by it. It’s an extraordinary place. It certainly fed into our Star Wars universe.”

The first Star Wars film in a decade recorded the biggest global box office opening in history. It debuted in 30,000 cinemas world-wide, scoring first place finishes in every market, except Korea & Vietnam. With the movie yet to be released in China (the world’s second largest movie market), there is no doubt the Wild Atlantic Way will be leaving its impression on many in the year ahead.

Images, video and info - www.ireland.com/starwars
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