The Phantom Menace/Trivia


 * Cast the Expert: Darth Maul was played by Ray Park, who was a martial arts expert and stunt man, not an actor, although he has had a number of acting roles since then. This is one of the reasons that he had virtually no lines, and what lines he had were dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz.
 * Creator Backlash: Actually more than that, see Old Shame below.
 * Deleted Scene: This movie, like the others, has its fair share of deleted scenes. One of the more notable ones is where Qui-Gon and Anakin start to depart from Tatooine. One of Maul's sith droids attempts to tail them, only for Qui-Gon to suddenly slice it down, and then explaining they need to hurry back to the ship. This scene explained why immediately in the next scene, they were running back to the ship when the previous scene had them walking calmly from the market.
 * Another notable deleted scene, taking place after the podrace, involves Anakin beating the crap out of one of the other kids because he accused Anakin of cheating. Would have foreshadowed Anakin's prone to anger.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: KNEEL BEFORE CHANCELLOR ZOD!
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Darth Maul is voiced by Peter Serafinowicz, known for British TV shows such as Spaced and Look Around You and a small role in Shaun of the Dead.
 * The English-speaking head of the two-headed pod race commentator is Greg Proops.
 * Boss Nass is no other than Brian Blessed.
 * The Japanese-dubbed version is an interesting case: Unlike the sequels, all the movies had the same voice actors, regardless the media and networks (and avoiding The Other Darrin trope that the original trilogy suffered in Japan for years). In fact, the only voice actors switched between movies was Palpatine and Jar Jar Binks's VAs, who died between Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and the animated series.
 * Quin-Gon Jinn is Zouken Matou
 * Obi-Wan Kenobi is Kyosuke Nanbu and Tekkaman Blade
 * Padme Amidala is Hitomi Kanzaki and Lunamaria Hawke
 * Anakin Skywalker is Shin-chan and Chie Arai.
 * Watto is Keel Lorentz.
 * Jar Jar Binks was Medama Ojaji and Igor, and later replaced by Hyoma Aoi in the animated series after Isamu Tanonaka's death between the movies and the TV series.
 * Mace Windu is Takeda Shingen and The Nine-tailed Fox.
 * Bail Organa is Jubei and Hidan.
 * More like Hey It's That Guy's Kid, but Andy Secombre, Watto's voice actor, is the son of Harry Secombe, who played Mr. Bumble in the 1968 film of Oliver
 * Old Shame: Jake Lloyd isn't fond of his role as Anakin Skywalker, in no small part due to it being the reason he was bullied throughout middle school and high school. He even burned all of his Star Wars memorabilia and never watched a single Star Wars film again, stating it was too creepy to watch them again.
 * Star-Making Role: Both Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman were well respected actors but were in either small roles or independent films. This movie made them big names. Ray Park also fits in, as his presence in the final battle was one of the most memorable parts of the movie.
 * On the other hand, it was a Star-Derailing Role for Jake Lloyd. He was never a star, but he had a respectable career as a child actor before this film. He did one movie after it and then quit acting.
 * Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker, has said he won't act again because his classmates were relentless in teasing him over it.