Star Wars Day 2014: Top Ten Facts You Didn't Know About the Sci-Fi Film

Sci-fi movie Star Wars is one of the most popular in the history of cinema. If you need to do some quick research, here are IBTimes UK's favourite nuggets of information.

1. Yoda was nearly played by a monkey.
It seems like a crazy idea, but Grand Jedi Master Yoda was nearly played by a primate. Photos on Twitter of a monkey with the Jedi's cane and mask have been traced. Luckily, they decided to use the world's first animatronic muppet, created by Jim Henson and voiced by Frank Oz.

2. Justin Timberlake nearly had a cameo in Attack of the Clones.
Boy band 'N Sync made a quick appearance in Attack of the Clones at the request of George Lucas' daughter, who was a fan of Justin Timberlake. However they were edited out of the final cut.

3. No girl power in the Phantom Menace.
Even though there were fierce female fighter pilots in the original screenplay, they were taken out of the final cut.

4. Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi Master used a Gillette razor for his communicator.
Not the most hi-tech or masculine of gadgets, but in Episode 1, the personal communicator used by Qui-Gon Jinn is actually made from a cast of a Gillette Ladies Sensor Excell Razor.

5. Ewoks speak the language of the Himalayans.
The Ewok language is a combination of Tibetan and Nepalese. They were named after the Miwok, a Native American tribe.

6. David Lynch passed on directing one of the Star Wars films.
David Lynch, director of The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, turned down an offer to direct Return of the Jedi. Lynch told George Lucas that he had "next door to zero interest" in doing it.

7. Star Wars collectible coins can be used as real money.
The South Pacific island of Niue accepts limited edition Star Wars collectible coins, made of pure silver, as legal tender. They are embossed with images of Emperor Palpatine, the Death Star, a stormtrooper and Darth Vader.

8.The word 'Jedi' is from the Japanese words 'Jidai Geki' which translate as 'period drama'.
Lucas stated in an interview that he saw a Jidai Geki programme on TV while in Japan and liked the word.

9. Director Lucas based his infamous "Order 66"on American history.
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 1066, interning the Japanese and Japanese Americans until the end of the war and the dropping of the Hiroshima Bomb.

10. Some bizarre ideas that never made it to the final cut.
Darth Vader going into a retreat to his deep lava cave with pet gargoyles and demons, 3PO inebriated on the Cloud City, and Darth Vader taking out his robotic heart and crushing it.