A Star Wars Experience: Visiting Skellig Michael, Part 4: Reenacting the Final Scene

Searching for the last Jedi master atop the island

In previous blog posts on our Star Wars experience visiting the Irish island of Skellig Michael, I covered some of the basics of how to get there and where to stay, what to expect of the crossing to the island (hint: seasickness), and what you'll see on the island itself (including how the sites fit together into Rey's hike up to finally locate the missing Luke Skywalker).  Now, finally, I'm going to tell you how my wife Beth and I reenacted the final, iconic scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on location. Try not to geek out!

Not only did we make costumes, but I grew in an actual beard for the first time in my life in an attempt to at least look somewhat like Mark Hamill's grizzled Jedi master.  Beth wanted me to grow my hair out a bit more, too, but I was aiming for a Jedi, not a Time Lord (I could do a perfect Tom Baker Doctor Who 'fro, naturally, if I wanted).  Yes, the beard I've had the past three years was something I grew out just to photograph a Star Wars scene.  I am a nerd and freely admit to it.

Quick Index - Visiting Skellig Michael Parts I - IV

1. Basic logistics and background: Getting there, where to stay and eat, and booking a landing tour
2. The crossing and logistics of the hike on Skellig Michael
3. Touring the island and its Star Wars sites and sights
4. Reenacting the final scene of The Force Awakens (this post)

Reenacting the Final Scene

When we climbed back down to Christ's Saddle, the vast majority of people were still at the monastic ruins, and a few had already started back down to the boat landing.  This gave us the time and space to set up a photo shoot.

Beth helps me set up the composition of the shot and practices Rey's plaitive offering of Luke's lost lightsaber

As I said earlier, the angle of the sun in the late morning wasn't conducive to an exact shot-for-shot reproduction; to do so requires shooting the photo toward the southeast, which would have been head-on into the sun at that time of day.  You don't get much choice in the timing of your visit to the island unless you have a massive production budget and have worked with the Irish authorities to set up your film, so either an overcast day with white skies or settling for an angled shot is necessary.

I brought along a lightweight carbon fiber tripod (selfie sticks are for amateurs and poseurs) and a timed shutter release for my camera (I used a Canon TC-80N3 timer remote control ($135, Amazon); how's that for a Star Wars droid name?) so that we could set up, compose the shot, pose, and still give me a good 10-15 seconds to rush back into the shot.  We took several pretty good pictures this way; I count seconds down in my head pretty accurately--yeah, I've posed for shots at the edge of a cliff while under the timer often enough to level up that skill a few times.  But then another tourist (who was wearing a Vader t-shirt, if I recall correctly) offered to take some of the shots for us, which we gladly took him up on.

Maybe I'll do a future blog post about constructing the costumes, but Beth and I weren't aiming for direct, detail-for-detail authenticity of the sort needed to join the 501st Legion, but rather something that simply captured the spirit of the final scene--and something we could change into on an island lacking even an outhouse.  In retrospect, we didn't save enough time before the trip to really make awesome costumes (I think we started in mid-August, shortly after I started growing in my beard), but I think the sash Beth wove on her loom, the sleeves she crocheted, and the robe I sewed worked out just fine--to the point people offered to rent them from us! (More on that in a moment.)

We tried a few different angles, but the sun was just too harsh to get quite the same one as in the film

I wasn't about to hike all the way up the island in a Jedi robe, so I needed something fairly lightweight I could stow in my backpack along with a lightsaber.  I've made Jedi costumes before, typically involving broadcloth (it's cheap), heavy sweatsuit fabric (looks great as a robe, albeit weighing 15-plus pounds in that robe and comfortable only in minus-30 degree temperatures), and other unbreathable synthetics; I wanted something new for this trip.  Even using a linen I picked up at JoAnn's, that robe still weighs a ton--I can't imagine how hard it is to film entire scenes in costume, wearing layers of heavier cloth under the lights without beads of sweat rolling down one's forehead.

Speaking of lightsabers, I have a replica of Luke's from Return of the Jedi that I toted along carefully in my carry-on, daring the TSA to try confiscating it; a more accurate pick would be Anakin's lightsaber, which you could modify from this replica ($150, Amazon) by making the blade removable.  No, my choice was not film-accurate (as my nephew Ferris pointed out immediately upon seeing the photos), but damn it, I spent $250 many years back and have always thought it looked cooler than Anakin's. Sue me.

An Audience

By this time, a few stragglers had made their way up onto Christ's Saddle, and a few others grown bored with the ranger's lecture at the monastic ruins had trickled back over the ridge.  We found ourselves with something of an audience.

Several people asked if we were renting out our costumes, and I should have said, "Sure, for a pint back in Portmagee!" I suppose. Instead, we loaned them out, tickled that we were the only visitors to the island that day who thought to bring any and that anyone else even wanted to try them on.  We ended up making one couple's day as they said their grandkids would be so proud of them!

Epic Christmas card for the grandkids

We even received a round of applause as the crowds from the monastic ruins made their way back to Christ's Saddle. Can a Jedi blush?

The Final Result - The Final Scene

In the end, we chose one of the earlier shots we photographed, using my camera's timer remote.  Although I did have to spend some time in Photoshop cleaning up the highlights due to the harsh, near-noon sun, it was still a fantastic image to remind us forever of the time we went to Ireland, visited a piece of the Star Wars universe, and came away with a souvenir from a galaxy far away.

That's it for our visit to Skellig Michael, the real-life location of the mysterious island of "Ahch-To" and a place that you, too, can visit without having actually to jump to light speed.  Both Beth and I plan to return--perhaps after the bustle of current tourist activity centering around the past two films dies down a bit--and hopefully see the puffins nesting and again find ourselves walking in the same footsteps of the greatest myth of our modern times, Star Wars.

p.s. Skellig Michael is far from the only Star Wars location you can visit in real life.  One day soon, you'll surely find us climbing the pyramids of Tikal in Guatemala (also known as the Rebel base on Yavin IV) or descending into a seedy hotel in Tunisia (the Lars farmstead and Luke's childhood home on Tatooine).  And Beth and I have already visited Iceland's black sand beach for a glimpse of Rogue One's opening setting.

With that, may the Force be with you, always.

Quick Index - Visiting Skellig Michael Parts I - IV

1. Basic logistics and background: Getting there, where to stay and eat, and booking a landing tour
2. The crossing and logistics of the hike on Skellig Michael
3. Touring the island and its Star Wars sites and sights
4. Reenacting the final scene of The Force Awakens (this post)