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Ireland is Trying to New Zealand Itself With The Force Awakens

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Ireland is Trying to New Zealand Itself With The Force Awakens

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Ireland is Trying to New Zealand Itself With The Force Awakens

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Published on January 5, 2016

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Ireland Skellig Michael Star Wars The Force Awakens tourism Luke Skywalker

Tourism Ireland has put out a new video that’s part Star Wars: The Force Awakens featurette, part “Hey, remember that awesome [spoiler] island? You should come see it for yourself!”

Spoilers for The Force Awakens.

The video includes director J.J. Abrams talking about how his desire for practical effects extended to finding an authentic setting for what we now know to be Luke Skywalker’s hiding place, the planet of Ahch-to. That setting? Ireland’s Skellig Michael, a gorgeous island off the coast of County Kerry. As supervising location manager Martin Joy describes it, “We needed to find somewhere completely from another time and place.”

There was some pushback against using Skellig Michael as a filming location because of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; there were fears about damaging the ecology. However, Ireland’s Office of Public Works and the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht have emphasized that filming caused no significant damage.

Now, seeing as Skellig Michael will play at least a small part in Episode VIII, Tourism Ireland is inviting visitors the world over to experience this otherworldly beauty. Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe said that “[b]y the end of November 2015, we had surpassed our best ever year on record for the number of overseas visitors. We are determined to build on that.” They shouldn’t have a problem at all, but they might want to check in with New Zealand’s tourism board for any tips or tricks they learned from the Lord of the Rings movies (and then again with The Hobbit trilogy).

About the Author

Natalie Zutter

Author

Natalie Zutter is a writer and pop culture critic based in Brooklyn. In addition to her work at Reactor, she writes about SFF for Lit Hub and NPR Books as well as contemporary romance and thrillers for Paste Books. Find her on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter.
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tifaucz
9 years ago

Am I the only one that thought it was a bit of? When the fly-by started, it just looked too much earth-y to me. Kinda broke the illusion… 

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Gonzo
9 years ago

Well, where do you expect them to film it?

hawkwing-lb
9 years ago

“Hi, we have a tiny, wet, chilly, frequently mist-occluded handful of islands only reachable by boat and then you have to climb a LOT of steps to see the LOTS of seagulls and the beehive cells of monks who came here for the isolation and mortification of the flesh. COME VISIT WE LOVE YOU ALL AND WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY.”

…You can see why Fáilte Ireland is so eager to hire me to write their press releases. I don’t think you can even reach the Skelligs safely in some of the weather we’ve had recently.

(No, seriously, come visit. We haven’t lost any tourists over the side of a cliff in, oh, weeks.)

SoonLee
9 years ago

Wait, did you just verbify “New Zealand”? Natalie Zutter, have you no shame?

Ireland looks like a beautiful country, one that I would like to visit one day.

(I wouldn’t be a proper Kiwi if I didn’t include this: https://youtu.be/kWOwe_n-2Gw )

 

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Random22
9 years ago

@2 Well James Cameron turned down the director chair because the technology to go to a galaxy far, far away isn’t there yet. He says as soon as he’s got the space ship’s bugs worked out he is doing it though.

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9 years ago

I’m sad I never saw (in person) that Air New Zealand plane painted to look like Smaug. I kept hoping they’d bring it here, but not that I ever saw. But clearly Aer Lingus needs to follow their lead and make a plane into the Falcon. 

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9 years ago

I automatically said “That looks like Ireland.”, but really, it hardly looks more like Earth than Hoth did, so it didn’t bother me at all.

Braid_Tug
9 years ago

I think Ireland has been cashing in on itself as a tourist filming location for a long time.

Nothing new, just a new location added.

Good to know it was Ireland, I was thinking more Pacific Ocean when I saw the film.

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9 years ago

@3 hawkwing-lb

“Hi, we have a tiny, wet, chilly, frequently mist-occluded handful of islands only reachable by boat and then you have to climb a LOT of steps to see the LOTS of seagulls and the beehive cells of monks who came here for the isolation and mortification of the flesh.”

True, but it is stunning on a day of beautiful sunshine which it was when I visited. Although it almost gave my friend a heart attack watching her children scrambling about on the steep slopes.

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a1ay
9 years ago

It also has some of the best scuba-diving in the North Atlantic. Big walls (those cliffs on the islands just keep on going down underwater), lots of soft corals, big moray and conger eels, friendly dolphins, 25-30m visibility, and the occasional basking shark. Plus O’Neill’s bar on the dockside in Ballinskelligs will cook up any lobsters you catch for you, and serve you very decent Irish coffee while you’re waiting.

Water’s cold though. Wear a drysuit.