50 Star Wars secrets that will blow your mind
By Josh Hill
24. The Waterfalls on Naboo In The Phantom Menace Are Salt
The Phantom Menace gets a really bad rap for it’s overuse of CGI and green screen, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t plenty of practical effects used to create the film’s scenery.
Take, for instance, the waterfalls on Naboo. They look like CGI effects put in during post-production but there’s more to them than that. The Industrial Lights and Magic crew forwent the CGI route — mostly — to create the waterfalls by using Epsom salt. All they did was pour it out and take the shots of the salt to create the majestic waterfalls we see in the backgrounds.
This effect came back in Attack of the Clones for the scenes with Anakin and Padme.
Next: 23. The Rebels Were Totally Sexist