9 Iconic Movie Props With Seriously Strange Backstories

4. The Lightsaber from Star Wars

The elegant, futuristic lightsaber, the ultimate weapon of the Jedi and Sith, began its life with surprisingly mundane origins. George Lucas and his team famously cobbled the original hilts together from found objects: Luke Skywalker's first lightsaber was built from an old camera flash handle (a Graflex 3-cell flash). At the same time, Darth Vader's was constructed from a vintage camera part and a grenade launcher component. The iconic glowing blade and distinct hum were added much later in post-production. These humble, scavenged beginnings lend a charmingly "DIY" strangeness to one of cinema's most instantly recognizable and technologically advanced props, proving that galactic legends can emerge from the most unlikely spare parts.