Ability over Appearance: George Lucas originally wanted to cast an American actor as Qui-Gon Jinn, but cast Liam Neeson because he considered that Neeson had great skills and presence. Lucas said Neeson was a "master actor, who the other actors will look up to, who has got the qualities of strength that the character demands".
Silas Carson played four roles in this movie alone: Nute Gunray, Ki Adi Mundi, Lott Dodd and Antidar Williams (the pilot of the diplomatic cruiser destroyed at the beginning). He commented that a number of actors really struggle with such heavy makeup due to claustrophobia, his comfort with the job is why he was in high demand. His role as Antidar was because he wanted at least one role without makeup. He was only credited for playing Gunray and Williams, though he would also be credited for Ki Adi Mundi in the sequels.
Jerome Blake played Rune Haako, Mas Amedda, Orn Free Taa and Oppo Rancisis. He was only credited for Haako, though in Attack of the Clones, he would be credited for Rancisis via recycled footage from this film.
Alan Ruscoe played Daultay Dofine, Bib Fortuna and Plo Koon. He was only credited for Dofine.
Ody Mandrell and Bib Fortuna are both voiced by Matthew Wood.
Marc Silk, who voiced Aks Moe, also voiced Tey How during some of her scenes.
Warwick Davis played both Anakin's friend Wald and one of the podrace spectators Weazel. He was only credited for Wald, but he would reprise his role as Weazel in Solo. He also doubled for Yoda in once scene.
Actor-Inspired Element: Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that Darth Maul has a helix piercing in his left ear. Ray Park meant to take it out before getting in the make-up chair, but forgot, and rather than disrupt the extensive make-up, they decided to leave it in, feeling the edgy-looking piercing fit Maul's character.
Awesome, Dear Boy: Most actors just jumped at the opportunity of being in a Star Wars movie. Ewan McGregor stated he had been wanting to play a Jedi all his life, and Liam Neeson signed on without even having read the script.
Beam Me Up, Scotty!: A minor one, but Anakin is sometimes associated with the line "This is so wizard!" or variations of the line; while the line is in the film, it's actually said to Anakin by Kitster.
Cameo Prop: A full size EVA Pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey can be seen in Watto's junkyard.note It's probably not the original, as it's well-known that Stanley Kubrick destroyed all the props that were used in 2001 to prevent them from being used in other movies. It might be the reconstructed version that was created for 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Darth Maul had very few lines and was centered more on the big climactic 2v1 duel so they cast Ray Park, who was a martial artist and stunt man, not an actor, although he has had a number of acting roles since then. Peter Serafinowicz was brought it to dub his lines, much like James Earl Jones with David Prowse as Darth Vader.
In the European Spanish dub, intentionally or not, Palpatine was dubbed by the late Jordi Dauder, who was a real life politician aside from being an actor and knew well the topics of imperialism and capitalism that Sidious and the Trade Federation represented.
Cast the Runner-Up: BRIAN BLESSED!!!!! originally auditioned for the role of Sio Bibble, the Governor of Naboo, for which he was considered "too loud". Casting director Robin Gurland approached him to play Nass because it was a "bigger than life" character with "a kind of bravado".
Jake Lloyd isn't fond of his role in the movie, thanks to having been mocked about it since childhood, some even hating him for misaimed hatemail and vandalism. He went through a phase where he destroyed all of his Star Wars memorabilia and refused to talk about it. However, an interview with a Star Wars fan site has confirmed that he's mellowed out since then (it's still a sore spot, just not as raw anymore) and contrary to popular belief, he does not hate Star Wars after all the bullying. He also criticized the Prequel Trilogy, feeling that part of the problem with them was that they were made for children and George Lucas didn't try to make them live up to the expectations of adult fans.
Ahmed Best liked working on the theatrical film and doesn't hate Jar Jar Binks (the character he voiced and did mo-cap reference for), but he admitted that he totally gets why people hate the character and he has stated that he will not reprise the role in any future works. He would reveal many years later that he almost took his own life after the sheer amount of backlash he received for playing Jar-Jar. However in 2020 on Twitter he expressed his willingness to return to the role again, as long as the story is good.
Anthony Daniels (the actor behind Threepio) has stated that he doesn't care much for this theatrical film or the Prequel Trilogy in general, feeling the films were cold, bleak effects showcases.
"Ah, the prequels. I turned one on the other night... The effects are clever but pointless. The skill is there, but so what? Coldness, that’s the word. Bleakness, even.”
Peter Serafinowicz didn't care for voicing Darth Maul either. He criticized Lucas' poor direction to him, which just amounted to, "Make him sound evil." He also was not happy that only three of his lines are in the movie, and that he only got a meager salary for those lines. On top of that, he was annoyed that he wasn't even invited to the film's premiere and had to pay for his own tickets and travel expenses, and he didn't think the film was very good on top of that.
Natalie Portman also regrets working on the film, saying it nearly torpedoed her acting career, and she refuses to show it or the other Prequel Trilogy’s films to her kids (mostly because of Padmé's death).
"Star Wars had come out around the time of Seagull and everyone thought I was a horrible actress. I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me."
Terence Stamp was also unhappy working on the film, describing it as a boring experience and he was miffed that he didn't actually get to work alongside Natalie Portman. This is partly the reason why he refused to reprise his role in Attack of the Clones.
During the documentary footage capturing the film's production, George Lucas and his crew are seen screening a rough cut. The reaction appears to be one of uncomfortable silence, with Lucas quietly acknowledging that he "may have gone too far in a few places," specifically referencing the editing and pacing during the climax.
Maybe not backlash per se, but Keira Knightley revealed in a 2020 interview that she had little memory of being in The Phantom Menace and hadn't seen the film since it originally came out. The interviewer had to tell her that her character was named "Sabé," not "Padmé." We'd say this is a case of But for Me, It Was Tuesday, but frankly, even Star Wars fans struggle to remember that a young Keira Knightley was in The Phantom Menace.
Early Draft Tie-In: The Mace Windu action figure◊ released to promote the film included a blue-bladed lightsaber. Windu never activates his saber in this film and Attack of the Clones showed its blade to be purple (This is due to Samuel L. Jackson requesting said color during the filming of Clones).
Enforced Method Acting: Padme's frightened look and immediate decision to go in the other direction when she sees Darth Maul was reflective of Natalie Portman's genuine shock when she saw Ray Park as the character for the first time.
Fake Brit: The Scottish Ewan McGregor portrays the English-accented Obi-Wan Kenobi in this movie and for the rest of the prequel trilogy.
Looping Lines: Peter Serafinowicz looped Darth Maul's lines during post-production.
A minor example with Tey How, the Trade Federation's communications officer. George Lucas' daughter, Amanda, voiced the character when she first appears during Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's failed negotiations. When the officer appears again during the climatic battle sequence, Amanda is replaced by Marc Silk due to the former's lack of availability. Since Silk had already voiced Senator Aks Moe earlier on, he wasn't credited for his role as How.
Alan Ruscoe replaced Michael Carter as Bib Fortuna, with Matthew Wood taking over as his voice from Erik Bauersfeld.
In the European French dub, Bruno Choël started replacing Philippe Dumat as Obi-Wan Kenobi with this film, due to Dumat (who voiced him in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) sounding obviously too old for a younger Obi-Wan.
Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It's been said on various internet sources that Robby the Robot makes a cameo in Wald's Parts. There is no evidence of him actually appearing (the closest thing in the scene that resembles Robby is this droid behind Padmé, which is actually confirmed to be a Jawa-modified R1-series astromech droid).
Peter Serafinowicz, the voice of Darth Maul, is a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, though unfortunately, as listed in Creator Backlash above, this wasn't enough to make him enjoy the experience of working on the film.
The heroes visiting an underwater city to parlay with its ruler was originally a big plot point in Lucas' first draft for the original film, The Adventures of Starkiller: The Star Wars.
The idea of Anakin bypassing a blockade by using the Force to come out of hyperspace at the very last moment before crashing into Naboo was revisited in The Force Awakens. While Han Solo doesn't use the Force, feats such as this one make some fans assume that he does.
The name Mace Windu goes all the way back to the original Journal of the Whills story treatment.
Natalie Portman was originally going to be Acting for Two, playing both Padmé and Sabé, but then the production found Keira Knightley. Apparently even their own mothers couldn't tell them apart when they were in the full regal make-up.
Sequel Gap: 16 years between this and Jedi's release. The lead actress was two the year the last one came out.
Spoiled by the Merchandise: The soundtrack to The Phantom Menace was released before the movie itself came out. Anybody who picked it up got treated to tracks called "Qui-Gon's Noble End" and "The High Council Meeting and Qui-Gon's Funeral." Oops.
Star-Derailing Role: Jake Lloyd was never a star, but he had a respectable career as a child actor before this film. He did one movie after it and then quit acting. He said in a recent interview though that he's pursuing a career in film editing, so he isn't totally gone from the movie-making scene. One can only hope he has/had access to Wil Wheaton as a mentor.
Star-Making Role: Both Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman were well-respected actors but were in either small roles or independent films. This movie made them big names. Ray Park also fits in, as his presence in the final battle was one of the most memorable parts of the movie.
Stunt Double: While Liam Neeson did the majority of his own stunts, he did have three stunt doubles on hand to do everything else. Andrew Lawden doubled for Neeson for part of the Darth Maul duel on Tatooine, while Joss Gower played Qui-Gon for some shots in the main duel near the end. Rob Inch did everything else.
Carrie Fisher was an uncredited script doctor on the film.
Scott Schumann provided the uncredited voice for Jabba the Hutt.
Underage Casting: Qui-Gon Jinn is meant to be an old Jedi Master in his late-50s to early-60s according to supplementary material. Liam Neeson was 45 when he played him. (Though his age would be retconned to his late forties in the Disney canon.)
Wag the Director: Liam Neeson convinced George Lucas to keep a scene where Qui-Gon Jinn puts his hand on Shmi Skywalker's shoulder. Lucas felt this might be out of character for the monk-like Jedi, but Neeson thought there should be an emotional connection between the characters. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Neeson defended his action, saying, "It may be Star Wars, but we've got to have something in there for the adults."
Benicio del Toro was initially cast as Darth Maul, but dropped out of the project after the director took most of his lines out of the film. Del Toro would later go on to portray DJ in The Last Jedi.
Tupac Shakur was interested in having a part in the film, and according to a sound engineer that worked with him, actually auditioned to play Windu before the role went to Samuel L. Jackson. This account has been questioned, though, given that Shakur was murdered in September 1996 in what would have probably been a stage of production too early to host auditions.
Early treatments of the film originally did not have Qui-Gon Jinn, and simply had Obi-Wan by himself as a Jedi Knight. Lucas later decided to show the master-padawan setup of the Jedi properly, as it would flow with the generational "Passing the Torch" theme found throughout the whole saga, and he added Qui-Gon. Interestingly, Lucas initially considered making Qui-Gon the padawan.
A rumor back in the day stated Jar Jar was originally conceived not as a comic relief character, but as a morally ambiguous mercenary that would ultimately betray Qui-Gon, like an Evil Counterpart to Han Solo (or, in hindsight, like DJ turned out to be in The Last Jedi). This has been considered one of the several possible hints of the popular "Darth Jar Jar" theory, where Jar Jar was actually written as being secretly a Sith working for Sidious.
In the earliest drafts without Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan had the lead role, and Jar Jar had a larger and more important role. Also, when the crew returned to Naboo, the Trade Federation blockade was still supposed to be in place, and Anakin was going to land the Queen's ship by using his Force-intuition to divine the last possible moment to bring the ship out of lightspeed, before they crashed into the planetary surface. This scene was eventually used in The Force Awakens with Han performing the maneuver without any use of the Force instead.
According to Jake Lloyd, there was a six-hour cut of the film that was screened for several people before the film was released, with those who saw it (who supposedly included Matthew Wood, General Grievous's voice actor in Revenge of the Sith) proclaiming it to be "mindbogglingly good". This claim has caused a lot of skepticism due to the purported cut's improbable length, with many people believing Lloyd either mistook test footage for real film scenes or is just trolling the fandom, but some believe there might have really been an unreleased six hours-worthy script containing who knows what discarded scenes and subplots.
One of the first ideas for Darth Maul's character was a female Dark Side user, a sort of Sith witch with white skin and either loopy red dreadlocks or an elaborate ribbon headdress. This version was discarded, but its concept art was eventually recycled for the Mother Talzin in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Other versions had him with a gruesomely skinned face, African war paint, and finally something resembling his final design (although, amusingly, his design originally didn't have horns, but feathers, which an artist misinterpreted as horns and made the team Throw It In!).
Around 200 actresses auditioned for the role of Padmé Amidala before Natalie Portman was cast. This included Vinette Robinson, with it being her first film audition; she said she tried to use an RP accent to come across as a Proper Lady and struggled to hide her natural Yorkshire accent. Two decades later, Robinson was cast in the role of Wrobie Tyce, a Resistance pilot, in The Rise of Skywalker.
Lucas originally planned for Anakin to be twelve years old. He was later aged down to nine because Lucas felt that if Anakin was on the verge of his teens, it wouldn't be sufficiently traumatic for him to be separated from his mother.
A deadly waterfall is present at the beginning of the Gardens of Theed level, likely as a reference to the deleted scene where Jar Jar narrowly avoids a waterfall-related death when the Bongo arrives at Naboo.
Before the Darth Maul battle in the Encounter in the Desert level, several of his probe droids attack Qui Gon, similar to the deleted scene where Qui Gon destroys one as he and Anakin leave Tatooine.
that he totally gets why people hate the character and he has stated that he will not reprise the role in any future works. He would reveal many years later that he almost took his own life
