The locations provide the texture that digital effects lack. Padmé’s black mourning dress looks richer against Italian marble. Anakin’s anger looks more volatile against the sterile white of a salt flat. While the clones were born in a computer, the world they fought for was built on Earth. All you have to do is buy a plane ticket.
While the backgrounds are blue screen, the "streets" of Coruscant are actually a massive practical set built on a backlot. However, the chase’s vertigo-inducing conclusion—where Zam’s speeder crashes into a wall—was filmed on the now-demolished 6th Street Viaduct in Los Angeles.
The high ceilings and gothic ironwork of the set were directly inspired by the loading docks of Her Majesty’s Theatre. The crew built the bar on a hydraulic gimbal so they could shake the set to simulate a speeder crash. The seedy atmosphere is 100% practical plaster, smoke, and glass. 5. The Picnic on Naboo (The Royal Gardens, Seville) The Location: Plaza de España, Seville, Spain The Scene: Anakin and Padmé’s awkward picnic; the "I hate sand" speech.
Perhaps the most misattributed location in Star Wars history. Fans assume the lakeside picnic was shot on a soundstage. In reality, it was filmed in the Plaza de España in Seville—a massive semi-circular brick and tile complex built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.
When Lucas needed a desert that looked harsher and more remote than Tunisia, he turned to the dunes of Southern California/Arizona. Buttercup Valley (near Glamis) doubled for the Outer Rim. The iconic scene of Shmi Skywalker dying in her son’s arms was shot in a dusty, miserable ravine that the crew nicknamed "The Oven."
The blinding white of the salt flats acted as a natural light reflector, eliminating the need for massive lighting rigs. The "factory" interior was a massive set built in the abandoned Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata—the same hotel that served as the Lars kitchen in A New Hope . The production simply built the assembly line over the existing courtyard. 4. The Coruscant Nightclub (Her Majesty's Theatre, London) The Location: The "Outlander Club" set (Stage 9, Ealing Studios) The Scene: Obi-Wan hunting Zam Wesell.