Anyone who has seen The Dead Don't Die would know that there is an awesome Star Wars Easter Egg in the zombie comedy. However, it almost didn't happen until Adam Driver himself spoke to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
In The Dead Don't Die, Driver's character Ronnie Peterson owns a tiny red Smart car that Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) asked to borrow. It was revealed that Ronnie keeps the key to his car attached to an Imperial Star Destroyer keychain. However, that tiny Star Wars reference almost didn't make it into the Jim Jarmusch film.
Driver and co-star Chloë Sevigny recently spoke to ScreenRant about the movie and the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker actor was asked if Jarmusch wrote the reference in only after he was cast. Driver revealed that it was always there but the director wasn't allowed to use it until Driver stepped in.
"[Jim] reached out, and I think, because you have to get permission to use the image, and it originally went through somebody else, and they said 'No.' And so I called Kathy Kennedy, and [I] explained what was going on, and she's like, 'Of course,'" he said.
That's right, it actually pays to have a Star Wars actor in your film. Not surprisingly, Sevigny revealed that the scene with the keychain "got a big cheer in Cannes." Sadly, Driver's character never got to wield a lightsaber and go Kylo Ren on all the zombies, but the little Easter Egg was definitely enough.
The Dead Don't Die is currently screening in theaters worldwide.
Related: The Dead Don't Die Has An Awesome Star Wars Easter Egg That's Hard To Miss
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