According to Entertainment Weekly, the recently-released, much-disputed, latest chapter of the Star Wars film franchise, The Last Jedi, features an unexpected appearance from an unlikely musical act. Apparently, there’s a character named Slowen-Lo, which is the rejiggered name of a song, “Slow And Low,” from the Beastie Boys‘ 1986 debut, License To Ill. It gets better though; the Slowen-Lo is portrayed by none other than longtime Last Jedi director Rian Johnson’s favorite collaborator, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Gordon-Levitt previously appeared in two of Johnson’s previous films, Brick and Looper. It only makes sense that he would find his way into Johnson’s big break into franchise filmmaking, albeit in a more low-key way than might be expected. The cameo is actually one of many secret appearances from higher-profile actors in the new Star Wars series, including Daniel Craig popping up as a stormtrooper in The Force Awakens.
As it turns out, Slowen-Lo has a spiritual cousin in the previous movie as well. An alien pilot of the same species is named Ello Atsy, a thinly-veiled reference to Hello Nasty, the Beasties’ 1998 album featuring the hit “Intergalactic.” If the gag continues into Star Wars Episode IX, I fully expect a character to appear named Pabo-Teek, to be portrayed by one of the four famous Chrises (Pratt, Evans, Pine, Hemsworth), or I want my money back.
