As Gillard recalled in a deep-dive into the making of “The Phantom Menace” lightsaber battle at Vulture, “George has by no means been in a combat in his life. So he did not hassle, actually, writing it. It could say one thing like, ‘A vicious lightsaber battle ensues — seven minutes,’ and you possibly can fill within the hole there. However that is significantly better for me.”
Up till this level, the lightsaber fights in “Star Wars” hadn’t precisely delivered fast-paced sword fight. As a substitute, a lot of the unique lightsaber duels had been impressed by elegant fencing strategies. Although Luke Skywalker’s model in “Return of the Jedi” is a bit more energetic and chaotic, fueled by his anger as he faces his father, Darth Vader, the remainder of the battles are affected person, calculated, and gradual. That is why Gillard fully ignored these lightsaber battles when it come to creating the two-on-one combat in “Phantom Menace.” As Lucas recalled in a behind-the-scenes documentary, “I believed I wished a quicker model of what the opposite motion pictures had been; a extra energetic model; and that is principally what he gave me.”
The truth is, Lucas had instructed Gillard to “provide you with a brand new type of martial artwork,” which the stunt coordinator described as “an amalgamation of all sword preventing.” Kendo, rapier, samurai, and somewhat little bit of tennis and even chopping down timber knowledgeable the speedy battle between the 2 Jedi and the Sith apprentice. All of this mixed to offer every of the soldiers a stage of mastery in wielding a lightsaber the place all the pieces needed to be exact in addition to quick. Gillard added, “They will solely parry there, they will solely assault there. The strikes are so pure or so appropriate, that is the one place they are often.”
Armed together with his new strategy to lightsaber fights, Gillard took three days, a small digital camera crew, and a trio of stuntmen to shoot take a look at footage that will be used to get approval from George Lucas. Amongst these stuntmen was none aside from Ray Park, recommended by a buddy of Gillard who labored with the stuntman on “Mortal Kombat.”
However when the time got here to point out off the take a look at footage, George Lucas wasn’t the one individual they wanted to impress.
