Star Wars' Phantom Menace Lightsaber Fight Was Decided By A Five-Year-Old - SlashFilm
Star Wars' Phantom Menace Lightsaber Fight Was Decided By A Five-Year-Old - SlashFilm
George Lucas knew he wanted fast-paced lightsaber battles in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but the new fighting style needed to be approved by his son.
during a surprise appearance at Star Wars Celebration in 2017, he reiterated that the very first "Star Wars" installment, which would go on to be titled "A New Hope," was a "a film for 12-year-olds." Of course, that doesn't mean adults can't still find value in these sci-fi stories of heroism. But it also means that the franchise, from its inception, has always been molded to be appealing to children.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that when Lucas got around to making "The Phantom Menace," kicking off an entire prequel trilogy about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, the filmmaker entrusted the approval of one of the most pivotal parts of the movie to a five-year-old kid. When the iconic "Duel of the Fates" lightsaber battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul was being developed by stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, it needed the seal of approval from one very specific child.
As Gillard recalled in a deep-dive into the making of "The Phantom Menace" lightsaber battle at Vulture, "George has never been in a fight in his life. So he didn't bother, really, writing it. It would say something like, 'A vicious lightsaber battle ensues — seven minutes,' and you could fill in the gap there. But that's much better for me."
Up until this point, the lightsaber fights in "Star Wars" hadn't exactly delivered fast-paced sword combat. Instead, much of the original lightsaber duels were inspired by elegant fencing techniques. Though Luke Skywalker's style in "Return of the Jedi" is a little more energetic and chaotic, fueled by his anger as he faces his father, Darth Vader, the rest of the battles are patient, calculated, and slow. That's why Gillard completely ignored those lightsaber battles when it come to creating the two-on-one fight in "Phantom Menace." As Lucas recalled in a behind-the-scenes documentary, "I thought I wanted a faster version of what the other movies were; a more energetic version; and that's basically what he gave me."
In fact, Lucas had instructed Gillard to "come up with a new kind of martial art," which the stunt coordinator described as "an amalgamation of all sword fighting." Kendo, rapier, samurai, and a little bit of tennis and even chopping down trees informed the rapid battle between the two Jedi and the Sith apprentice. All of this combined to give each of the warriors a level of mastery in wielding a lightsaber where everything had to be precise as well as fast. Gillard added, "They can only parry there, they can only attack there. The moves are so natural or so correct, that's the only place they can be."
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Gillard put together a five-minute demo reel showcasing the new lightsaber fighting style for George Lucas to see. Lucas, again believing that the "Star Wars" movies are for kids, played the test footage for his five-year old son Jett Lucas. As Gillard recalled to Entertainment Weekly, "Effectively, Jett Lucas decided the style of that fight."
As Gillard recalled in a deep-dive into the making of “The Phantom Menace” lightsaber battle at Vulture, “George has never been in a fight in his life. So he didn’t bother, really, writing it. It would say something like, ‘A vicious lightsaber battle ensues — seven minutes,’ and you could fill in the gap there. But that’s much better for me.”
It is the best way to do it (get action directors in to nail it) but it does show the stuff Lucas was uninterested in. See also: dialogue and acting.
I'm so nerdy, I imported the official Malaysian VideoCD of The Phantom Menace. It was more of a collectors thing. The 4:3 mpeg video wasn't great but it did allow me to play around editing the film.
I edited together the light saber sequences from Duel of the Fates into one clip. Two things were revealed. Because the film cuts away to other battles, edited together the fight doesn't naturally flow.
Secondly, once edited together, that's not a lot of actual lightsabering going on in terms of time iirc.
EDITED: I Should proof read after swiping out my long text with Google keyboard!
For as uninterested in dialogue as he is (my favorite cringe line being Anakin saying "I wish that I could just wish it all away..." in AOTC 🤢), he does have his moments of creativity.
Indeed 12 years old was the time SW lit my mind on fire. The SW card game let me fantasize much deeper along with reading a few books. Now I feel uninterested for the most part, realizing I don't believe in monarchy, authoritarianism, theocracy, or exceptionalism. I never thought of it as actually being children's media, but that adolescent perspective sums up how I feel watching it now, especially when I've been writing some of my own sci-fi in a much more mature space.
You might find the links between the morality/philosophy presented by the way that the force interacts with living beings to the philosophy of Taoism (and to a lesser degree Buddhism) interesting. Star wars seemed like just a bunch of wish fulfillment and was largely unappealing to me until I started thinking about those connections and have enjoyed going back through the movies with that lens. To be fair it's only minimally present in the originals, visible but not elaborated on in the prequels and totally absent in the sequels. Reading "The Power Of Myth" or "The Heroes With A Thousand Faces" both by Joseph Campbell (the latter shaping Lucas's approach to storytelling) might also be intriguing if you enjoy writing, though perhaps you're already aware of them.
Kendo, rapier, samurai, and a little bit of tennis and even chopping down trees
So not "an amalgamation of all sword fighting" - just literally whatever.
I'd also like to know which specific part was inspired by rapier because I call bullshit.
I'm sorry, there were other movies besides ANH, TESB and ROTJ? Man, if they were any good I'd have thought I would remember them. :p
This is why people find nerds so insufferable.
The OGs aren't even the best man