Star Wars Episode I: Production Notes

Episode I brings a new athleticism and fighting style to the Star Wars saga. Nick Gillard, the film's renowned stunt coordinator, created and oversaw the film's action sequences.

Since George Lucas set Episode I at a time when the Jedi Knights were at the height of their powers, Gillard ramped up the action, stunt work and, of course, lightsaber duels for the new film.

First, to justify in his own mind why the Jedi employ an ancient fighting method against enemies who sometimes use more advanced weapons, Gillard created a fictional martial art.

"I figured that since the Jedi had chosen a lightsaber, they'd have to be really good with it," says Gillard. "So I took the essence of all the great sword fighting techniques, from kendo through saber, épée, and foil, and flowed them together."

Gillard's work, which included months of studying virtually all of the world's great fighting styles, had implications beyond providing motion picture excitement. In creating a new form of fighting for Episode I, Gillard actually advanced the field of swordplay. While the popular swordplay using épée (a French term for a fencing or dueling sword) employs a combination of six moves, Gillard nearly doubled that number for the new Episode I martial art. "We had to come up with a new language in sword fighting and new way of doing things," he explains. "We're way beyond épée now."

To create fight choreography that would demonstrate not just Jedi swordsmanship but also the individual characters of the fighters, Gillard studied the Episode I script and storyboards carefully. No two sword masters have exactly the same style, and Gillard wove the subtleties of distinct identities into the choreography of the lightsaber battles. "It was important to me that each character in Episode I have a distinctive fighting style," he says.

Although these fighting styles are new for Episode I, they nonetheless remain true to the lightsaber styles of the original trilogy. For Obi-Wan, Gillard took into account the lightsaber fighting style used in Star Wars, because Obi-Wan trained both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. Some of their methods were reflected in the style we see Obi-Wan use as a younger man, he says.

Gillard was fortunate to work with actors Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, both of whom impressed the stunt coordinator with their ability to master the fighting technique with little time to prepare. "I couldn't have wanted more from either of them," Gillard says. "Sometimes they learned ten minutes before we shot a scene; they were that good."

The actors' quick training was facilitated by Gillard's practice sessions with stunt double Andreas Petrides and martial arts expert Ray Park. As Darth Maul, Park makes his motion picture acting debut in Episode I. Gillard, Petrides and Park would practice the fight scenes and stunts for hours on end so all the moves would be down before beginning work with McGregor and Neeson. "By the time we got to Liam and Ewan, we had run through the choreography at least 500 times ourselves," he says.

Ray Park, who was initially hired to work with Gillard on the stunts, won the role of Darth Maul when Gillard showed Lucas and producer Rick McCallum a tape of Park rehearsing a fight scene with Gillard. Maul's villainous countenance was given a startling look designed by Iain McCaig and executed by chief make-up artist Paul Engelen. Also adding to the character's deadliness was a new, double-bladed lightsaber that Park wielded with maximum effect, providing moves that surprised even Gillard.

One complicated fight involving Park, Neeson and McGregor took almost a month to film, with the combatants fiercely dueling, somersaulting and jumping across three sets. Neeson and McGregor performed many of their own stunts (Park, a champion and accomplished gymnast, performed all his own stunts). Although McGregor had some previous fencing experience, he found the Episode I fighting scenes a unique adventure. "We used a style all its own," he points out. "It's aggressive, ferocious and fast. It was hard work -- and a lot of fun."

Having appeared in films such as Excalibur and Rob Roy, Neeson also was no stranger to cinematic swordplay. But he quickly got caught up in the intensity and excitement of the Episode I action. "When Ewan and I began rehearsing a duel in which we're pitted against some formidable enemies, we started making the lightsaber sound effects," Neeson says with a laugh.

In addition to perfecting the moves of a new martial art, Neeson, McGregor, Park and Gillard faced the additional challenge of, as Gillard puts it, "fighting stuff that wasn't there, that's going to be popped in later by the special effects experts at Industrial Light & Magic."

"We had to look, then cut; look then cut, and so on -- with nothing to look at," McGregor adds. "It was something completely new." For Neeson, it was a liberating experience. "It reminded me of the 'cowboys and Indians' games of our childhood," he says. "It took pure imagination, so we could be really inventive."

This kind of imagination marks the uniqueness of the Episode I action. "It's Star Wars, after all, and the action shouldn't need to look like anything else," Gillard concludes. "It should break new ground ... the same as it did the first time."