EPISODE II: CAPTURING AN ASTEROID PURSUIT!

                                           

It's a busy time for Obi-Wan Kenobi on film as he chases after the bounty hunter Jango Fett. And it's a busy time filming the scene for actor Ewan McGregor too, in this great behind the scenes image from Episode II.

EPISODE I: FRIENDS, WARRIORS AND HEROES!

The two Jedi heroes who'd excitingly kick off the Prequel Trilogy of 1999, and help cement a new legacy for worldwide fans and audiences of all ages alongside the existing Original Trilogy, pose for a great image with the iconic Artoo Detoo, taken within one of the Trade Federation vessel corridors at the UK's Leavesden Studios.

 A terrific shot from 1997 for Episode I, one of numerous character publicity images for magazine/media usage, taken by popular US lensman Matthew Rolston.

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DELETED SCENES: THE BIG LEAP!

As the enemy Invisible Hand vessel comes under fierce attack from Republic forces high above Coruscant, our trapped Jedi heroes and the newly rescued Supreme Chancellor Palpatine must traverse dangerous areas inside the vessel whilst continuing their perilous escape attempts, during one of many opening deleted scenes from Episode III.

EPISODE II: THE KAMINO DISAPPEARANCE!

Deep in the heart of the Jedi Temple Archives, Obi-Wan Kenobi ponders the intriguing mystery of the missing planet Kamino and wonders where it, and its system, has gone from their star maps. Further help will be needed to unravel this anomaly, in a scene from EPISODE II.

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: NICK GILLARD AND THE ART OF LIGHTSABER CONFLICT!

Delivering the duel fans had waited for, Nick Gillard, with Kyle Rowling and Michael Byrne, observe Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen in posed action for Annie Leibovitz's special Episode III coverage in Vanity Fair - 2005.

With the thrilling duel between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi against the lethal double-bladed nastiness of Darth Maul, Prequel Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard delivered action not previously seen or experienced in the saga to thrilled audiences and fans worldwide. Now, with Episode III, and the eagerly awaited lightsaber conflicts detonating the end of the saga, especially the emotional final conflict between Anakin Skywalker/ Darth Vader and his former friend and master in Obi-Wan, the accomplished, thoughtful Gillard, with an exceptional British and Australian stunt team alongside him, as well as enthused work from stars Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor, was ready to deliver the exciting goods once again, with years of planning on his side going into 2003-2005 and an excellent grasp of the main characters, giving them their own unique fighting styles that have endured for over twenty years.

Star Wars Aficionado celebrates and thanks Nick Gillard for his iconic work. 

Kyle Rowling and Hayden go through a specialist move.

Going through the moves with Nick Gillard on Episodes II and III.

Making a point with Ewan, who took to the dance-like Lightsaber duelling with speed.

Ewan and Hayden working with Kyle Rowling on the film's opening duel with Count Dooku.

"Hayden worked really hard. He did six hours of sword fighting every day with us, and then he did two hours of training plus an hour solid of weights and an hour of cardiovascular work. And he had to eat about six times a day!"

Nick Gillard - STAR WARS INSIDER MAGAZINE - January/February 2006

"I think we both really work well off each other. He's (Hayden)  a great actor and he did a really good job in this. Yeah, I think we worked really hard on this one and we were all really comfortable."

Ewan McGregor - Unknown Internet interview quote - May 2005

The epic duel as realised at the FOX Studios, Australia, towards the end of Episode III's filming.

Nick Gillard watches the action closely.

Obi delivers a kick blow to Anakin.

Coordinating the filming of the Mustafar lave flow skiff duel scene.

On Episode II, a great posed shot with Samuel L. Jackson and Ewan McGregor.

Nick Gillard BREAKS The Internet STAR WARS Prequels MASSIVE Interview - YouTube

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM!

Multi-saber murderer!

No longer the coward, the evil General Grievous decides to stand and fight, putting his unique and lethal lightsaber skills to bear against his ongoing enemy Obi-Wan Kenobi, whilst the environs of the sinkhole city of Utapau now resound to the fire of warfare with the newly arrived Clone Troopers. Another great moment for the cyborg villain in his final scenes during Episode III.

Obi-Wan proves a match for the Droid General.

"Since Dooku gets killed off early, I needed to have a villain besides the Emperor, who is the ultimate villain, the real key villain. I needed another person. A MacGuffin for the Jedi to go chasing around the universe. I also wanted to foreshadow what was going to happen to Anakin. So here we have an alien who's been put into a droid suit, he's a half-alien, half-droid. I wanted him to be quite a lot different from Darth Vader. Dooku was foreshadowing the idea that the Emperor would take a disgruntled Jedi and turn him into a Sith Lord. So with each film we kind of foretell a little of what is going to happen with Anakin. In this case, Grievous is that mechanism."

George Lucas - Empire magazine - June 2005

An Ode to Grievous | StarWars.com

A close-in shot of the malevolent alien/droid warlord.

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: A JEDI'S CONCERN...

A concerned Obi-Wan Kenobi in Padme's apartment on Coruscant.

Before being called to leave Coruscant to search for General Grievous on Utapau, Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a morning visit to Senator Amidala at her apartment. The reunion is a warm one at first, but Obi-Wan's concerns for his moody former Padawan are clear - Anakin's personality and feelings are especially clouded, not just by his troubled obligations to the Jedi, Obi-Wan and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, but also in his relationship with Padme, a situation of which Obi-Wan is fully aware that the couple are in love and will keep secret, maintaining their friendships. He asks Padme to keep an eye on Anakin and offer support during his important absence.

Ultimately cut for time and pacing reasons in 2004/5, the intriguing character-based scene (shot around July 2003), bizarrely never made it onto any DVD or Blu-ray deleted scene extras (especially strange as Padme actually references the meeting to Anakin in the film). 

Old friends happily reunited.

A page from the filmed but deleted sequence filmed at the FOX Studios, Australia.

Multiple camera filming of the scene.

The Jedi Council contact Kenobi informing him of his urgent mission to Utapau.

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: BRIDGE BATTLE!

On the bridge of the Invisible Hand, our Jedi heroes, plus Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, have the dreaded General Grievous in their hands and spring a trap to finally capture him so as to end this long-running Clone Wars, of which all kinds of hell erupts in the best Star Wars lightsaber action tradition. 

A great shot showing the on set lightsabers and the blue clad stunt doubles playing Grievous's lethal Magna Droids.

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: THE SLAYING OF SHAAK TI!

Facing the wrath of General Grievous.

Having landing, against all odds, on General Grievous's command ship during the epic Battle of Coruscant, Obi-Wan and Anakin are en route to discover what bas happened to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and his Jedi protector in Shaak Ti. Ti's fate is soon revealed, however, as the two Jedi soon prove helpless in preventing their friend from being slain by the brutal lightsaber-wielding evil of the Separatist droid leader, General Grievous.

The original slaying of Shaak Ti was one of a large number of scenes for the movie set aboard the Invisible Hand involving Anakin and Obi-Wan which were either deleted, trimmed down or reshaped/re-filmed. This original introduction to Grievous was replaced with an all-new sequence for the character partly filmed in additional photography that would be set on the vessel's bridge. 

Derek Thompson's June 18th, 2003 storyboards for the scene.

Shaak TI referencing in the original Episode III filming script from Nick Gillard's collection.

Concept art for the scene.

Anakin and Obi-Wan stop in a corner and witness the captured Shaak Ti.

Actress/Supermodel/designer Orli Shoshan on set as Shaak Ti. 

The shocking death scene.

Orli remains in the dead position as the technicians mill around the FOX Studios set.

Obi-Wan and Anakin prepare their next unexpected move.

CLASSIC IMAGE: HELP FROM AN OLD FRIEND...

The trail for the elusive assassins threatening Padme Amidala's existence has seemingly gone cold for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Thankfully, an old friend experienced in life and work throughout the cosmos - Coruscant based Diner owner Dexter Jettster, is at hand to help his investigation further along, and sending Obi-Wan into new, mysterious realms...

A fun sequence from EPISODE II.

Out from the kitchen!

It was nice to see Dexter make a return to the saga in the recent Brotherhood novel, once more offering key advice and help to Obi-Wan beyond the knowledge and 'wisdom' of the Jedi Order's capabilities.

Filming the diner scene with actor Ranald Falk in 2000, at Fox Studios, Australia.

Clones at 20 | Rob Coleman on Bringing Yoda, Dexter Jettster, and More to Digital Life | StarWars.com

The maquette of the chosen Dexter Jettster head (based loosely on American star Ernest Borgnine) is brought to the FOX Studios, Australia for actors reference in the scene. 

Ranald Falk and Susie Porter (Hermione Bagwa) enjoy the monster face as shown by George Lucas.

And inspected by an ever-curious Ewan McGregor.

EPISODE III: DROIDEKA ATTACK!

Now aboard the Invisible Hand enemy cruiser, Anakin and Obi-Wan, on their way to rescue the Supreme Chancellor, soon encounter more enemy attack fire, this time from newly arrived, formidable Droidekas, in this scene from EPISODE III.

'ATTACK' AT 20: ANAKIN'S FATEFUL TRIAL BY COMBAT!

Dooku critically injures Anakin, severing his right arm in a shocking moment that also echoes Luke Skywalker's later limb loss against Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.

Speedily blocking Count Dooku's attempt to kill Obi-Wan, Anakin shows his skills anew as a lightsaber duelist against such a formidable enemy. Sadly, Dooku proves too strong and critically injures the young hero. The scenario for our two now disabled and weakened heroes looks grim, but help of the most intriguing and diminutive kind is on the way...

Back in the duel, Anakin blocks Dooku's death blow to the injured Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Anakin makes a brief attack on Dooku with his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers.

Posed reference/publicity image of Hayden Christensen with two lightsabers.

Though down to just his own saber, Anakin fights on in the now darkened hangar but is soon defeated by his strong adversary.

Dooku Force sends the badly injured Anakin over towards the also fallen Obi-Wan.