'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: TO DUEL A SITH LORD!

Lucas watches the new choreography between Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson, hastily supervised by Nick Gillard.

With the Sith enemy finally revealed as none other than the Supreme Chancellor himself, Mace Windu finds himself in single, brutal lightsaber combat with Darth Sidious and thankfully seems to overpower his nemesis. But when Anakin Skywalker arrives on the scene playing out within the Chancellor's office, and sees Windu readying to kill the evil energy scarred Sith, the young Jedi has no choice but to intervene, so as to save the life of Padme. And so comes a shocking end to the respected Jedi Master, but a man who had nonetheless been wary of Anakin since his introduction to Yoda and the Jedi Council in Episode I.

"I suppose it's easy to play, I think, a hypercritical politician with a smiling face. It's also quite gratifying. Most difficult, certainly for me, were the all action sequences. The sequence fighting Sam (Jackson) and persuading Hayden (Christensen) to send him through the window. But you'll see from the DVD we had our problems that day. They weren't big ones and were easily surmountable."

"I'd learned some stuff and I worked with Nick Gillard, and when George saw it on the set it wasn't what he needed. And interestingly enough what he needed was more of me. I'd rather thought they'd want less of me. But he wanted not just my facial expressions, which would have been obvious and he was not terribly interested in replacing faces unless it was absolutely necessary, he wanted my energy."

Ian McDiarmid - Episode III DVD press launch - 2005

Locking sabers: Darth Sidious and Mace Windu.

Lucas goes through planned moves on set.

Lucas watches Ian McDiarmid with his double, Michael Byrne, as Sam Jackson and Nick Gillard wait to see what is improvised in the duel.

McDiarmid gets some intriguing new duelling moves in the sequence that are far different from any Jedi's attack/defense.

Filming the duel sequence near the what will be a CGI-smashed observation window.

The sparks are flying!

Anakin arrives to see the fallen Palpatine, as seen in this visual script page from Nick Gillard.

Holding two lightsabers (one presumably being Sidious's) in an unseen moment, Mace resists the dark side energies against him, watched by a troubled Anakin.

Onscreen, with just one saber taking on the powers of Palpatine.

Windu, with just his own saber, holds firm against the Sith's evil energies, but Anakin's surprise action leads to his demise at Sidious's hands - 'unlimited power'!

Mace is propelled out the window in the scene shot at the FOX Studios, Australia.

Jackson enjoys his 'death' alongside Nick Gillard.

"Yeah, it was hard work, a lot harder than before. You get what you ask for sometimes, and it's... damn! So, I ended up in Australia, and then I guess I had to rehearse for 8 days before I actually shot it, learned a 137-move saber fight. It was crazy."

Samuel L. Jackson - Tiscali Internet interview - 2005

"All of the stuff that I shot is in the movie. Nothing is on the floor, and George kept calling me back. We filmed Revenge of the Sith two and a half, almost three years ago, and I went back six times to do re-shoots, enhancement shots or whatever. We kept adding more and more, and all my material is in the picture. I even had to go back and sort of redo my death scene because George didn't think it was long enough. Well, I was kind of there like, "Ahhh," and then out of the window, George was like, "No. No. Stay in there." My death is cool. Actually, I could have ended the saga. I'm still a bad mother, but I had Sidious. I had him!" 

Samuel L. Jackson - Starlog magazine issue 337 - August 2005

Sam Jackson celebrates the 20th Anniversary landmark. Image: Facebook.

'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: A CONFLICT IN THE STRATOSPHERE!

A space battle like no other in the Prequel saga.

"War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.

In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.

As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate rescue mission to rescue the captive chancellor..."

EPISODE III title crawl text - 2005

The Jedi Starfighters commanded by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Republic fighters ready to attack and escort the Jedi to their destination.

Enemy Tri-fighters.

Obi-Wan and Anakin navigate their way through the battle in these two animatic storyboard script pages from the archive of Nick Gillard.

"This was the most complicated space battle in any Star Wars movie in terms of number of elements and variety of things depicted. It was also a little different. There has been a space battle in all six of the pictures; but, for the first time, we set a space battle in the upper regions of the atmosphere - in this case, Coruscant's atmosphere. So it was almost in space, but not quite. We used that as an excuse to do smoke, fire, drag, flak bursts and a lot of other things you can't do in space."

"There is a progression in the space battle. We start at one place, thread through a bunch of ships, and end up at Grievous' ship at the other end. Layout determined what ships were where, and every shot began with that basic space arrangement."

John Knoll - Cinefex Magazine 102 -2005

Speeding through the epic battlefield.

Penetrating a massive explosion.

The Jedi Starfighters tackle all obstacles.

Republic Cruisers close in.

Several epic battle shots from the sequence between locked-in Republic and Separatist forces.

'ATTACK' AT 20: DEFEATING JANGO FETT!

The end of the line for Jango Fett!

Separated in battle from Obi-Wan (who has now dispatched the Acklay beast and numerous intimidated Battle Droids), Mace Windu finds himself back in the target sites of bounty hunter Jango Fett, who propels himself into the arena for final conflict against the Jedi, though the primal Reek has a grudge to settle first against any humanoid in its riotous path, notably injuring Fett and disabling his jet pack before the bounty hunter ultimately kills it. No longer a threat to Mace Windu, the supreme Jedi fighter makes the graceful killing moves that lead to his separating Jango's head from his body, watched from a distance by a shocked Boba!

Mace and Obi-Wan hip-deep in battle.

The rampant Reek attacks anything in its way, first separating Obi-Wan and Mace, then going for Jango Fett with thunderous skill.

With his rocket backpack damaged, Jango Fett is stuck in the arena...

... whilst Mace retrieves his lightsaber in an alternate take.

"My fight with Jango is a combination of him trying to escape and me trying to stop him. so there are a few elements, of him flying around, shooting projectiles at me, me defending myself and then going on the offensive. And once that happens he's pretty much toast."

Samuel L. Jackson - Lucasfilm promotional interview for EPISODE II - 2001

“Mace’s style (of fighting) is quite economic. If he gets within range, there’s no question-you’re dead.” 

Nick Gillard - Dreamwatch magazine - June 2002

 “George was like, “Hmm, well, there are only two colours. Bad guys have red and good guys have blue. Let me think about it. Then we went back to do some shots in London, he said, “hey, take a look at this.” He pulled up some footage and my lightsaber comes up purple. I was like “Is this just for this or is it going to be like that in the movie?” He goes, “No, you got it.” Purple is my favourite colour, and it has regal overtones, it’s a powerful colour. And then when I’m in big battles scenes off in the distance, I can always say, “Look! There I am, over there.” ” 

 Samuel L. Jackson - Empire magazine - June 2002 

“Mace is not the calmest of Jedis. He’d just as soon saber you in the back.” 

Samuel L. Jackson - Empire magazine - June 2002

Jango takes out the renegade Reek and will rapidly turn his attentions to the approaching Mace. But too late - Jango is soon going...

going...

.... gone!

And a boy will ultimately take on his father's legacy.

BEHIND THE SCENES VARIOUS

Awaiting the cue to 'Action!'

Mace Windu, now arrived in the arena and with his smoky cloak (prior set alight by Jango Fett) soon abandoned.

Mace fighting back in a deflection stance not seen in the movie.

Another unseen moment of Mace using his skills in the arena, or before he retrieves his fallen lightsaber?

Going through some unseen killer lightsaber moves with stunt coordinator supremo Nick Gillard.

Cooling off between takes on the set floor.

Jango stunt double Scott Mclean prepares for action.

An unseen moment of a mid-air Jango firing double blasters. Perhaps at Mace Windu?

Mace takes out Jango.

Lucas goes through the decapitation aftermath with a colleague on set.

Close-up shot of the lone helmet, its insides having been deposited somewhere else in the arena.