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| On set prior to filming, Liam Neeson and Ray Park go through a specific blocking lightsaber move. |
In charge of one of the most spectacular and memorable lightsaber duel sequences ever for a
Star Wars film, Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard delivered the goods within a twelve-week prep period for the actors and stunt men bringing it to life. For durability, under Gillard's supervision, new lightsabers used were made from resin, wood and aluminium tubing. Twenty swords were used a day, whilst around three hundred blades were used across filming.
"They (the actors) have got to be down on the floor (doing these fights). You want there to be a sense of peril and threat. You want (the heroes) to win."
"We were blessed with Ewan and Liam. I think they understood that it had to be written almost like dialogue and they could relate to that very quickly. Ewan picked it up in a flash, and y'know, I think he's faster than any of us. Liam has a beautiful style. Powerful. He's fantastic at it."
Nick Gillard - 1997
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| Neeson rehearses moves with Andreas Petrides at Leavesden. |
"I've done four or five films where I've had to do some serious sword fighting, so I have a grounding in it. Normally with blades you have to hack and put weight behind it. But with these things it's a very gently kind of smooth and fluid, fast movement. Very kind of gentle and at the same time, when they use their lightsabers, they are like an extension of themselves."
Liam Neeson - 1997
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| Ewan learns the movies quickly alongside Ray Park. |
"I worked really hard with Nick (Gillard) and Ray Park, and we worked and worked!. When you're doing a fight like that you can't think about what comes next. You're so connected with your opponent that it just flows. I hate myself for saying this, but it's the nearest thing to the "Force' that you could imagine!"
Ewan McGregor - Entertainment Tonight online interview - 1999
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| On set rehearsing with Ray Park. |
"I was amazed by Ewan's ability to remember all the moves. I had trouble remembering two or three moves at a time, but he could do twelve, thirteen moves, having just learned them. Fortunately, George gave us the time to get comfortable with the scene, and eventually it got done."
Liam Neeson - The Making of EPISODE I book - 1999
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| Enjoying being in a Star Wars film! |
"The first things we were doing when we (he and Ewan McGregor) started rehearing these fights, we started making the sound effects of the lightsabers - like 'voom, voom'. We kinda looked at each other, and thought, "Okay, we have to stop that, y'know!""
Liam Neeson - 1997
"There's basically eight defensive moves you do. But it was a lot more spirited and operatic and balletic in scale - and long. It was difficult to choreograph but we had a great team. Ray Park, who plays this Darth Maul, he not only had to learn his moves, he had to learn mine and Ewan's so that any time we forgot stuff he would quickly jump into our position, "This where you so this and you do that." I guess I just had to concentrate just that little bit more knowing there was all this..."
Liam Neeson - Film Review magazine - 1999
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| Nick Gillard goes through a swing move with McGregor. |
"It's not like any fighting I've done before. It's lightsaber-fighting - it's a skill of its own. I get to be flash. When I'm fighting, I do lots of twists and spins and twirls and showing off a bit. I've been doing a lot of work on it. Every job you do requires you learning some new skill -it's one of the nicest things about what I do."
Ewan McGregor - Star Wars Insider - 1998
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| Stunt men Rob Inch (Qui-Gon) and Andrea Petrides (Obi-Wan) rehearse sone tricky lightsaber duel moves with Ray Park as Maul. |
"All the close-ups you see (in the fight) are definitely Ewan and Liam. Ewan admits he didn't do any of the acrobatic stuff, but he did all his fights, and so did Liam. They had doubles for some of their other stuff, but on the fights, they wanted to do as much as they could, and they did all right."
Ray Park - Wizard magazine - 1999
