In order to get to the finish line, Gillard had to invent an entirely new form of sword fighting, map out minute after minute of steps and swings, rehearse for three exhausting weeks (a full one-fifth of the total rehearsal time for all the movie’s stunts), and execute part of it in reverse. The end result is seamless and smooth, but it was far from a cinch. The final product is intimately familiar for Star Wars nuts: While John Williams’s “Duel of the Fates” plays, noble Jedi ascetics Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi go up against the sinister Sith lord Darth Maul, who wields a truly badass double-bladed lightsaber. Operating with that kind of carte blanche, Gillard acted as choreographer and trainer for the tussle, as well as de facto writer and director for much of it. ![]() It would say something like, ‘A vicious lightsaber battle ensues - seven minutes,’ and you could fill in the gap there.” Gillard pauses for a beat. “So he didn’t bother, really, writing it. “George has never been in a fight in his life,” says the trilogy’s stunt coordinator, Nick Gillard, his English drawl rising into a chuckle. That said, when he was preparing what is perhaps the trilogy’s most iconic scene, the three-way lightsaber battle that acts as the climax of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, he had a problem that he couldn’t solve on his own. ![]() He had final say in every aspect of the mythology, from tie-ins to toys. He directed all three of the installments. ![]() The Star Wars prequel trilogy was, for better or worse, driven by a single man’s vision. In the lead-up to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, we look back at the first Jedi (narratively speaking) with a series of stories about the much-beloved and never-disparaged prequel trilogy.
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