Just came across a remarkable interview with Nick Gillard, stunt Co-Ordinator for the Prequels and inventor of the lightsaber styles we see in Star Wars and the EU. Really fantastic stuff in here, especially concerning cut content from duels.

One part which stands out in particular to me is this passage:

"With Lucas. It’s not written by him. In EPISODE THREE, Lucas’s script would say, “a sword fight ensues” and he’ll tell you how much time you have to fill. The only one he resisted, which was wrong, was the sequence of the EPISODE THREE fight where Anakin got his arm and legs chopped off. That happened on the last day of that sequence- where Anakin and Obi-Wan jump onto to the droids on the lava and arrive on the volcano hill top- it got put in that morning and we had ten minutes to do it. For the decapitation, what I had was so much better- they both swung from the rope and landed on the hill Anakin lands first- Anakin strikes first and there’s a little blam blam and Obi’s sword is on the ground. And then Anakin grabs him by the throat-there’s a continuity there with Vader and what he earlier did with Padme which I liked-and he says, “I’m sorry it has to be this way, my Master”, and then Obi calls for his sword and, as Anakin comes forward and attacks, Obi twists in a defensive manner, cuts through Anakin’s arms and swings through his legs. It was perfect. My take on the whole duel was that Obi is the central character in that duel. He wouldn’t try and kill Anakin. The way I saw that fight was like having a fight with your girlfriend. That she’s just lost it and that she’s coming at you with everything she’s got. You can’t hit her-she’s a girl. So you try to defend her as long as you can until she breaks down. Then you can give her a cuddle. That was the way I saw it. Obi is taking it and taking it, and hoping it’ll lead to a point where Anakin will run out of steam."

~ Nick Gillard

This would have been, in my opinion, a fantastic fight scene and a much better conclusion. I think that a lot of this duel was lost in the editing, especially when compared to the duels between Luke and Vader.

Full interview here as a PDF

"In the big duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan, there were more punches and kicks, they Force threw objects at each other (but no volcanic lava) and the control room scene fight was longer- if you notice on the bit where Anakin’s strangling Obi-Wan in the briefing room you’ll see that both of them are holding different lightsabers in one shot and in the next they’re back to holding their own ones-part of that fight, which explained what happened there, was cut and so continuity was thrown out. The scene where the two of them were Force locked and threw themselves back was also much different. Originally they were at separate sides of the room and leapt to the control table in the middle to fight one another –the two lightsaber blades literally went into each other and the resulting explosion/shockwave threw both Jedi back (a portion of the stunt test with Kyle and Michael can be seen on the DVD)-George didn’t like that and it was cut out. I think we should have gone with it. I also deliberately put in a nice nod/homage to the original first film’s Epee duel between Obi and Darth Vader but most of that got cut-a portion of it, from a different angle, can be seen as they are fighting on the piping before jumping down to the collection arm. There were also some superb killer moves from Hayden and a lightsaber decapitation attempt by him on Obi-Wan that was so quick. The ruthless look on Hayden’s face in that scene- the “You can’t beat me, Master” attitude- said it all. In that fight, Anakin knows that Obi is not going to kill him…"

~ Nick Gillard

More on the deleted portions of the Mustafar duel, which simply sounds superb.

Also, another interview: Straight 2 DVD with Nick Gillard

In which he makes the interesting statement -- "He was more in touch with the Dark Side than most people think"

when asked about the character of Cin Drallig, since very little is actually known about him.

Have a look at the RotS video game, you get a bit more on Cin Drallig from that. Hayden Christiansen and Nick Gillard actually both went to the studio and taught most of the programmers for the game some simple swordsmanship and helped do motion capture for all the lightsaber moves in the game.

Yes I know, have the game. But I wanted to see a more canon wise fight and such for Cin.

Yes I know, have the game. But I wanted to see a more canon wise fight and such for Cin.

Well, the originally choreographed fight that the shot for Ep. III sounded great. Vader was supposed to fight Drallig and an apprentice at the same time, and turned one of Drallig's lightsaber thrusts aside so that Drallig ended up stabbing his apprentice and then Vader killed Drallig.

So we can take that as what happened between them when they fought, or look at the RotS game. The way Sera Keto was killed was pretty cool.

Well, the originally choreographed fight that the shot for Ep. III sounded great. Vader was supposed to fight Drallig and an apprentice at the same time, and turned one of Drallig's lightsaber thrusts aside so that Drallig ended up stabbing his apprentice and then Vader killed Drallig.

 

So we can take that as what happened between them when they fought, or look at the RotS game. The way Sera Keto was killed was pretty cool.

I guess....and ya Sera was a nice addition to the game. Ah well, I guess it can't be helped.

I guess....and ya Sera was a nice addition to the game. Ah well, I guess it can't be helped.

What burns me up is that there are stills from the Vader/Drallig duel, and somewhere out there is the footage from when they filmed it. Rick McCallum's daughter actually played Drallig's apprentice for that scene.

What burns me up is that there are stills from the Vader/Drallig duel, and somewhere out there is the footage from when they filmed it. Rick McCallum's daughter actually played Drallig's apprentice for that scene.

I knew there was something like that, that they did infact film the duel...but I could never find anything on it.

I knew there was something like that, that they did infact film the duel...but I could never find anything on it.

All I've been able to find are some shots from the set, and a few post production images of the duel which added the holocamera effect to the actors.

All I've been able to find are some shots from the set, and a few post production images of the duel which added the holocamera effect to the actors.

Don't suppose, you still have em?

Don't suppose, you still have em?

I don't think I have copies of them, but a thorough google images search ought to yield a few results. If I come across any of the better ones I'd seen, I'll try to link them here.

The way I saw that fight was like having a fight with your girlfriend. That she’s just lost it and that she’s coming at you with everything she’s got. You can’t hit her-she’s a girl. So you try to defend her as long as you can until she breaks down. Then you can give her a cuddle. That was the way I saw it. Obi is taking it and taking it, and hoping it’ll lead to a point where Anakin will run out of steam."

Nick, I think you need a new girlfriend. Yours sounds scary:eek: