Prequels stunt coordinator Nick Gillard tells Australia’s Sci Fi Central on an alternate way he was going to have Anakin sliced and diced in ROTS:
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January 6, 2017 at 1:45 am |
From what i gather, the Anakin vs Obi fight was originally going to be abit of a mini-movie of itself, rather than the inter-cutting that went on in the final edit – if am not mistaken.
The making of RotS book which is very interesting book, the author seems intimately involved about how things were done & what was going down, includes in it pics of a visual script that was a sort of roadmap of the film production that GL was utilising, only has some pics of the visual script in it unfortunately. Of course the art is cool.
For RotS and PT fans, the whole visual script along with it’s associated shoot script would be a funky item and a half (slobbering & dribbling fanboi mode, hehe).
It would have been nice to get the full tonal & thematic dance routine of the climatic duel, the cutting and bombastic music overpowers it abit i think (also there was an earlier concept art of essentially Obi just crouching donw and slicing Anakin’s legs of as he was about the do a type of overhead axe swing on Obi – which did seem anti-climatic). ANd of course the extra duel footage from TPM, Qui-gons initial stuff with Maul on the ramp & maybe desert, and the extra power generator footage that is briefly shown in a doc on the dvd. And Anakin’s battles against Dooku, in both films. AotC is abit short but has great style & tone going on, & RotS again has abit of it’s flow strangely edited – i’m sure there was at least a flip of Anakin over Dooku in there somewhere.
Gee, a bucket list for the duels alone of the PTs, ultimate box set, ulitimate box set ultimate box set, makes me think i wouldn’t be against dsyney selling of the PTs so could then get an ultimate deluxe PTs trilogy X but such things would still be difficult because of effect work required, plus couldn’t have a PT box set becoming a cool cult item in pop culture at the mo, just wouldn’t be the done thing!
January 6, 2017 at 7:20 am |
There is a lot of Gold in those deleted scenes, drafts, scripts, etc. The creative process is really fascinating and from my experience it is the most awesome movies that have the most awesome deleted scenes, and many of those scenes while really good in their own were better left off the final movie. For example, I think Qui Gon fighting Maul on the Royal Starship’s ramp was better left off to give a sense of less imminent danger after he jumped on the ramp and to save the big more out of the top acrobatics for the Duel of The Fates on the The Power Generator Complex. Now, on the issue of box sets and stuff, this is one of the things that concerns me most about the Disney acquisition. Because now Disney is the “guardian” of all the Star Wars movies, but seeing the way they have been treating the Prequel Trilogy, and all the misinformation being spread like wildfire over the internet regarding 4K Blu Ray, film vs digital, HDR, in no small part because of years of highly misleading marketing that confuses a lot of peoples heads, even more tech savvy people. I really fear that those movies are not going to get the proper caring, storing and remastering procedure they should, this is why I was so mad when they cancelled the 3D Re-releases. George always took his time and released the movies in the best home media format avaiable (VHS,DVD,Blu Ray). When you make a movie the final result is rendered into something called a Digital Intermediary (DI), which is then used to make copies for difference cinema standards like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, etc and Home Video Formats, (Blu Ray, 4K Blu Ray) Without getting too technical, when converting to home media compromises have to be made to encode this Digital Intermediary into a Blu Ray for example. 90% of Digital Intermediaries for blockbuster films released today are 2K (A little over full HD in resolution), but there is so much more than that, there are several compression technics that severely degrade video quality. Standard Blu Ray requires things like chroma subsampling, greatly reduced dynamic range and a way smaller color space than that used in Digital Cinema, that severely cripple the image. It may be good enough for your 2010 LCD TV set, but when you’re projecting onto a silver screen or watching on big modern day TVs it makes a lot of difference. 4K Blu Ray fixes several of this compromises. The point is, the prequels have A LOT to benefit from 4K Blu Ray and the hateboys are already bashing George for filming Attack of The Clones and Forward in Digital 2K even thought I think it was absolutely the best decision. There are absolutely delusional people who keep bragging 35mm film is better than digital and has 6K resolution even thought 99% of all films shot in 35mm including the Force Awakens have a 2K DIGITAL Intermediary. Bottom line, we need a 4K Blu Ray of the prequel trilogy badly.
January 6, 2017 at 9:19 am
It would be great to have, that’s for sure.
January 7, 2017 at 5:06 am
Very interesting, Pedro. Thanks for the technical insight.
Personally, a PT “Special Edition” by GL would be interesting, but this is not going to happen.
January 9, 2017 at 1:44 pm
I’d say ‘special edition’ should only be used on differently edited versions of the films in relation to significantly difference in content. Everything else is just different formats of the films.
There is a LOT that could be done with the PTs in a special edition set way in regards to that.
Just going from the dvds, i think TPM is probably the most solid in relation to this. I liked the sub scene, along with the Qui-gon probe driod scene but they were both just cool short wee asides. The flow at the end would be interesting to watch with the more cartoonish aspects of the battle driod/gungan/Jar jar battle cut, along with the more superfluous Anakin going gee wiz type stuff in the actual space dogfight happening around the control driod ship above the planet, which doesn’t have a strong narrative to follow apart from Anakin’s wow wee.
AotCs. The Padme family scenes and then the Queen scene which is really the pay-off to those dramatically, with Anakin’s hubris. This is about what Padme is saying to Anakin later in the fireplace scene, about their social divisions. It is all good Anakin & Padme contrasts of the personal and social which are further amplified in RotS. Padme Anakin Dooku scenes, well firstly it’s Christopher Lee who was a great Count Dooku! IT further sets up the ambivalence of Dooku, who is asking Padme, after he asked Obi-1, to join him and fix the republic. THis is important as it also relates to the mystery of the Clone army at this point in the film, & when finally revealed that he is a Sith, the different type of Sith Lord he is, as possibly relates to the nature of his conversion and connection to Palpatine/Sidious. Padme’s senate scene at the start, shows Palpatine then, getting her out of the way as she was blocking his plans as a result which helps delinate the significance of her character in the galaxy at the time as Anakin’s other half, and the tragedy of their story. Mace’s talk with Obi before he takes off, shows Obi confiding with Mace after Yoda rejected his concerns about anakin along with showing in a way how well he has done with Anakin, also a nice parallel to Anakin in RotS with his concerns about Padme.
I’m not as familiar with the bluray, but the extended arena battle narrative of the Jedi being driven back to the center of the arena, and overwhelmed by driods, along with the failed raid on the driod control ship for sure.
Then from the initial shooting script, introducing the section in Palpatines office about discovering that a Darth is involved in the origin of the Clone army. This takes care of the plot hole in Clones & the PTs, about what the Jedi thought about the mystery of what was behind or involved with the Clones, which is a significant section of the movie. It also gives a nice unsaid sense of panic going on, with the Jedi’s dis-connection to dealing with what is going on in RotS and the situation they have gotten into.
& Oh gosh, RotS one could really go to town with that’s Special Edition!
January 9, 2017 at 2:50 pm
I think the movies are basically fine the way they are. And I don’t want Disney monkeying with them.
January 9, 2017 at 3:08 pm
If interested in a film, then having available different versions to choose from is quite good in my experience. I’m not interested in the un-SE OTs for example, but i don’t have a problem if for whatever reasons, there are people who are fans of those editions.
A Director’s preferred version should be available, & if possible other versions should be the Director’s similar creative vision in those that are available. But if there are versions of a film where the work of a film is able to be seen where it wasn’t before & have an appreciative audience, i don’t have a problem with it.
When such like becomes an excuse for mindless bashing, well that is a different issue.
January 6, 2017 at 2:38 am |
Honestly, the ‘Alternate Way’ sounds so much better than the thing we got on screen, which was an unsatisfying closure of the fight.
January 6, 2017 at 9:15 am |
Meh, not very many people are going to agree with you there.
January 6, 2017 at 11:42 am
What’s with the cranky reply? Read the Rules of the House. If you have any questions, e-mail me.
January 6, 2017 at 3:09 pm
The problem is, even if someone who likes/loves the PT as i do, it seems to be forbidden to post a different/minor opinion on a subject matter. I was happy to see/hear that Nick Gillard – the man who brought us the magnificent PT lightsaber battles – had something different up his sleeve for the Ani VS Obi fight and i thought: Wow, that would have been awesome to see on screen, since the Obi-just-swings-his-sword-thing was just … okay imo. But no, i just got a MEH along with a biased comment, that no one here would agree with me. Well thanks.
January 6, 2017 at 5:46 pm
Nothing personal was meant.
January 6, 2017 at 10:13 am |
Heresy!! Ani vs Obi is my favorite Star Wars Lightsaber Duel ever and the ending is perfect. Honestly, they probably thought of many different ways it would go about and, though it was interesting to hear about it, this one sounded super forced and clunky to me.
January 6, 2017 at 11:22 am |
It ended perfectly.
January 6, 2017 at 11:59 am
I would also like to add that the ending to the fight mirrors the scene in Return of The Jedi where Luke got the high ground and Vader didn’t follow him having learnt his lesson in Revenge of The Sith where his anger clouded his judgment.
Obi-Wan warned him not to jump, but as always, he didn’t listen. Twice the pride, double the fall indeed.
The alternate take sounds humorous but Anakin/Vader’s downfall was due to his extreme arrogance and great pride in his “new powers” and the original take reflects that much better then the alternate one.
January 6, 2017 at 6:17 pm
The dialogue and delivery makes the ending, with that it would have been a bit meh, it’s more of a story ending admitedly than an action one. It’s also got a nice story connection to Obi’s slaying of Maul (as it would of to Anakin’s flip over Dooku).
Mustafar was an awesome environment to have the duel, but it’s flow is somewhat truncated and the soundtrack is used very bombastically with it. Also some of the dialogue’s weight is really about deleted or significantly reduced sub-plots in the film.
My fav. concept art that was not used in the film for the Mustafar duel is those floating platforms that would start sinking with the extra weight, with Obi & Anakin having a chase jumping from one to the other on them over great heights & presumably lava.
January 6, 2017 at 6:19 pm
*without that*
January 6, 2017 at 6:42 am |
I didn’t know that. Great interview, thanks for sharing!
January 6, 2017 at 9:46 am |
the prequel light saber fights are amazing. here’s hoping for some more kinetic masterpieces
January 6, 2017 at 6:41 pm |
I found this amusing tidbit, thanks to Jack Manuel’s Twitter account –
https://twitter.com/manyymedia/status/814479597475536896