From the Duel Of The Fates to Supreme Leader Snoke’s scarlet red throne room, some of the Star Wars franchise’s most memorable moments have one thing in common: an epic fight.
The world of Star Wars has graced our screens for over 40 years and, in that time, the series has played host to some incredible stunt choreography. However, ask any fan for their favourite moment and whilst names like Obi-Wan and Kylo Ren may appear, the team that brought them to life often goes unrecognised.
When you see your favourite star flipping off a building, there were likely up to three stunt performers who helped make it happen. We spoke to The Rise Of Skywalker fight coordinator Mike Lambert and Daisy Ridley’s stunt double Chloe Bruce (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi) about what goes into making these moments.
“Years ago, there was never an actual title for a fight coordinator or choreographer,” says Lambert, for whom The Rise Of Skywalker was his first time on a Star Wars set. “Basically a stunt coordinator would get some guys and whack together a fight, but now it’s become its own department.” Alongside the stunt coordinator, in this case the award-winning Eunice Huthart, the fight coordinator and film’s director look over the script, noting down any moments of stunt work. They then go off and choreograph the scene: “We’d actually film the sequence and edit it together, sometimes even adding lights or VFX to sell the idea,” says Lambert.
This is what the coordinators call a ‘stunt vis’ or visual. “Then we’d show that to the director and they’ll say what’s good and what to tweak or change.” Lambert insists that fight coordinators don’t just throw together punches: “We actually have to make a stunt vis, deal with the doubles and the artists, break down the script; there’s a huge amount of responsibility in the position.”
However, the stunt crew has to be able to adapt to any style of working. “J J Abrams is one of my favourite directors and was great to work with, but he isn’t a fan of stunt vis,” Lambert confesses. “He preferred coming into our rehearsals and watching the fight live.”
After the choreography is greenlit and the director is happy, how soon the cast gets to try it is a matter of health and safety. “We’ll get Adam [Driver] and Daisy [Ridley] in but keep them separated at first. So we would have Daisy fight Kylo Ren’s double, and Adam fight Rey’s. Once we know it’s safe, we’ll bring the artists together and do it slowly.”
Lambert makes sure to sing the praises of his cast: “In my 27 years of doing this, Daisy Ridley is hands down the best artist I’ve ever worked with.” The actress was quick to pick up new routines and was determined to get it right, he adds. “She moves just as good, if not better, than your average stunt performer. She’s also such a nice person.”
Equally, Chloe Bruce, who acted as Ridley’s stunt double in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, hugely enjoyed her time working on the Star Wars set: “When I held a lightsaber for the first time I was such a geek, I just couldn’t believe it,” she says. Having trained in martial arts for nearly all her life – she was even a world champion in Tang Soo Do by the age of 13 – over the past decade Bruce has doubled for Zoe Saldana in Guardians Of The Galaxy, and has appeared in Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars: Battlefront II and more. The athlete insists that Star Wars is a dream come true for any stunt performer, calling it “the most rewarding journey”.
Lambert further shares this sentiment: “Pound for pound, I think this is the most enjoyable film I’ve ever worked on,” he says of The Rise Of Skywalker.
So what do the experts think makes for an epic lightsaber duel? “The scene [in The Rise Of Skywalker] where Kylo Ren and Rey fight on the Death Star and the waves are crashing – we called it the pier fight on set – was a standout for me,” says Lambert. “Kylo Ren fighting in the red forest was also brilliant, but it was originally five times longer. Hopefully that might have found its way onto the deleted scenes.” From the sounds of it, a lot of this work ends up on the cutting room floor, as Lambert continues that Kylo vs The Knights of Ren was also originally ten minutes long.
Lambert suggests that what makes a lightsaber fight so memorable lies inherently in the weapon itself. “Even the most basic fight scenes are going to look amazing because a lightsaber is one of the coolest weapons in the universe.” But in the end, a fight scene is nothing if it isn’t shot correctly: “You could have two of the world’s greatest stunt performers and this amazing ballet-like martial arts action, but if it’s not shot and edited in the right way, it can be a complete disaster. Equally you can have two awful stunt performers and it can look amazing.”
Whilst stunts remain vital to filmmaking, the industry seems reluctant to recognise that fact in their awards. “It’s a really touchy subject for performers and coordinators,” says Bruce, “we’re not even in the conversation when it comes to awards. But if you see literally any movie at the cinema I can guarantee there is an element of stunt work, and without stunts the movie wouldn’t exist. I think a category for Best Stunt Coordinator or just general stunt work is deserved, especially when some of us put our lives on the line for these films.”
Whilst we wait for awards bodies to recognise the work of stunt crews, Lambert is happy seeing it all come together on the big screen: “It’s still an exhilarating, nerve-wracking and fantastic experience to watch the final film in the cinema,” he says.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Walt Disney.