George Lucas established the Star Wars franchise with the 1977 film, which has since evolved into numerous shows and movies. While the filmmaker has been quite confident about the overall story and character development in the franchise under his supervision, there was one specific scene that had him concerned. The fourth installment under the franchise, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, featured Yoda in a lightsaber battle against Count Dooku.
While the sequence ultimately resonated well with Star Wars enthusiasts and gained popularity, Lucas was concerned about how it was going to turn out as he feared that the action scene would turn out to be nothing but a joke.
George Lucas Was Concerned About Yoda’s Fight Sequence
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones had an intriguing fight sequence in store for fans of the franchise. After Obi-Wan and Anakin fail to take down Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku, Yoda takes charge in the final fight sequence of the film. The two have a show of Force power before they finally take out their lightsabers.
The scene that surprised fans all around the world gave the film’s director countless “sleepless nights and stress.” George Lucas opened up about pulling off the sequence in the film’s Blu-ray commentary track. He said that he was “scared to death” about how they would pull the scene off.
As per Business Insider, the filmmaker believed that it was the “biggest risk” for the movie. He was concerned if he could “make this realistic enough to make it believable, or would it be this ludicrous joke?” The action sequence, however, turned out pretty well.
Lucas shared that he was able to keep the scene “fun” without making it “silly,” keeping it intact as the impactful moment he envisioned it to be. With the earlier movies establishing how wise and powerful Yoda has been, the sequence effectively illustrates why he is the most powerful Jedi alive.
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The Fight Sequence Was Enhanced to Emphasize Its Impact
Before the final fight sequence was shot, the visual effect supervisor, John Knoll, suggested George Lucas enhance the fight sequence. The scene originally featured Yoda engaging in a lightsaber battle with Count Dooku the moment he entered the hangar.
However, members of the visual team recommended that they should extend it with a show of Force power sequence before their duel. Animation director Rob Coleman suggested that getting quickly into the battle would have contradicted the established image of Yoda in the franchise thus far.
“We felt if we got into the fight too quickly, the audience would not be able to travel that distance from Yoda being an 800-year-old character to be able to go around with such speed and be nimble.”
It resulted in “The Wizards’ Battle” being added to the movie, which featured Count Dooku trying to attack Yoda with the rocky ceiling and his electric power before he ends the duel and escapes by distracting Yoda by crashing a large generator on Kenobi and Skywalker.
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is available on Disney+.
