Revenge Of The Sith marks a pivotal moment in the Star Wars universe, particularly the Skywalker Saga as it cements Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the Dark Side. The film features several brutal moments, which slowly build up to Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader after he succumbs to the Dark Side.
However, one brutal moment from the film, namely the death of Count Dooku at the hands of Anakin wasn’t exactly scripted as it appears in the final film. Instead, the scene was changed during the conceptualization of the duel’s stunt choreography and added Count Dooku’s brutal fate. Given the complex emotions the scene was trying to convey, actor Christopher Lee brilliantly portrayed Count Dooku’s death despite the scene being changed on the fly.
Count Dooku’s Brutal Fate In Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith Was Changed Last Moment
In Revenge Of The Sith, Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen, faces Count Dooku, played by Christopher Lee. The two engage in a lightsaber duel after Obi-Wan Kenobi is knocked out while trying to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, leading to Anakin killing Dooku.
During an interview, the film’s lead stunt coordinator Nick Gillard revealed the team wanted the lightsaber duel between Anakin and Dooku to be more complex and end in a brutal fashion.
We wanted to chop [Dooku’s] head off … that wasn’t in the script, but we thought it needed to be that brutal. Dooku technically should have known he was going to lose.
Gillard made the above statement (via /Film), explaining how Anakin giving into his rage and chopping off Dooku’s head on Palpatine’s orders was not in the initial script. Instead, Gillard interpreted the scene to add the first hint of Anakin’s fall to the dark side by showcasing his rage. He added:
I mean, we tried to show it through the fight that suddenly he’s thinking ‘Oh my god, this kid is something else, I’m in trouble’, but I don’t know if that came across.
Gillard’s statement confirms that Dooku’s brutal fate was not only a last-minute addition, but it was also difficult to execute because of the complexity of the lightsaber duel and the changing of Dooku’s perception about Anakin and the realization of his defeat.
Christopher Lee Brilliantly Captured the Characterization of Count Dooku’s Duel With Anakin and Obi-Wan
During his lightsaber duel with Count Dooku, Anakin decapitated his opponent as revenge for chopping off his arm in the previous film. Later, Palpatine asks Anakin to kill Dooku, exploiting the intense thirst for vengeance within Anakin. Therefore, Dooku realizes that his time is over and the horror on his face not only stems from Palpatine betraying him but also from Anakin’s true potential as a Dark Side user.
However, given the choreography and nature of lightsaber duels it is hard to track the emotional graph of the characters in the scene. Moreover, with the duel being filmed with wide shots, using stunt doubles for Christopher Lee‘s Count Dooku, a lot of the nuance is lost in translation. In the film’s novelization, Dooku realizes that he was always meant to be a victim of Anakin.
In the film, Lee delivers all the nuance of the fight and its conclusion with Dooku’s defeat at the hands of Anakin, in a single close-up shot that portrays horror and disbelief at the same time. Moments after the realization that he was deceived from the start, Dooku’s head is chopped off. Moreover, given that the brutal end to Dooku was a last-minute addition, it is a testament to Lee’s acting prowess that he could convey the nuance of the entire scene with a single look.
Revenge Of The Sith is streaming on Disney+.
