As a franchise, Star Wars is known to be based on falsities. Be it fight sequences, or heartfelt ones, often, what we see isn’t what is actually there. Several characters are almost completely CGI, and Disney relies quite heavily on visual effects to bail them out when put in a tough corner. From the lightsaber effects to the fights being done by stunt people, there is no denying that CGI helps the final product look the way that it does.
However, sometimes actors or VFX artists go above and beyond to get the most authentic version of a scene. During an interview, Hayden Christensen revealed one such scene that became iconic for fans of the franchise.
Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor Impressed Fans
During an interview with GQ, Hayden Christensen looked back at some of his most iconic moments in Star Wars, according to fans. One fan brought up a fight sequence in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, between Christensen’s and Ewan McGregor’s characters. They pointed out that throughout the entire Mustafar altercation, there was no use of stunt doubles, and there was no speeding up of any kind.
‘Friendly reminder that the Mustafar duel didn’t use stunt doubles and wasn’t sped up in any way. Hayden and Ewan were just THAT GOOD at dueling each other.’ This is true. That was us. There were no stunt doubles and they didn’t sped it up at all. We were just that good.
After reading out the question, Hayden Christensen agreed to it, stating that this was, in fact, the truth. Even though it was an important fight scene and certainly not an easy one, both he and McGregor executed it themselves.
It is safe to say that this piece of information is quite surprising considering just how smooth and perfect their fighting styles were.
Star Wars Creator Told Hayden Christensen To Stop Doing One Thing
While Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen doing their own fight scenes is extremely impressive, not everything can be done without the use of special effects. During the interview, Christensen went on to talk about an interesting instance when he was told to stop doing one thing by George Lucas himself. Having grown up being a fan of Star Wars, the actor seemed to love making ‘lightsaber’ sounds when he was using them.
You know, being on a ‘Star Wars’ set and swinging a lightsaber. I used to struggle a lot with not making the sound effects because as a kid, you’re sort of conditioned to do that yourself.
However, these sound effects are often added in post-production and do not need to be made by the actors. During one such instance, the actor was approached by Lucas, who is the creator of the franchise, and was told to stop moving his mouth when on camera as they would add those effects later on.
And I remember George Lucas on a couple of occasions would have to come over to me and say, “Hayden, I can see your mouth moving and you don’t need to make the sound effects. Like, we do that in post.”
It is safe to say that the experience must have been quite a funny one for both, Christensen and Lucas.
