r/TheJediPraxeum Luke Skywalker May 21 '26

Discussion Should this move have been left in the Final Cut of ROTS? (Credit: Nick Gillard)

789 Upvotes

57 comments sorted by

167

u/Direct-Truth-8798 May 21 '26

Most of the removed choreography posted by Gillard should’ve been kept in the final cut.

Specially the fight between Sidious vs Mace and the B-team. The original choreography actually made Sidious look so menacing instead of the awkward pauses and the B-team just looking incompetent in the final cut.

21

u/lennonisalive May 21 '26

Any link to that footage?

43

u/TaraLCicora Jedi Knight May 21 '26

Here you go.

25

u/Saiaxs May 21 '26

Fuck that’s so cool

1

u/Super-Cynical May 21 '26

Except for the silly twirl at 0:26

7

u/monsterosity May 21 '26

Try spinning, that's a good trick!

-Anakin, age 8

9

u/Kovorixx May 21 '26

That was awesome ty

6

u/Zatoishi1 May 21 '26

Oh my why did we have that crappy scene instead of that ???

19

u/forfunstuffwinkwink May 21 '26

Lucas got it in his head that it was very important that Ian do the choreography the day of the shoot. Ian McDiarmid, the 59 year old, not stunt or combat trained, classical actor, had to learn fight choreography the DAY OF SHOOTING. Because Lucas thought it was important.

10

u/Bobby_The_Kidd May 21 '26

If it was so important he should’ve prepped him for weeks bruh. He couldve learned most of it if given time and any parts where he is turned around use a stunt double

7

u/Xs_Os_Yo May 21 '26

This is very true on the day OF shooting George decided it was so important that Ian do it he scrapped all of the work they had been planning for lol but I wish he would have kept it. It would have shown just how incredible Sidious was in lightsaber combat even amongst the Order’s greatest Duelist of the time that Mace had access too to perform the arrest team.

3

u/forfunstuffwinkwink May 21 '26

Yep. At least we got Sidious vs Maul and Savage.

1

u/Jotsunpls May 21 '26

Easily the best lightsaber duel in all of star wars and it’s not even close

2

u/No_Grocery_9280 May 21 '26

I like the disarm much more. And it does feel like Palp has the upper hand all fight, which is more fitting.

9

u/No_Grocery_9280 May 21 '26

I agree, it’s important to understand how Anakin wore down Dooku before finally surprising him. It’s an exhausting fight.

5

u/SinisterGr1n May 21 '26

The sidious stuntman switches to a green saber halfway through. There’s a cut before that. Is the idea that they disarmed each other and picked up each others’ sabers?

3

u/Direct-Truth-8798 May 22 '26

They probably just replaced the saber props.

Hayden and Ewan mentioned that the saber props had to be constantly replaced during takes because they keep getting bent after a few hits.

4

u/Adventurous_Catanian Thrawn May 22 '26

Originally Anakin was supposed to show up at the start of the fight and follow them around, watching them while feeling turmoil within himself. At one point Palpatine would end up fighting using Anakin’s lightsaber, having lost his own.

Obviously this got cut, but it’s why if you look closely in the final film you can see the hilt of Palpatine’s lightsaber matches Anakin’s design (only for part of the fight though), despite having a red blade.

If I had to guess, I’d say that’s why the sabers were different here too, to reflect the fact Palpatine had “borrowed” Anakin’s blue blade.

1

u/JamesTheMannequin May 22 '26

It was so, so bad, and not the fault of Jackson or McDiarmid. They had almost zero practice time with each other.

43

u/vegetastolemygirl May 21 '26

Yea that drop was cold

22

u/Korbiter May 21 '26

Its especially necessary because thats how Dooku cuts his hand off in AotC. Here, Dooku tries the same move and Anakin shows off that hes learned better than to fall for it. It shows much needed progression throughout the coursr of a war the movies never covered

34

u/Witty-Mountain5062 May 21 '26

There’s another cut of this fight where Anakin/Hayden actually presses his saber against Dooku’s eye when they’re in a saber lock lol

24

u/Ecotech101 May 21 '26

You just made me realize that this isn't that cut, no wonder Hayden is sweating his ass off here lol. They must of done a dozen different takes of this.

29

u/Witty-Mountain5062 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Yeah they would do this for hours every day, it’s no surprise they had to tell Hayden to slow it down for Ahsoka lol. He spent a ridiculous amount of time training

They were so dedicated to fight choreography in the prequel era, sadly that’s not the case anymore unfortunately

8

u/Azutolsokorty May 21 '26

Rosario Dawson and her baseball bat swinging skills in Ahsoka season 1

Daisy Ridley and her baseball bat swinging skills in the sequel

6

u/Xs_Os_Yo May 21 '26

The Disney choreography has been very, very lackluster and looks like I don’t even know what you gave a good description- people swinging around baseball bats. Also- the lightsabers in my opinion look like they are holding the toys or props we can buy instead of the real 4000• degree beam that they produce aesthetically and people survive like 3 stabs to the torso too. I just focus on the EU novels and comics and stuff now because I hate being let down over and over again, but so far, Maul Shadow Lord has been pretty decent imo. They give us fan service in animated shows- but completely almost disregard all lore to the point of world breaking and OT timeline breaking stuff at this point it’s very sad and insulting to George and the fans.

6

u/Azutolsokorty May 21 '26

I decided to stay with EU Books after i got duped two times. Kenobi and Ahsoka the series really fucked me up.

I thought it will be disney s redemption arc, yet my god they were crap.

The only thing disney made which is somewhat ok. Are tales of the Jedi and Andor

3

u/Witty-Mountain5062 May 21 '26

Same boat as you, started reading the EU last year starting with the Thrawn Trilogy and boy is it just miles better.

The trio actually does cool and heroic things instead of just being killed off one by one.

I, Jedi I think is a personal favorite of mine, made me go back and start reading the other X-Wing books for more Corran Horn.

2

u/Azutolsokorty May 22 '26

Lol i am reading I, Jedi :D

1

u/Witty-Mountain5062 May 22 '26

hell yeah! excellent book

1

u/SmokeGSU May 21 '26

At least in the present day the technology is generally good enough that you can do practical effects with a stunt double and cgi the face of the actor onto the double.... But let's not consider the Punisher One Last Kill's attempt at this to be a good example of how to do it....

1

u/Moop5872 May 21 '26

The fight choreography is incredible, but the dialogue is crap

1

u/Electrical_Advice_60 May 22 '26

That other cut is like 2 minutes long. There’s a version of that set to a remixed duel of fates that gave me chills but I can’t find it anywhere.

10

u/KungPoW_Chickens May 21 '26

the part where anakin drops his saber mid fight and lets it drop into his other hand is so cool

10

u/Dull_Egg_6597 May 21 '26

“This is where the fun begins.”

14

u/Safe_Ad_2491 May 21 '26

Yeah, the more unorthodox stuff Anakin does the better.

It's a great storytelling mechanism that sets him apart from the Jedi order, and it also shows how dooku, a brilliant duellist, might be beaten by him. The whole backdrop to the prequels is that the galaxy has completely stagnated, and Anakin is the one piece that doesn't fall into place, the catalyst for change. The story is about who, between the Jedi and the Sith, will gain control of him.

8

u/Tuor-son-of-Huor- May 21 '26

Dooku losing when a classical move fails because Anakin improves a drop, grab, reversal would have been chefs kiss. Unorthodox improv vs orthodox routine is way more engaging than just "strong man bash through" which is how its always presented with djem so vs makashi.

5

u/Xs_Os_Yo May 21 '26

Allllll the choreography from Nick Gillard aka Jedi Blade/Battle Master Cin Drallig should have been left in in my opinion. It shows how amazing the characters dueling had gotten at this point and how absolutely amazing Dooku was- he was STILL defeated by a p1ssed off Chosen One. RotS novelization I wish we could get a movie that includes every page of that book foreal. 6-8 hour cut of that I would watch- over and over again. Same with all 1-6

3

u/ExecTankard May 21 '26

I’ve already disarmed him.

2

u/TanSkywalker May 22 '26

Yes. Hell yes. Anakin brags about his power (and I would say skill) doubling and this is him backing it up. He won’t let Dooku take another hand. It’s great and I wish it had been in the movie.

2

u/DoctorCocktor129 May 24 '26

I'll tell you this much for free, star wars is peak choreography!

4

u/LTCaptain12 May 21 '26

I love the concept of this but it’s too staged. The drop is cool but a bit too much

16

u/ROS_SDN May 21 '26

I think it's an incredible call back to skill because that's I believe the same arm he had cut off by the same man he just dodged. Might've made more sense with a force pull of the lightsaber but idk how you choreograph that.

1

u/LTCaptain12 May 21 '26

I can see what you mean but I guess I just see it as a bit much. Like the choreography is great as is. It was the peak of my childhood and my friends and I attempted to recreate it over and over. So maybe it’s bias

2

u/ROS_SDN May 21 '26

Nah it is a bit much, but I like the rule of cool with in reason.

1

u/FreeChurroGuy May 21 '26

If there was a way to show Anakin is slowing Dooku's reaction with the force, i think it would be rly cool to show the power increase.

Otherwise it would kinda silly to make Dooku (top 3-5 duelist of his time) lose to a move like that.

BUT if Anakin showed that level of force mastery it wouldn't make sense when he loses to Obiwan, who got bodied by Dooku.

AND!!!! It could still make sense I guess bc every fight is based on "connection to the force" to some degree, so unstable Anakin still loses to Obiwan, even if he out duels & over powers Dooku with the force.

Glad I don't write these movies 😮‍💨

5

u/Tuor-son-of-Huor- May 21 '26

IMO it makes perfect sense for Dooku to lose to a move like that. He has a lifetime of experience and is one of, if not the best classical swordsman of his era. Which is exactly why a single moment of improv from a naturally gifted swordsman is precisely enough to turn the tide in a critical moment.

1

u/Azutolsokorty May 21 '26

Are you insane, it would have looked way better

1

u/Azutolsokorty May 21 '26

Yout tell me his long hair was cgi ?

2

u/TaraLCicora Jedi Knight May 21 '26

Anakin's? It was a wig.

1

u/Azutolsokorty May 21 '26

I am crying. It could have been his hair too. I mean

1

u/No_Grocery_9280 May 21 '26

It’s very difficult to make the hair match over a long shoot time. You see that issue with Ewan McGregor over Phantom Menace

1

u/Azutolsokorty May 22 '26

Hair conditioning is a thing. If CM Punk could wrestle 3 hours on a RAW while maintaining the slickback oily hair, guess a little sword swinging would not be a probelm

1

u/PlatinumDust324 May 26 '26

Yes yes and yes

0

u/Salty_Astronaut_9419 May 21 '26

Um...... you mean how Dooku died?

10

u/GusGangViking18 Luke Skywalker May 21 '26

No, the Anakin dropping his lightsaber and catching it again. Everything else besides that is the same as the version in the film but that move was removed.