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Today's call sheet has a scene listed that gives me chills.

"MVE.330 - Anakin laying in the lava as he catches fire".

It's 2004 and this is the pivotal scene we've all heard about since 1986 which will explain to us how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, with the scarred head and breathing apparatus

But that's up last. First we have to go through the more 'boring' scenes such as "Anakin turns to talk to Artoo" Wait - whata meesa sayin!

For this scene the background is entirely bluescreen, and R2D2 is represented by a blue, flat cutout of his image. However, as Mousy McCallum (Producer Rick's charming daughter) comes past with a 'Mr Henry' vacuum cleaner that looks more like R2 than the cutout, I can't resist doing the R2 whistle and say "Oh hello Artoo". I bet she hadn't heard that one before.

Once the blue carpet has been vacuumed by Henry Deetoo, it's time to do this very simple scene. But first, Nick Gillard (the Stunt Co-ordinator) joins Mousy McCallum either side of me as they pose through the StarWars.com webcam lens. As the webcam is aimed at the plasma screens, they hope people watching online will seem them standing either side of a Jedi. And they do! See if you can spot it on the webcam archive... Nick says to Mousy, "right, now move down slowly", as they sink to their knees making me appear to be the tallest growing Jedi in the world. Well, some of the crew have noticed Hayden's an inch shorter than me

Another short scene where OB1 tosses a comlink to R2 is done (apparently R2's new trick is catching things, perhaps like a dog with a tasty treat) and it's time to move on to a more exciting scene where I "jump and balance on flexing pipe".

The rehearsal for this scene involves Nick again. George is overheard saying of Nick, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, become a Stunt Co-ordinator. Nick can't -- you won't see him in one of these movies, so instead he tells people how to do it". I think he's joking...

So there I am, standing in front of the cameras, while everyone else watches the plasmas. Nothing new there... But they start viewing bits and pieces of the rough cut on the playback monitor, as George treats the cast and crew to the current cut of the opening of the film. Rather than use the small monitor, he had Demetri (video assist technician) run it through the larger plasmas. But I can't go and watch as I have to stand in position. Gotta do my job right? Don't want to get 'fired' (remember we're on Mustafar, the firey lava planet.)

The video started at the opening crawl, but Ewan asks for a few seconds of rewind, to deliver an ideal experience. "No, no, you have to start it from the start. You've got it there, don't you? With the barr-ump bump, arr-ump bump, barr-rrrr-um bump?"

I stand in horror as I hear but can't see the 20th Century Fox fanfare drum up. It reminds me of a time when I was about 10 and my family were all sitting down to watch Star Wars with me at Christmas time. I was so excited, but they kept flicking channel to see what else was on, and I started, well, I wasn't very happy that I missed 1 second of the Fox fanfare Unless you understand how much a part of the experience that is, I suppose it's an easy mistake to make.

Then the triumphant blast of John Williams' Main Title theme starts, and I imagine yellow lettering disappearing into infinity. Hayden Christensen is drawn to the screen as words float in the darkness of space. "I'm telling you, these DVD releases are getting closer and closer everytime, aren't they?" jokes Camera Operator Calum McFarlane.

"Look at that..." says Ewan, turning to Hayden. "That's me and you, pal!"

Occasionally, Ben Burtt's (the Editor) voice interjects in the place of Ewan, Hayden or Temuera Morrison. That's it - EVERYONE is watching now except me and Richard Hurdle (Ewan's stand-in), so I turn to him and say, "come on, I'm going", and we join the audience at the monitors. Nobody minds. All I'm missing is some popcorn! Even in this incomplete stage, it works. The assembled audience can't take their eyes away from the opening space battle, and they laugh when they're supposed to laugh, and gasp when they're supposed to gasp.

"I'm not so bad a pilot there, am I?" asks Ewan, watching Obi-Wan's starfighter avoid a massive explosion.

We watch up until a scene of Obi-Wan and Anakin surrounded by battle droids... fittingly, it's a scene slated for a re-shoot, to re-word some of Ewan's dialogue. "Now, we're right up to where we are," says George. "Let's stand by for a take," announces 1st Assistant Director Colin Fletcher. But before everyone resumes positions, there's a round of applause from the crew. To say I got chills would be an understatement of Whills proportions.

I take my position balancing on the pipe and then the coolest moment arrives, I am handed the full-length Anakin lightsabre. Yessss! I practice a few moves to myself, and rehearse the 'pipe' (actually a fairly wide greenscreen plank of wood with a pipe-wide blue tape mark to show where to jump). Then Hayden and Ewan go in and do much the same - including a small piece of the fight sequence.

"And that's lunch!"

Afterwards is "Anakin recognises peril, leaps off"... the arm, which is a large set-piece that has broken off and fallen into the lava. Anakin hangs on for dear life as it floats along, and then he 'recognises the peril' which is a lava waterfall he is floating towards. Holding his lightsabre, he leaps for safety. This involves perhaps the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of my week, where I cling onto the prop with one leg supporting all my weight at a 'backward' angle. Ouch. As I come off I say to Hayden, "woah that's uncomfortable!", and he laughs in agreement.

If you look at the StarWars.com Set Diary page you can see Hayden performing this scene - and a certain stand-in on the far left of that shot.

Well that WAS fun! Now onto the next scene. I am bemused by how irreverently this moment millions have waited most of their lives for, is written on the call sheet:

"Obi looks on in horror as Anakin BECOMES TOAST".

Ironically there are cardboard safety boxes all around in case anyone falls off, and on them they carry their original contents sticker: Flora Margarine. So Anakin becomes toast, with margarine.

Somehow I think George was going for more drama than that. And I'm right, suddenly onto the screens comes the rough cut of that section near the end of the movie, and we all watch in open-jawed disgust as Anakin is changed from the promising young Jedi with flowing hair, to a bald, scarred, peeling-skinned, burning figure crawling through the lava rocks and shouting to Obi-Wan, "I HATE YOU!!!" as he groans morbidly. 'This is going to be a very powerful movie', I think to myself.

Once I get over that, I'm into Anakin's hooded Jedi Cloak for a scene where "Anakin surveys the slaughter" on the planet Mustafar. For this they need that true 'Sith' uplighter look, and if you watched the webcam footage from this day, you'd see me sporting that very look. Evil huh? Alternatively check out the Set Diary where you can watch Hayden watching me (it's very complicated).

Hayden is ready to do the additional shoots for the slaughter scene.

It's the close-up of his lensed-eyes made famous in the movie trailer.

We're all nervous in anticipation.

George shouts his immortal words, "Shooting! Turnover! And... ACTION!",...

Hayden turns towards camera with a menacing look in his compact-lenses yellow eyes...

Then lights up a cigarette and puffs out a cloud of smoke.

'That's not in the script', I think to myself! People clap and laugh, as Colin shouts, "CUT!". Indeed. But that won't appear in the DVD cut, as George is heard saying, "I won't do anything that promotes smoking", quite seriously.

It's lava time! But wait, I have to lay in THAT?! Oh hell, who cares, it's the lava pit where Anakin Skywalker 'dies'. I'd eat it if they asked me.

They ask me if I have a robe to lie in, and I do... it's a Jedi Robe (sorry, Cloak as I was corrected by the Costumiers) but wait, a costume lady gives a stern, "NO, you are NOT lying in volcanic ash in a Jedi Cloak!". Fair enough, so instead they lay some green carpet down for me. Hayden won't get such luxuries, but hey, I hear he gets paid a bit more than me so tough mate

As I take my position, my hands lie in the ash, and for that moment - which lasts a very long half hour - I am playing the role of Anakin Skywalker, lying in the volcanic lava of Mustafar, part burning in pain, part burning in regret... Anakin is about to become more machine than man, and I cannot put into words how it feels to be embodying that role for this short time. I have a lot of time lying there to reflect on what this story has meant to me whilst growing up... and how even in the '80s we heard that Vader fell into a Volcano, and that was how he became the twisted figure that he did. If you could have told me back then over breakfast that I'd be a very small part of making that scene 25 years on, I would never have believed it, yet here I am... becoming toast.

I help set the eyelines for Hayden to take, giving my best 'help, I'm Lord Vader and I'm on fire' look to camera. It's very uncomfortable on the shins, which rest on the edge of this wooden crate that was positioned in place by a fork-lift truck. I suggest they put something there to prop up Hayden's legs, but they can't as it needs to be all blue.

Then Hayden steps in (after half an hour of lying there and my being helped up by the crew to praise of "Good man!") and I show him where to take his eyeline. He gets into position.

The scene looks awesome once shot, and his groans of pain are chilling.

As I walk back towards Richard, the OB1 stand-in, he remarks to me, "You look very good on camera". Wow, all that, then a compliment too. "Thank you!", I say graciously.

Then a bespectacled Robert De Niro walks past me. (I'm serious. What a surreal world this is I'm working in!)

Another quickie of them exiting an elevator that needed reshooting as the lift door is no longer exploded, and we're ready for home time.

I get home and quite fancy some toast...


[I hope you enjoyed this entry. As always I'm pleased to receive comments and will do my best to answer any questions. Thank you also for all of you who have asked whether I will be appearing at Celebration IV in LA. As yet I do not believe any guests have been announced.

For images and another viewpoint on this day Hyperspace members can read Pablo Hildago's excellent set diary also]