[read previous entries first]

Well today feels odd, because we've moved to the much smaller 'R Stage' and I really felt like B Stage was 'home'. Even if it was on another planet. There's space for hardly anybody to sit in here except some metal stairs leading up to a 'gunship' made of blue wood (very high-tech eh?), and the English summer heat combined with the studio lights and having to keep the stage doors closed due to noise, is unbearable.

We begin with some shots of the Jedi Council, but the circle is incomplete because it would have been too expensive to fly all the original Jedi Council chairs over from Australia. Or dig a tunnel through the Earth's core. Yes even on Coruscant they have furniture removal hassles. Instead, we have about 6 of the original seats including Yoda's little one (!) which I am warned NOT to sit in as it will not hold a human's weight. So there it is folks - it's official, Yoda is not human.

The morning revolves (literally) around moving these chairs into various configurations to accommodate each shot. One chair on set actually becomes many chairs in the final scene. When the HD DVD comes out you can compare them for similar markings! (or not). It takes a long time to reposition each one for each shot, but saves some wonga I guess. I believe the reason for reshooting this is they attempted to use CG versions of the council members for the 'hologram' shots but were unhappy with the results - interesting for those who criticise films these days for overusing CGI. For this reason either original actors or doubles of the aliens are brought in, only to be turned into holograms later. How enlightening.

The next scene is much more fun and is the one where Anakin walks Mace to the gunship and advises Mace that he thinks Palpatine may be a Sith Lord. This takes most of the day, but before that Samuel L Jackson's stand-in and I learn the lines for the scene. This is quite a common occurance as a stand-in, as you are essentially Hayden and Sammy-boy for the hour or so of preparation, while cameras, lighting, sound, and blue-screens are all rehearsed around you. And after that it is for you to talk with your actor about eyelines, hitting marks, and first positions, as well as warn of any hazards in the scene.

Most of my - sorry Anakin's - lines (split personalities are an occupational hazard!) are:

"Yes, Master", or
"That's not true, master"

Tricky stuff! Although I have some more complex ones which are at least FIVE words long! I do the necessary, but unfortunately Mace's stand-in doesn't as he seems a bit like a dear caught in the headlights. Aw bless. I know how he feels as deep down I think everyone is a bit in awe of the situation they are in, but you just have to be professional. Imagine a guy who looks just like SamueL, but acts more like Threepio on a nervous day before an oil bath. Rather than have this make us both look bad, I suggest we just walk the scene through and not do the dialogue until we get to the last line where the camera and crew are. To be fair they couldn't hear us from the beginning of the walk at the back of the stage anyway, so it works. Phew!

But the heat is incredible as they have a huge 'sun' light up in the air (it really feels like you're sunbathing) so that when Anakin walks to the end of this gunship hanger, the sun shines on him and the wind blows. You'll see this in the film, as he watches the gunship take off towards the sun. Unfortunately as a stand-in, you only get the sun not the breeze as the fans take up a lot of power! I stand there sweating buckets for a good 45 minutes whilst they set up the scene. I lost 13 stone!

As I come off I remark to Hayden, "It's a bit warm", to which he laughs and agrees. Samuel takes his position at the end of the hanger ready to recreate the walk we showed them, and after a few sweaty-lipped moments for my counterpart, another scene's in the bag.

It seems me and George are getting to know each other a lot better. Nowadays instead of calling me Anakin (which was great anyway!) he calls me by my name.

"What, Christian's taller?", for example was a comment to Roddy, the camera operator who pointed out they'd need to go a bit lower for Hayden who is an inch shorter I believe It feels strange to hear the man responsible for everything talk about me in such a familiar way. It's nice. Later he prods me on the shoulder and says, "You can step out for this one", as Hayden has gone home. In a very small way it's like the whole team are becoming a family, from the father down to the children, and people say hi to each other a lot more now as we all become more comfortable. 4.5 days to go until all that ends for this phase of the shoot I vow to make the most of it, and this journal helps with that.

Last of all we do the Jedi War Room scene, all blue-screen with a light on the floor providing the glow to our faces that will eventually be the glow from the war map in the centre of the console. Ki-Adi-Mundi (Silas Carson) is in for this scene, unrecognisable in full prosthetic make-up (or is it his double?!) along with Mr L Jackson again, who seems to have trouble with his lines too! Rather than get embarassed at the repeated slips he breaks into his Pulp Fiction voice for the rest of the lines instead, and everybody bursts out laughing. I hope that will be on the DVD!


[Thank you for reading my insight into the making of a Star Wars movie. As always I greatly value your feedback and will do my best to answer any questions you may pose.

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