There’s really only three options for the best lightsaber fight in Star Wars: Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back (the emotional answer); Rey and Kylo Ren vs. the Praetorian Guards in The Last Jedi (the coolest-looking answer); or Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace (the technically-proficient answer). It feels weird to pick the prequels over the original and current trilogies, but I gotta go with Phantom Menace, because John Williams earned his paycheck the day he composed “Duel of the Fates.” Let’s watch, or better yet, listen.
That’s the good stuff.
But according to Nick Gillard, the stunt coordinator for the Star Wars prequels, the actual answer for the best lightsaber fight was left out of Revenge of the Sith. Entertainment Weekly reports that “Ewan McGregor trained for weeks just to get Obi-Wan’s choreography down for the complicated sequence. But when it came time to film, the production was running short on time.” So, the sequence, in which Obi-Wan was going to take on six of General Grievous’ bodyguards, was cut. “It was the most complicated fight we ever did,” Gillard raved, but then George Lucas said, “I’m really sorry, I’m going to drop a container on five of them!” Instead of a great lightsaber fight, we got this.
The money saved went towards Grevious’ coughing budget.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
