In the fictional world of Star Wars, lightsaber fights look effortless. Whether it be the slow, methodical pacing of the original trilogy’s abbreviated battles or the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-inspired flourishes of the prequel trilogy, the actors wielding these plasma-charged weapons make their sparring look easy and natural. A new training featurette reveals how intensely choregraphed those fights really are.
The training video shows Ridley in action, training for hours at a time to get certain fight sequences memorized and suiting up to prepare for big stunts. The video also has interviews with Adam Driver, who plays Kylo Ren; John Boyega, who plays Finn; Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Rose Tico; and Gwendoline Christie, who plays Captain Phasma. Christie, who will have a much more physical role in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens sequel, was upfront about just how hard the training can be.
“This is the hardest physical thing I’ve done yet,” Christie said. “The suit can be very restrictive, just to move in, just to walk in. You do the move and think, ‘gosh, is it lunch time yet?’”
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Not many people have experience with putting on Stormtrooper outfits and training with stuntmen all day, but that’s a sentiment we can all get behind.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, written and directed by Rian Johnson, opens in theaters Dec. 15 and stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Benicio Del Toro as ‘DJ’, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, and the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa.