CLASSIC IMAGE: SUN, SAND AND 'SABERS!

Here's a shot I had never seen before, so I thought I'd put it up on the blog. A head shaved Ray Park (you just have to look at his fighting stance to see that its him!) and Obi-Wan double Andreas Petrides (who did the leap shots of the character for the duel) make the most of the good weather on an empty part of the outdoor Mos Espa set in Tunisia to practice their lightsaber skills and rehearse the next stage of the epic finale duel for EPISODE ONE action scenes, choreographed by Nick Gillard, filmed at LEAVESDEN STUDIOS in the UK.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

CLASSIC IMAGE: JAR JAR'S BIG ADVENTURE!

In one of the first live action scenes shot for THE PHANTOM MENACE at the UK's LEAVESDEN STUDIOS, Ahmed Best settles into his role as Gungan representative Jar Jar Binks in a corridor waiting area within Senator Palpatine's office on Coruscant. A brief sequence where Anakin (Jake Lloyd) and Jar Jar try to eavesdrop on Queen Amidala's first conversation with Palpatine about the invasion of Naboo was filmed but cut for time reasons from the finished film.

CLASSIC IMAGE: BEFORE THE RACE!

Respected British author/actor Andrew Secombe may not have appeared on screen to deliver his excellent vocals as the greedy Toydarian Mos Espa junk dealer, Watto, for the Prequels, but he certainly was filmed delivering those lines to the actors during the principal photography of EPISODEs I and II at LEAVESDEN, and then in Tunisia - and he was a vitally needed presence there, too, so that the actors could respond correctly to where the flying character was going to be CGI placed by the animators at ILM. Note in this shot that Secombe is wearing a hat-this visual idea for the character was dropped for EPISODE I, but it came to eventual fruition for his outdoor cameo scene for EPISODE II seveal years later.

With the Toydarian race in general back in the new season of THE CLONE WARS, and, from a brief trailer snippet, what looks like a possible return to Tatooine and Mos Espa, might we also see the return of the wheeler dealer? Let's hope so.

CLASSIC IMAGE: DROID PREPARATIONS

An unknown technician manipulates the Threepio puppet, whilst the ever reliable Artoo prop stands ready for filming the next scene, in this image taken within Anakin's room on the soundstages of LEAVESDEN STUDIOS in 1997, for the then titled EPISODE ONE: THE BEGINNING.

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: BEING OBI-WAN, AND LOVING IT!

At LEAVESDEN Studios in 1997, during the filming of EPISODE ONE's intense finale lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, a giddily excited and enthusiastic Ewan McGregor, having been stunt kicked onto a safety mat, turns round and happily exclaims to Stunt Co-ordinator Nick Gillard, and all within earshot...

"They said, "Do you wanna be in STAR WARS?" I said, "Too f+++ing right!""

Classic behind the scenes STAR WARS history, and classic Ewan McGregor!