Luke And Leia's Lightsaber Fight Flashback In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Got Trimmed
It's fun going back to watch Irvin Kershner's 1980 sci-fi epic "The Empire Strikes Back," knowing what twists would come in subsequent sequels. In "Empire," Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) became angry at Han Solo (Harrison Ford), a man Leia knew was attracted to her. To make Han jealous, Leia brazenly grabs a nearby Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and kisses him full on the mouth. Luke knows that Leia was only playing a game, but was happy to be kissed. Han stormed out of the room, outraged. Luke smiled in smug satisfaction.
In Richard Marquand's 1983 follow-up film "Return of the Jedi," it would be revealed that Luke and Leia were siblings. This was clearly a last-minute plot twist, meant to parallel the "surprise" from "Empire" that the villainous Darth Vader was actually Luke Skywalker's father. The "Jedi" twist wasn't thought out, however, as it retroactively incorporated into "Star Wars" an incestuous kiss between a brother and his twin sister.
The twist, of course, completely rewrote the "Star Wars" timeline, and all of the subsequent sequels and prequels have carefully tracked Luke's and Leia's lives and locations, from their births to their deaths. In J.J. Abrams' 2019 film "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," audiences saw flashbacks of Leia and Luke, shortly after the events of "Return of the Jedi," training in the woods, learning to home their respective psychic powers. Leia was depicted wielding a lightsaber.
The flashback sequence for the 2019 film was, according to a ScreenRant interview with stunt coordinator Eunice Huthart, achieved through extensive CGI motion capture attached to real stunt performers. Huthart and her team attempted to capture how Hamill and Fisher moved in 1983, studying their "Return of the Jedi" physicality closely.
Sadly, she also said the sequence was shortened considerably for "Skywalker."
Party like it's 1983
When asked if Huthart and her team studied older "Star Wars" movies for stunt and movement models, she replied, "Absolutely, we did." She also recalled the entire sequence that she and the other filmmakers put together, wherein a young Luke and a young Leia sparred using lightsabers, and that she was proud of what she was able to do. In her words:
"... [T]here was a fight that's not in the movie; young Luke and young Leia did a lightsaber fight as a training scene flashback. And so, we really wanted to create the nuances between the two characters from the early movies. The way he'd stand, the way she tilted her head, the way they swished with their lightsabers and stuff like that. So, yeah, we did our hardest to create all the nuances to pay homage to the previous movies. It was actually one of our priorities when creating stunts for the film."
But, one might notice, it's not in the movie. It was, rather unfortunately for Huthart, edited out, likely for pacing reasons.
"The Rise of Skywalker" isn't about Luke or Leia, after all, and instead follows a team of newer, younger characters. Indeed, Luke died in 2017's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," and actress Carrie Fisher passed in 2016, requiring the filmmakers to rework her already-filmed scenes. It was logical that Luke/Leia scenes be cut.
It was regrettable, however, as most of Huthart's work can no longer be seen. She continued:
"The young Luke and Leia, I would have loved that to have gone through, because we did it as a seamless take. It was such hard work, and it was so physical for the stunt team who took part in that."
Only a few seconds of the two-minute sequence remain.