Mace Windu's Star Wars Showdown With Palpatine Was A Slog From Start To Finish
Despite their reputation, there is plenty to like about the "Star Wars" prequels. Lucas interrogates a lot of the iconography of the originals, like making the Jedi a corrupt cult that kidnapped children and used them as child soldiers, turning the simplistic evil Empire into a recognizable decaying democracy, and more. And yet the movies also offered a ton of fan service, starting trends that now dominate Hollywood, like forcing characters into certain situations simply to appease fans.
An example of this is showing Palpatine fighting in a lightsaber duel. Like Yoda, the once and future Emperor was menacing and powerful without even moving a finger, and yet Lucas saw it necessary to make him an acrobatic swordsman, too. While the promise of seeing the biggest evil in the galaxy mow down Jedi with his sick lightsaber skills might be promising, making Palpatine's fateful duel with Mace Windu was actually just a slog to make.
For one, it was never supposed to feature actor Ian McDiarmid actually doing the stunts. The Shakespearean actor who joined the franchise much, much younger than his character was supposed to be, was originally meant to be replaced by a stunt actor who was able to perform the high-speed choreography. Lucas famously decided last minute that he wanted to see McDiarmid's face in the scene, so the actor had to learn the choreography a mere five days before shooting.
Adding to the difficulty in shooting the scene was the presence of Jedi Knights Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar, all of whom wore rubber gloves (since they are alien creatures) which made it difficult to grab their lightsaber hilts. "Uh-oh. This is going to be tough," Lucas said, according to the book "The Making of 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith'" by J.W. Rinzler.
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According to the book, Lucas and stunt coordinator Nick Gillard clashed on set regarding the Windu and Palpatine duel, resulting in several reshoots and last-minute changes. For many, the final scene, particularly McDiarmid's performance, is a bit lacking, because, well, the actor wasn't fully prepared for an elaborate shoot.
For a proper look at how dangerous Palpatine was with a lightsaber, "The Clone Wars" episode "The Lawless" delivers on the promise of Sidious being the most powerful Force-user alive, using Force-speed to move so incredibly fast you'd believe he is capable of mowing down Jedi Knight like they're butter.
As for the live-action, whether the choreography was good or not, it did deliver some stunning (and very meme-worthy) moments, like Windu cornering Palpatine to the point where he's begging. As Samuel L. Jackson said in the making-of book, "I'm bending those lightning bolts right back on him. I mean, that's why he's begging — because I got him. I'm like, 'Yeeeeah! Who's your daddy now?!'"
Unfortunately, that didn't last very long, as Palpatine overpowers the Jedi and literally throws him off a building. According to Lucas, Windu's death had to be big because he was "pretty much the only important character that I can actually kill off, so it has to be a pretty spectacular death." But that wasn't enough, because as we've seen plenty of times before, death only has meaning until it doesn't. After years of joking that Windu may have actually survived being thrown off a building, Jackson took to social media in 2021 to say that he even ran his theory by George Lucas and got him to sign off on Windu being alive. "Jedi can fall from amazing distances. And there's a long history of one-handed Jedi. So why not?"