Star Wars: The Last Jedi Used A Magical Medical Device To Aid In Actor Training
As one might imagine, appearing as a lead character in a "Star Wars" movie is likely going to involve a lot of physical exertion. If you're not being covered with makeup, sealed into a tin can, or crammed into a full-body fur suit, you're likely learning how to do backflips, swing swords, and engage in martial arts. There is no shortage of documentary footage of various "Star Wars" actors and stunt performers learning the elaborate and exhausting choreography for their respective films' action scenes. Some actors had to learn fight choreography and also wear elaborate makeup.
Rehearsal, then, is not just learning lines, running improv drills, and delving into the motivations of your character. A lot of it is just swinging green sticks and keeping your strength up. Some of the actors even bulk up, trying to look like mythic heroes with impeccable physiques. Know that action actors spend a great deal of time and energy to look the way they do and that they don't maintain their abs and arm and leg muscles as sharply in between films. Don't compare your body to theirs.
Indeed, thanks to a miraculous medical device, the lightsaber training recovery times for Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" were greatly reduced. Swinging swords all day and bashing stunt quarterstaffs into your trainer's skillful blocks will do a number on an actor's arms, and it might take days for strained arm muscles and tendons to fully return from such a strenuous activity. A report in Men's Health Magazine, and a chat with trainer Christopher Vincent, an employee of Altus Health, revealed that a brand new form of refrigerated compression sleeve allowed the actors to get back into the ring much more quickly than they would have without it.
Refrigerated compression sleeves for the win
Such compression sleeves are widely commercially available, and it's likely that most athletes are already familiar with them. One can find plenty of skin-tight compression sleeves online for as low as $20, although the refrigerated variety might set you back over $100.
Vincent noted that using these sleeves sped up recovery times immensely and allowed actors to train literally more than twice as hard. "Normally, we could train two times a week," he said to the Post, "but with this recovery technique, we can work with them five times a week, sometimes more." Vincent also used Altus' compression devices to train actors for films like "Blade Runner 2049," but also honest-to-goodness athletes like Serena Williams. Vincent clearly believes in these devices.
Men's Health reminded its readers of the RICE system, a recovery acronym one might have learned in gym class or in their youthful sporting activities. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation, the four necessary components required for a hasty athletic recovery. The Altus sleeves, in pumping cold water through its tubing system, combined the compression and the ice portions of recovery. "It's not always pleasant to put cold things on your body," Vincent said, "so it took a little coaxing for people to use [it]." Vincent doesn't list any actors or stunt performers by name, but one might assume that any "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" actor likely had to slip on an Altus sleeve.
Well, the ones that weren't CGI, anyway.