Gwendoline Christie's Star Wars Training Doubled As A Game Of Thrones Reunion
During the climax of Richard Marquand's 1983 film "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi," the evil Empire's second Death Star was destroyed by the Rebel Army, the ghoulish Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) was killed, and his right-hand warlock Darth Vader (David Prowse) died in the conflagration. It seemed that evil had been vanquished and that everything was well in the galaxy. For many, many years, fans didn't see what happened after that film, presumably because a new era of peace had begun and the Star Wars were over.
It wasn't until the release of J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in 2015 that we learned the dark truth. It seems the universe of "Star Wars" can't help but creep back slowly toward fascism with every generation. Decades after the fall of the Empire, the New Order rose in its place, now even more Nazi-like than ever. Stormtroopers were back, there was a new supreme ruler named Snoke (Andy Serkis), and Darth Vader's grandson, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), pursued his evil birthright.
At the head of the First Order fighting force was the mysterious and intimidating Captain Phasma, a silver-clad commandant played by British actress Gwendoline Christie. Christie's face was covered by a mask, but her height — she's 6'3" — and her body language during fights communicated a lot about the character.
It seems, too, that, while stunt- and fight-training for "The Force Awakens," she was re-united with C.C. Smiff, the fight trainer for "Game of Thrones." Christie's career exploded in 2012 when she first played Brienne of Tarth on "Game of Thrones," so she was happy to see a familiar face.
C.C. Smiff
C.C. Smiff's (awesome) credit on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was "sword master." He was the one who taught actors how to wield lightsabers properly. Smiff also served as a sword master on "The Last Jedi" and a fight coordinator on "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." He's been working as a Hollywood stunt performer and coordinator since his uncredited work in the 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies." Most recently, he worked on the 2022 "Willow" TV series.
Christie was happy to see Smiff behind the scenes of her new "Star Wars" movie, as she credited him for both her fighting skills and her ability to communicate character through physicality. In a 2017 interview with Moms 'N Charge, she said:
"Well, something really wonderful happened which was that I was reunited with the brilliant stunt director/stuntman, C.C. Smiff. C.C. Smiff taught me to fight on 'Game of Thrones' at the start of season two when I was first starting the show. [...] It was C.C. that taught me to swordfight and was with me in all of those scenes when there was fighting. And also sometimes when there wasn't, because I was concerned about executing the physicality of that character."
It was vital to Christie that she communicated a certain kind of feminine energy on "Game of Thrones," even during fight scenes; she didn't want Brienne's violence to read as run-of-the-mill, male-oriented machismo. She wanted machisma, as it were. Christie said:
"It was always important to me that Brienne of Tarth is a woman. She isn't a woman acting like a man. She is a woman. But she has a different strength and a different configuration to Gwendoline. And I wanted that to be as resolved as possible."
She presumably brought a similar approach to Captain Phasma.
Nothing but good things to say about C.C.
Christie was ebulliently effusive about C.C. Smiff, crediting him for pushing her to pursue more physical training and to enjoy every moment of it. As of this writing, there still isn't an Academy Award devoted to stunts or to stunt performers, so it's very kind of Christie to recognize the hard work Smiff did and how it allowed her to flourish as a performer. Speaking of Smiff, Christie seems to be alluding to a kind of "runner's high" she experienced while training:
"It was great to be reunited on a Star Wars film, and to do something exceptionally difficult, and for him to push me to go further, and to be there. He's the person that helped to give me the courage in the first place, to say you can do more than you ever thought, physically, and to do it with a great deal of humor, and charm, and humanity. And he's a man always sort of without ego, as well. I mean, what an amazing teacher and he's also so brilliant about how he puts things together, and how they evolve about pushing you further, and in terms of your strength."
Christie only physically played Phamsa in the two "Star Wars" movies, and she presumably died in "The Last Jedi." She also voiced the role in the 2018 animated series "Star Wars: Resistance." Although, as "The Rise of Skywalker" taught us, no one is ever really gone in "Star Wars." Phasma left a huge impression on fans, and she has also appeared in multiple video games, comics, and novelizations. Christie's performance has buoyed a new "Star Wars" cult figure that could very well live on for decades ... and we have her old "Game of Thrones" pal at least partially to thank for it.