UPDATE! Possible Piece of The Force Awakens Fight Choreography Leaked? Not at All.

KyloRenHave we caught a glimpse of the choreography for the climactic lightsaber battle from The Force Awakens?

 

 

 

 

You may recall some buzz a while back when a video depicting what appeared to be a stunt practice of a lightsaber duel was posted by Rhye Copeman, a stunt performer on The Force Awakens. That video turned out to be no more than a highly entertaining demo reel showcasing Copeman’s fight choreography. Well, now it seems we may have a very small glimpse of the real thing.

 

 

Blocking some fight beats.. #training #shinobi87beats

A video posted by Rhye Copeman (@rhyecopemanstunts) on

 

 

The video embedded above was posted to Instagram by Rhye Copeman himself just three weeks ago. It shows two fighters facing each other with training swords. On the right you have one man holding a weapon that is the size of a traditional sword or lightsaber. On the left, his opponent wields something more the size of a staff or polearm. Most intriguingly, the title of the video on the screen being filmed reads “Sequence 1 in Hero Fight.”  

 

Is this sequence being practiced by stuntmen an early exchange in one of our hero’s battles with Kylo Ren? The figure on the right certainly seems to be wielding something the size of a lightsaber. And his slower movements and the manner in which he wields his sword is certainly in line with the “cross-saber” seen in the TFA teaser. Another interesting post by Copeman also suggests this:  

 

 

Exactly how it looked on set.. Ha fantastic #starwarsVII #lego A photo posted by Rhye Copeman (@rhyecopemanstunts) on


But what about the combatant on the left? Who might be wielding that staff?

 

 

Rey

 

Well as we’ve seen from the promotional image above, Daisy Ridley’s Rey carries a staff in line with the size of the staff in the video. We also know from Kathleen Kennedy’s recent press tour in Japan that Daisy Ridley has trained in the Bojutsu fighting style. Bojutsu is a martial art involving the use of a staff, much like the one in the picture above.

 

“She learned the bojutsu fighting style. Rey uses the staff she has in the trailer to fight. Daisy’s gotten to be so good at bojutsu that even grown men on the set fear it.”

 

So, it stands to reason that if the video above is part of a climactic battle with Kylo Ren, it’s likely his foe could be Rey. Which begs the question, what weapon is she wielding exactly? Could that staff be a weapon that can withstand a lightsaber? Something akin to the elctrostaffs seen used by Greivous’s Magnaguards in Revenge of the Sith? Does the staff hide a lightsaber blade itself maybe? (Which would open all sorts of questions as to Rey’s previous training if she is already carrying a lightsaber) Or, has Rey picked up a Darth Maul-esque double bladed lightsaber along the way somewhere? From the video, it is difficult to tell exactly what kind of weapon is being represented. But what we can tell is that if this is indeed from The Force Awakens, a new and interesting fighting style will be introduced to the Star Wars universe on December 18th. From the small snippet we see, it is equal parts graceful and deliberate. Somewhere between the dazzling displays in the Prequel Trilogy and those slower samurai inspired duels of the Original Trilogy.

 

 

Special thanks to Altgr0160 from the Cantina forums for spotting the video. If you want to discuss the possibilities this presents for the new trilogy, please join us in The Cantina for further discussion and discovery.

 

 

UPDATE!

 

We received word from Rhye Copeman himself that while he is indeed a stunt performer (not coordinator) in The Force Awakens, the footage we posted (Hero fight), has nothing to do with the new Star Wars movies.

 

So, although there were many signs supporting this article, it appears everything was just a coincidence.

 

+ posts

84 thoughts on “UPDATE! Possible Piece of The Force Awakens Fight Choreography Leaked? Not at All.

  • June 8, 2015 at 12:58 am
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    Electrostaff but I still think she`ll wield the Babykiller.

    • June 8, 2015 at 10:08 pm
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      I’m not sure, the top of her staff looks a lot like Maul’s double saber. Perhaps she’s got a lightsaber disguised into the staff.

      • June 9, 2015 at 6:51 pm
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        Yep it does. And that my friend would be quite dope. Plus think about it…..she could use it to ward off opposing scum scrap metal gangs/individuals…..and cut through walls and stuff on gigantic crashed imperial ships with it.

  • June 8, 2015 at 1:05 am
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    Kylo laying waste to Luke’s Jedi Academy.

    • June 8, 2015 at 1:41 am
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      My thought exactly.

    • June 8, 2015 at 2:37 am
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      Wouldnt be wise to upset a Skywalker

    • June 8, 2015 at 5:14 pm
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      You’d think he’d wield a saber like that it with two hands. You wouldn’t hold a broadsword like that.

  • June 8, 2015 at 2:41 am
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    The choreography looks very good imo.

  • June 8, 2015 at 2:58 am
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    Odd that he’s still using FCP7 (discontinued by Apple years ago) to cut something in 2015. Not unheard of for stubborn editors to stick with FCP7… But we’re multiple iterations into FCP10 so that strikes me as slightly odd, but just an observation, and if this is legit even better! [and to be clear just talking about this video, not that they would edit TFA using a pro-sumer editing suite.

    • June 8, 2015 at 11:32 am
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      Active resistance to FCPX by almost all in the TV/Film industry. FCP wasn’t broken, and they….”fixed” it.

      Those who weren’t already working on Avid switched to Premiere Pro, or clutch lovingly to FCP 7.

  • June 8, 2015 at 4:15 am
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    Since the early spy reports, I and many others believed she would end up with a double bladed saber. It would actually serve a purpose in the plot by explaining how she’s already able to hold her own against someone with extensive lightsaber training.

  • June 8, 2015 at 4:31 am
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    Sick ass fudge

  • June 8, 2015 at 5:27 am
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    Not into these whole “dance” fights. The old trilogy fights felt like real sword fights. Granted, a lightsaber weighs less than a real metal blade, but these dance moves and kicks have no place in a sword fight. The best sword fights in movie history, like the final duel in Rob Roy make the audience feel the weight of the blows and how the characters are weighed down by the spectre of defeat or elevated when they gain the upper hand. It is the same with the duel in ESB. Vader toys with luke, who desperately holds on and keeps backing up. The old trilogy didn’t need inflationary ninja style light saber use. Luke actually holds his blaster at Bespin until he meets Vader. if ESB had been done nowadays, they’d have Luke acrobaitally cutting through a bunch of stormtroopers before facing vader.

    • June 8, 2015 at 6:57 am
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      I agree, and that giant scene on Geonosis with all the Jedi just looked stupid. It’s almost too coordinated. Real fencing and sword fights are about surprise, not just how fast someone flips, spins and looks like a circus act instead of a fight. I would say Darth Maul in TPM was enough tricks and flips. What ever happened to plot and strategy in a sword fight instead of flips and flash?

      • June 8, 2015 at 9:22 am
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        I seem to recall Luke doing acrobatics in the OT.

        And quit hating on the prequels. That got old 10 years ago.

        • June 8, 2015 at 11:34 am
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          Doesn’t get old. They are objectively poor movies.

          • June 8, 2015 at 12:42 pm
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            only a sith deals in absolutes.

          • June 10, 2015 at 6:40 am
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            Correction: it got old 10 years ago. You are just so hateful you don’t see it.

            By the way, what is worse, the prequels or the star wars holiday special?

          • June 28, 2015 at 1:57 am
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            Yea… You know the sequels are shit when the two dimensional fans have to use the Holiday Special as a defense.

            I love how you simpletons will cling to anything, it’s really pathetic how you can defend those films at all. They’re total shit.

        • June 8, 2015 at 7:44 pm
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          NO reason to stop hating on stuff that supremely sucks.

          • June 8, 2015 at 11:29 pm
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            I always found the prequel fights to make sense being so high speed. These are Jedi with lighting reflexes with enhanced speed enough to deflect “bullets”. Luke was untrained so it made sense for him to just hack and slash, but Jedi were trained in fencing-Esque lightsaber forms and sparing, so wouldn’t it make sense for speed enhanced fencers to look like dancing in fast motion when fighting? Usually “appealing” sword fighting = bad economics of movement in my experience.

          • June 10, 2015 at 7:09 am
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            It is not that Jedis can’t have lightning reflexes but it is the comic book CGI making unbelievable action sequences like crashing safely to a stop in another ship? There goes the theory of a runway. Falling on high velocity objects? There goes tornadoes theories! Fighting over molten lava so close? Why lava suits theory goes to flop! Etc.

      • June 8, 2015 at 4:30 pm
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        Yeah, the Jedi were all standing RIGHT THERE.

        choice A: kill everyone in 6 seconds navy-seal-style.

        choice B: throw a few cool poses, step over into a neat group in literally the worst battle-position in the history of the universe, AND THEN commence fighting.

        Luke was reckless.

        PT Jedi’s were hilariously good at getting themself killed.

        Look, I wanna give the PT a fair chance, but COME ON that scene is stupid.

        It’s shit like that that justifies the PT-haters.

      • June 10, 2015 at 4:18 am
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        Absolutely! That geonosis scene looked like a damn rave party. Bunch of kids with glowsticks fighting CGI bugs. Like a bad LSD trip.

        You know what made the Force cool in the OT? It’s used sparingly. Never fully explained. It just adds a layer of mystery to the whole scenario. In EPIV Obi Wan does the mind trick, disappears after death and later tells Luke to not rely on machinery before taking his shot. That’s it. A mysterious energy that guides him.

        In EPV Obi Wan appears as ghost and Yoda lifts an X-Wing. Vader strangles people.

        In EP VI the emperor shoots lightning and there are force ghosts again.

        I really wish EP VII would return to this, but it looks like it will basically be a marvel style superhero movie in Space.

      • June 10, 2015 at 6:46 am
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        @Boba86

        all this bashing the prequels for its rehersed looking fights.. and yet you don’t mention how awful and staged the Vader/Ben Kenobi fight in Episode IV was.

        I’ve heard it all before: midichlorians, acting, the shape of the Naboo starfighters,etc… You guys find ANY reason to bash episodes I-III.

        • June 11, 2015 at 10:15 pm
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          Midichlorians, acting, dialogue, and yes, that Geonosis is actually terrible when you watch it.

          So no, they’re not “any reason”, they are reasons that deal with the quality of the films.

    • June 9, 2015 at 2:09 am
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      but this is an other universe after all

    • June 9, 2015 at 11:21 am
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      This is the bullcrap I hate, you are hating the best parts of the prequels… simply because they were in the prequels.

      You are creating a word-salad explanation for why good fight choreography is bad… because you are hellbent on hating the prequels.

      For the love of god stop trying to destroy what little joy I was able to gleam from those movies simply because you didnt like the movies as a whole.

      Its pathetic and sad.

      • June 10, 2015 at 4:29 am
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        The orequels had their moments. Not many, but there was some genuine inspiration to them. The basic story isn’t bad: A supposed savior has a secret love affair, loses control over his emotions, gets manipulated by a villain and turns on his friends. He “dies” and his best friend saves his children to keep the prophecy going.

        Think of it, that story has tons of potential. Unfortunately, it wasn’t told well. All this crap about seperatists, trade negotiations, senate politics, jedi council politics, general grievous, gungans, etc was completely pointless to the main story arc. The whole seperatist and clone army thing was just an excuse to have a bunch of space battles. Didn’t matter who won, both sides were evil and there was zero emotional investment in any of it. And zero emotional payoff. The prequels are just really bad movies. Some fanedits make them bareable. I can’t even watch the originals anymore.

        • June 10, 2015 at 6:48 am
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          @Amok,

          you can’t even watch the originals anymore???

          Than my god, get off this website and let the rest of us enjoy the entire Star Wars saga, thank you.

      • June 10, 2015 at 6:52 am
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        Amen Dan’s Voyage. Agree 100%

  • June 8, 2015 at 5:41 am
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    Just random fight videos with no connection to tfa, imo.

    • June 9, 2015 at 4:12 pm
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      Look who was right. 😛

    • June 9, 2015 at 7:59 pm
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      You called it!

  • June 8, 2015 at 5:52 am
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    I hope she has a bastila shan reminiscent weapon. Yellow/gold bladed saberstaff. However I don’t want “saber inflation” where every character has some crazy unique variant saber. Thankfully it seems likely that Finn will wield Anakin’s blue saber and Luke most likely will use his RotJ green saber.

  • June 8, 2015 at 6:17 am
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    Man, John Williams has really lost his touch….

    • June 8, 2015 at 6:25 am
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      I know, like WTF is this music!? LOL

      • June 8, 2015 at 10:45 am
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        FKA Twigs

        • June 9, 2015 at 3:23 am
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          Lol no

          First song is Emika – Professional Loving
          and the second song I dont know but not Twigs for sure.

  • June 8, 2015 at 6:49 am
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    My thoughts:
    WTF!? Kylo Ren is doing some wushu step thing with his lightsaber? This can’t be real. No way. I mean, there are established combat forms for the European broadsword that can be readily adapted for this fight. Heck, Ridley Scott even put it on film with “Kingdom of Heaven.” This.. makes no sense.
    BTW, sword guy’s about ready to get socked in the face by the other end of the staff. Anybody catch that?

    • June 8, 2015 at 9:26 am
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      Yeah I don’t think the swordsmen in this fight is ren. I don’t think if ren was going to use a fighting style like what we see here they would have given him the weapon they gave him. They don’t seem to go together.

    • June 11, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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      ITS ANOTHER GALAXY!

  • June 8, 2015 at 7:13 am
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    The part when he jumps into the air and twirls looks kind of ridiculous, almost like something a little kid would do if they were pretend sword fighting.

  • June 8, 2015 at 10:04 am
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    They should put that American Ninja Warrior chick in the movie. She’s awesome. and cute!

    • June 8, 2015 at 12:33 pm
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      You mean Kacy Catanzaro?

  • June 8, 2015 at 11:11 am
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    I’m not sure. Sadly most people thought ALL the light sabre fights in the prequels were pretty good. Episode 1 had some cool moments, but after that every light sabre duel was overly choreographed and way too fast and always felt like there was no threat, no mistakes, just more like a perfect ballet dance. I hope JJ brings the duels back in line more with the OT. Slower, easier to follow, with a real threat of danger brought in. And yeah as others said Kylo Ren’s broadsword design and I’d add even his wardrobe, with that long heavy looking costume, doesn’t seem to fit or even feel like his character could be capable of such movement…

    • June 8, 2015 at 6:28 pm
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      +1000 if we get prequel ballet duels I will just squirm in my seat. They’re trying to kill eachother for god sake. There should be tension, not dancing!

      • June 8, 2015 at 9:56 pm
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        Sandor Clegane: The hell you doing?
        Arya Stark: Practicing.
        Sandor Clegane: What, ways to die?
        Arya Stark: No one’s going to kill me.
        Sandor Clegane: They will if you nance around like that. That’s no way to fight.
        Arya Stark: It’s not fighting. It’s water dancing.
        Sandor Clegane: Dancing? Maybe you ought to put on a dress. Who taught you that shite?

        • June 8, 2015 at 9:59 pm
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          If anyone prances around like a pt fighter in these movies I hope a big ugly bastard like the hound hacks them to peices 🙂

      • June 10, 2015 at 9:32 am
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        Unless the guy holding the regular practice sword is much taller than Adam Driver, then he is practicing with a sword significantly shorter than the lightsaber Kylo Ren has in the trailer. I”m not a stunt actor, but it seems like it would be important to practice with a sword much more similar to the sword that will be used in the movie.

  • June 8, 2015 at 11:13 am
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    Oh and also the figure on the right’s sword doesn’t look like a full length light sabre at all. Looks about half the length of a light sabre so either someone has a mini light sabre or some other weapon or this is from something else entirely…

  • June 8, 2015 at 11:15 am
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    And finally, just had a thought, why would he be posting this footage now? I’d imagine his work was done long ago on Episode 7. Episode 8 however…

  • June 8, 2015 at 4:35 pm
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    Anyone else notice how he uses the force at 13 seconds?

  • June 8, 2015 at 4:41 pm
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    Rhye Copeman was not the stunt coordinator on TFA. This is not a leak.

  • June 8, 2015 at 4:53 pm
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    The PT’s fights were a little too perfect [actually, a lot too perfect]

    The OT fights were a mixed bag.

    ROTJ’s fight, the choreography is very good – and in my opinion, WAY more believable in terms of ACTUAL REAL LIFE people fighting to the death.
    On top of this, yah actually, you know, are presented with a reason to GIVE A SHIT whether or not Luke wins.

    TPM is well-choreographed, but it’s not BELIEVABLY choreographed.

    If asked Darth Maul to go up against TWO well-trained Jedis, 1-to-2, any warrior would say: “No way”
    This means 2 things:

    A – I don’t believe that Maul is actually willing to risk his mortal life against 2 guys just for the sake of intimidating Mace Windu or somethin’- actually, come to think of it, Maul has ZERO incentive or reason to fight Qui-Gon, AT ALL. let alone Qui + Obiwan + gravity. What happened to those previous 2 hours of film, you’d think they would have thrown in a LITTLE bit more character progression on the Sith.
    WHY IS THIS FIGHT HAPPENING?

    B – if Maul is seriously THAT DUMD / SUICIDAL that he will go up against two Jedi… Why Am I Afraid of Him?

    Even if he’s the best fighter in the galaxy, he’s still shit-stupid.
    Which means he can VERY EASILY be out-smarted.
    Lightsaber over the back + force-jump chest-slash… the oldest trick in the book. Darth Vader would have never fallen for that.

    So Maul is, at best, shit-stupid and therefore non-intimidating – or, at worst, a completely unbelievable piece of plot-progression.

    ROTSith was a little better, but unfortunately liking the three films leading up to it is a pre-requisite to enjoying any of the dramatic tension at play here, to me the fight is boring [also Obiwan is a friggin’ A##hole in this scene], so poor me for not understanding, i guess.

    This leads me to the clip i see here:
    As mentioned in other comments, the jump is dumb. But IT IS out of context and knowing my track record I may come to like that little hop depending on how the character plays out on screen.
    At the moment in this context it looks dumb and over-choreographed for the sake of being showy, but it’s hard to judge this early on.

    • June 11, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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      If its made clear that the lead in this fight is just plain more powerful/better than those he’s facing, then it sells.

  • June 8, 2015 at 5:25 pm
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    I don’t know about Rey’s staff being a lightsaber, but there’s no way in hell that Kylo would be jumping around like that!

    • June 8, 2015 at 5:39 pm
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      Zzzz zzz

      • June 8, 2015 at 6:37 pm
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        Are you a belligerent wasp? You’re certainly not a honeybee!

  • June 8, 2015 at 6:01 pm
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    People forget NOTHING on our planet is comparable to two force users fighting. Things WOULD look different to us, they can use the force to see where the next move, and the move after that and perhaps after that are coming from. Multiply that by 2 so both are utilizing that, and youd get a vastly different duel style and look than two normal dudes… I mean people dont complain that deflecting blasters isn’t “realistic” like we see here on this planet haha

    • June 8, 2015 at 6:41 pm
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      The point is that deflecting blasts is clearly a use of the force and it takes 0.5 seconds of screentime. A duel can last up to 10 minutes so it’s a piece of storytelling. It’s suspension of disablief. It needs humanity it in or it breaks the tension and it’s becomes unbelievable.

      • June 8, 2015 at 9:50 pm
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        And boring

    • June 8, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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      I think u misunderstand people’s complaints. When someone says that a dragon in a movie looks real or fake they are not talking about how close it looks to a “real” dragon because there is no such thing. all that matters is does it work dramatically. It should feel real. when Two worriors are fighting to the death with not only there lives but maybe the lives of everyone they care about hanging in the balance. It should feel that way. It should not feel like I am watching two dancers performing. The diffence can be subtle (Although to me there was nothing subtle in the pt) but that’s what being a good actor or film maker is all about.

  • June 8, 2015 at 6:36 pm
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    Spoilers: Rey fights Kylo Ren with Anakin’s/Luke’s old lightsaber, she only fights with her staff on Jakku, so if this choreography is for the film then that wouldn’t be a lightsaber fight.

    • June 9, 2015 at 3:32 am
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      wait a minute, so you’re telling me, that a lightsaber wielder is, um, dodging and taking defensive stances against a stick?… hm…

  • June 8, 2015 at 6:59 pm
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    Very slow news day. Picking at minutiae. What next? Mark Hamill’s hairstyle?

    • June 8, 2015 at 9:31 pm
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      Do you think you’re cool or something? Too cool for star wars speculation? *sigh* get over yourself

  • June 8, 2015 at 7:06 pm
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    Maybe its from the clan v the seven. Also I don’t think any stunt person would be as silly to leak a fight scene. The thought of your going to get sacked in the morning springs to mind. This leak without doubt if real would be a breach of contract.

  • June 8, 2015 at 7:23 pm
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    Rey v Finn when she turns to the darkside…

    :p

  • June 8, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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    Rey’s weapon isn’t a double bladed light saber, or a saber-staff.

    Its a pike.

  • June 8, 2015 at 9:27 pm
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    Um… Guys. This isn’t a story. This guy WASN’T the stunt coordinator. This ISN’T from TFA.

  • June 9, 2015 at 1:51 am
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    Kylo Rent (Adam Diver) stunt`s are Hungarian his names Gyula Toth.
    His IMDB page on this link, he worked on several films in the past, game Of Thrones, Sge Of Ultron etc.

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4115620/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

    There`s an interview with him here
    http://index.hu/kultur/cinematrix/2015/06/08/star_wars_7_kaszkador_interju_tronok_harca_bosszuallok_magyarok_a_nagyvilagban/

    This interview is in Hungarian, but with Google translator you can translate it into english in 5 min. Very interesting, he talks about the secrecy, also he mention that that`s gonna be a big emphasis on the light sabers in the new movie, i hope you gonna found it interesting, and i also hope it won`t be an issue that is not in English.

  • June 9, 2015 at 3:42 am
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    I’d like to point out that the fact that two fighters are “really good” at using the force and a lightsaber DOES NOT EQUAL a longer fight.

    In fact, it can even mean the opposite.

    For example: one of the main complaints from spectators at a Gladiator Arena was that the fights were too short. Like, seconds short.

    One of the- scratch that – THE most famous Samurai Warrior [I forgot his name but TRUST ME I’m the son of an expert 🙂 ] who was a renowned sword fighter, went up against another samurai, who was considered an equal opponent, in a duel.

    All the people gathered around were interested to witness the fight of the century.

    The fight lasted 2 seconds.

    The guy i’m talking about [still forgot his name] stepped past the other guy, both katana clashed, our guy then slices the other guy’s back open.
    Boom. Done. One stroke, two strokes max.

    Fencing is not the same as sword-fighting.

    I’m not saying this is how Star Wars should do its fights, I’m just pointing this out.

    Really, and I say this from experience fighting my brother, the only time a fight is guaranteed to last a long time is when both fighters are dumbasses that don’t know what they’re doing.
    Professionals just get it over with and murder the opponent.

  • June 9, 2015 at 3:33 pm
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    Just like this site, everything is speculation

  • June 9, 2015 at 4:08 pm
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    I am so glad that this is not a Star Wars fight!!!!!! thank the maker!

  • June 9, 2015 at 7:43 pm
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    While he wasn’t the coordinator, his own site says he “also acquired half a dozen weeks’ Assistant Coordinator credits for the Ireland and Abu Dhabi legs of the film.” So he may have had some input for those sections of the film.

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