Hayden Christensen and Crew Talk About Darth Vader’s Bacta Tank Scene in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’
In an upcoming clip from the bonus features of Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s steelbook blu-ray release, Hayden Christensen and the crew talk about how they made the bacta tank scene that properly announced Darth Vader’s introduction to the series.
Via Variety, the production made a conscious decision not to be overly reliant on visual effects to show Vader in the tank. It was entirely practical, and Hayden Christensen revealed he was actually in the tank holding his breath while shooting the scene to make sure no air bubbles were present inside.
I had to be completely submerged in water holding my breath. [So] I got to work with a great dive coach, and he would teach me different breathing techniques. I think my longest breath holds were around two and a half minutes. It was surprisingly peaceful in there.
That claim is made even more impressive when you remember he was covered in prosthetics to make his head and torso look as charred as it was in the aftermath of Revenge of the Sith and his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. Associate Producer Stephanie Peters talked a bit more about needing to get the lighting right and avoid those air bubbles.
It was really important to test it out ahead of time to make sure the lighting was correct, the water color was correct, to make sure that the prosthetic held up, and there weren’t any air bubbles. Because we weren’t cheating it. It was Hayden without any sort of breathing apparatus, doing breath holds.
Co-Producer and Production Designer Doug Chiang spoke about his excitement at being able to provide a more intimate look at Darth Vader, as someone who has worked on Star Wars projects since 1999.
For the first time, we were going to reveal Vader in all of his various stages. In some ways, it’s better to be more mysterious. But here, we’re now trying to peel back the layers.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will be released on blu-ray on Tuesday, April 30.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
