A Tour of the Skiff
August 25, 2004
Gleaming with the silvery chromium finish so distinctive of Naboo design, Padmé Amidala's star skiff is a new addition to the fleet of vessels representing that tranquil world in the prequel trilogy. It's not a huge vessel -- nothing on the scale of her royal starship from Episode I, or the Naboo cruiser from Episode II. It is wedge-shaped, appearing like a scaled-down version of the flying wing vessel that starts off Attack of the Clones. The engines are outside the ship, in the form of thrusters suspended on the wings, thus leaving more room inside the spaceframe.
A long ramp lines the underbelly of the vehicle. The cockpit rests in a teardrop shape on the spine of the ship. The cockpit window has the same vertical strut design seen in the yacht that Padmé took to Geonosis. The pilot and co-pilot chairs are identical, since they're the same props reused from Episode II.
As realized for Episode III, the ship has no cockpit set. Only the chairs mounted on green blocks. The main volume of the craft, sandwiched between the upper cockpit and lower ramp, includes a cargo area described as a "locker room" on the call sheet and script. Though small, it's enough room for an actor or a webcam to sneak around in.
Adjacent to this chamber is a sleeping bunk. At the start of the day, wet paint signs cautioned crewmembers to stay away from it. But, by later in the morning, it was ready to accept its reclining occupant.
A proper Jedi doesn't run with his lightsaber. "You just don't do it. Who knows what you'll cut off," says George Lucas. Jedi safety aside, such a decision does help alleviate some continuity concerns in the filming of a minor stunt bit earlier this morning.
Nick Gillard is in Shepperton for the shoot, donning his "Stunt Coordinator" hat rather than his "Sword Master" mantle. There's no lightsaber action for Anakin today, but he does need to run from a platform and jump at the camera, leaping out of frame. It's a stunt that Hayden can easily do, but procedure has Nick supervise the action and perform the jump himself first.
The set is just a slim green walkway, which terminates beyond camera's edge onto a crashmat.
Reviewing the animatics and rough edit of the duel, Script Supervisor Victoria Pike notes the repeated switching of lightsaber-hands, as Anakin uses his mechanical arm to grab onto a thick cable while holding his weapon in his weaker left hand. So, which hand should he be carrying it in his scene?
"Let's go with left," says George. "If you make a movie where all you care about is matching, you don't have a story, but you sure have stuff that matches," he says. To his point, there's enough breathing space in the edit that Anakin could have conceivably switched hands off-camera, and to shoot a handover would needlessly delay the action of the scene.
It's George's push for speed that pulls such scenes into further abstractions, in some cases giving hints and impressions of action. He lets the audience's creative minds fill in the gap, rather than sacrifice frames to deliberately portray an unneeded transition that would drag the pace.
In between takes of the Naboo skiff scene, C-3PO wandered over to me, granting me a rare opportunity to interview the most famous procotol droid in the galaxy. "Tell me, what does it feel like to be standing so close to such a star?" the golden droid asked.
Notepad and pen in hand, I asked Threepio how it felt to be back, and whether he missed the blue at all, since we were in a rare enclosed set. "Oh, my, no. I don't have to look very far to see it, do I? Have you met Anthony Daniels? A delightful human being."
After considerately spelling out Daniels' name for me, I double-checked the spelling of his alphanumerical indicator. "That's C as in class," he clarified. "I am a class-3 protocol officer, the highest in the field. You'll note that Artoo is not only a lower number, but he doesn't even have 'Class' at all. Hm."
Playing roving reporter with a protocol droid does have its perks -- Threepio ushered me over to Ewan McGregor for a snapshot of the three of us. Once the camera clicked, Anthony whispered to Ewan. "There, that should make you famous."
"Yeah, it's about time." Ewan grinned.
We're right on schedule for Day Three of the shoot. Anakin's greenscreen shoots cover elements of three scenes, the Naboo skiff interior another two, and the imaginary cockpit covers two more. Natalie Portman records some ADR right before lunch. When the crew returns from break, it's pieces of scenes involving Padmé, Anakin and Obi-Wan (which necessitated George's classic call to be "faster and more intense."😉 By the end of those takes, Natalie completed all her re-shoots requirements, and the assembled cast now numbers one less. With some inserts of Obi-Wan sneaking about in his search for General Grievous (which includes a very classic Alec Guinness line), we're done for the day.
And the Naboo skiff interior has had its floor and finishes already dismantled and the set is ready to be destroyed.
We toured it just in time.