Rogue One: Peter Jackson watched Gareth Edwards direct the Darth Vader lightsaber scene
The Lord of the Rings director jumped at the opportunity to see one of the world's most famous characters in action
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Your support makes all the difference.Anthology film Rogue One was filled with several notable moments that have left Star Wars fans with plenty to discuss, chief of which was the appearance of Darth Vader,
The villain's presence in the film had been teased in the months prior to release but cinemagoers weren't left disappointed with his several scenes, one of which saw him massacre several Rebel fighters with his lightsaber.
Director Gareth Edwards has teased many behind-the-scenes aspects of some of the film's biggest moments: it turns out he wasn't the only director on set during the shooting of that climactic scene.
"We were at Pinewood, and Peter Jackson was in town. And we were like, 'oh we should get Peter along, we should try and get him to come'," Edwards explained to Empire for its latest podcast special.
He continued:
"I was there, about to shoot that scene, and I thought, 'ahh, you know what, screw it', and I just wrote an email saying, ‘Peter, about to film Darth Vader if you want to come, it's happening now’, and he's like, ‘I'll be there in half an hour!’ And then he perfectly timed it, he walked in literally for that shot where it goes from darkness to the lightsaber turning on. Whatever I do in my career, whatever happens next, it's gonna be hard to top the honour of getting to direct that scene."
It's no wonder Jackson, the director of such films as Braindead, King Kong and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, jumped at the chance to see one of the most famous film characters of all time in action.
Other revelations detailed by Edwards included the film's final shot featuring a character superimposed from the original trilogy, his very own cameo (he's not spilling on who he plays) and the small case of the missing opening crawl and TIE fighter glimpsed in the trailer.
Rogue One became the champion of the 2016 UK box office in the final hours of the year overtaking Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Bridget Jones's Baby.
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