Spirit's
Photos of the
2002 Sci-Fi Expo
May, 2002
Plano, Texas
Andreas Petrides (Peh-TREE-dees), stunt coordinator and Ewan McGregor's stunt double for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Ray Parks who played Darth Maul in the same film, staged a choreographed swordfighting exhibition. They are both martial artists with a pretty good experience of working in films. Ray Parks, when demonstrating some acting along with the martial arts moves, had such an intensity in his face! It was something that can't be faked! It's not hard at all to see why Lucas hired him.
There was some other stuff going on at the Expo, but unfortunately I didn't get any photos of it.
Stormtroopers preparing for battle.
"Move along, move along."
Ray Parks
Andreas Petrides holding a foam practice sword...
...and a wooden sword.
En garde!
This was a slow-motion fight,
demonstrating to the
audience some of the basic tricks stunt coordinators use
in movie fighting. No flash photography was allowed
during the earlier fast-paced choreographed swordfighting,
in which they used metal swords.
Here, they demonstrate that the
same moves can be used with hands,
as the sword is merely an extension of the arm.
Andreas finishing with a flourish. Very important in movie fighting!
Ray Parks leads an audience member through a few basic moves.