What is the process of casting stunt people and extras?

2nd Unit Crew filming on the Tatooine Desert set, on location near Tozeur,Tunisia. Left to right: Neil Murphy (Wardrobe Assistant), Ray Park ( Darth Maul), Nick Gillard (Stunt Coordinator).

When Nick Gillard was given the role of Stunt Coordinator for The Phantom Menace, little did he know that, for the climactic lightsaber duel between Jedi and Sith, he'd be called upon to exercise the full range of skills required by film-makers.

Ray Park (Darth Maul) is given some tips by Nick Gillard (Stunt Coordinator), in the Theed Main Hangar set at Leavesden Studios.

Ray Park, as Darth Maul, performs one of his gravity-defying stunts in the Tunisian desert.

This first chapter, which is rich in art, design, costumes, architecture and technology, follows Anakin's journey as he pursues his dreams and confronts his fears in the midst of a galaxy in turmoil.

Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard talks Ewan McGregor through a fight sequence on the Theed Hangar set at Leavesden Studios.

Andreas Petrides, Obi-Wan Kenobi's stunt double, leaps off an 80-foot blue screen tower outside Flight Stage 1, Leavesden Studios.

Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard coordinates a free fall with his assistant Andreas Petrides.

Stunts have always had their place in movies, and actors have always had their part to play in making the stunts work for the camera. However, as Ewan McGregor discovered during the shooting of Star Wars: Episode I, lightsaber fighting is quite different from anything else.

The lightsaber battles of Star Wars: Episode I are more than spectacle.

The August 1998 Star Wars pick-ups at Leavesden Studios have wrapped, completing the filming of new scenes added to the script by George Lucas based on the Episode I rough cut assembled at Skywalker Ranch.

"I hate stunts that look like stunts," says Episode I Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard.

Here at Leavesden, there is a cart packed full with nothing but lightsabers, waiting on standby.