Well, as the fans know over the course of producing the prequels, several different people have had the ultimate fantasy come true, that of being in a Star Wars film. In my case I was among several lucky people who got to play Jedi extras in the battle of Geonosis. As you can imagine, I could go on and on about this experience but, I'll try to be brief here.
A call went out for people who had martial arts skills. I was one of many to audition and was ultimately selected along with several others to perform for the cameras against the big blue screen. I remember being fitted for my Jedi costume several days before the shoot, putting on the tunic, finding boots that fit, a belt and a robe that was not too long. My adrenaline was pumping, I could hardly breathe for all the excitement, or maybe it was the doughnuts.
We had been rehearsing and practicing our fight moves for weeks, both at home and in the gym, then, on the day of the shoot, we arrived early for make-up and hair. My character was fitted with a long braid in the back, my eyebrows were extended and my skin and hair color were aged to give me a more mature look. As myself and all the other newly minted Jedi were lead out of the dressing area on to the set, we were given our choice of lightsabers. I picked out one that felt right in my hand, checked it for balance and moved it around swoosh swoosh humming the noise to myself unconsciously, it was not as heavy as what I had been practicing with which gave me a sense that my moves would look and flow even better than in rehearsal.
Moviemaking involves a lot of waiting, so each of us tried our best to practice our moves without disturbing the excellent work of the costume, make-up and hair artists. It was a great feeling to be walking around among my colleagues who had all been transformed into Jedi. You could feel the glow of excitement in everyone as they waited their turn. Then, one by one, each of us went up there on the field of blue under the hot lights, to face imaginary bugs and battle droids. Just like any fan, I had dreamed of and acted out being a Jedi as a kid watching the movies, but I could never have imagined then, that I would be on a Star Wars set, in costume, wielding a real lightsaber, but there I was, actually selected to be a Jedi. I still get excited and emotional when I think about it or tell the story.
One by one, we went through our routines under different lighting set-ups, using our imaginations and our lightsaber skills, we each fought against what were at that point, invisible forces of evil in the galaxy. When it was all said and done, the compositing team at ILM used us to fill out the arena shots in this epic battle sequence. Ultimately, after the shoot all the Jedi extras would still have to wait for the film to see which of us made the cut. For this we had to wait months and months while it was finished. Many months later, after the hard work of my colleagues at ILM the film was done. I remember the first few times I saw the film, I looked and looked but could not see myself in the sequence. I was disappointed, but I consoled myself with the fact that I knew I had been there, and held the saber, so I would always have that, but it was hard not be disappointed. Then, several long months after that, I got my copy of the film on DVD and decided to go through the sequence frame by frame and look again. For what seemed like an hour I scrolled frame by frame through the sequence looking intensely at each shot thinking please please let me have made the cut even in a small way. When I finally saw myself, I was ecstatic and let out a huge whoop and jumped up and down on my sofa. There I was, a small figure in the back ground to the left of Obi-Wan Kenobi, wielding a blue lightsaber against several lowly battle droids for all of about one-and-a-half seconds, or 36 frames. If you look at the film in real time I am unnoticeable, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment one bit.
When I reflect on my job in archives and my good fortune, I am filled with the wonder of it, the sense of how unbelievably lucky I am to have gotten to experience these things. Wow, what can you say, except, thanks George!
From the Lucasfilm Holocron:
Ichi-Tan Micoda
Ichi-Tan graduated near the bottom of his class at the Jedi Temple as a youth, but through persistent effort and countless hours of studying at the Jedi Archives, Ichi-Tan passed his early training exams with a thorough understanding of galactic law and treaties. His unorthodox fighting style meant frequent defeat in his sparring exercises against other more graceful Jedi apprentices. Yet, once in a while, to their great surprise, this style would result in a stunning underdog defeat of one of the top seated swordsman in his class. Striking swiftly and with a penetrating style, the matches were over quickly when he did win them. Adept at communications and negotiations, Ichi-Tan became involved in the Diplomatic Corps which kept him close to the Galactic Core. He resided in the galactic law section of the Jedi Temple archives, before being called to duty by Mace Windu for the Battle of Geonosis. His weakness in longer more protracted contests against multiple foes may have been a pivotal reason he was lost so early during the conflict.
