J.J. ABRAMS: One of the very early things
that we talked about wanting to do
was have a lightsaber fight at night in the snow.
And I did think that it would be a beautiful thing to do.
It just felt like something that was appropriate for this story,
and visually, really interesting.
The idea of how these blades would interact with the snow,
and lighting the characters, knowing we were going to have actual,
physical props that would allow
for the light to have a very different look.
We built an enormous snow forest set.
It was a constant source of inspiration and tremendous to shoot.
It's been an interesting process
to create some of these new worlds
because they all reflect the elements of nature.
Originally, there was a lot of discussion about whether we'd do it as a location,
or whether we do it on a set.
It's a night scene,
so the amount of darkness hours we have is severely restricted.
I remember one of the meetings when we were presenting the model
of what we were proposing for the set to J.J. and we did a couple of forest sets,
and I had some photo reference with me,
and then he went,
"Oh, my God, that was a set, I thought that was a location,"
and then from that moment on, he was like,
"Okay, fine, yeah, I'm sure it can be done."
How to build that set is a jigsaw puzzle within itself.
It's almost like painting a floor, you know, you paint through it
and you got to work yourself out of the room a certain way.
So it's very, very tricky.
We're standing up real trees, which are obviously huge.
And building the terrain around it.
And creating this environment which will be far more controllable
than a location would be.
The backing alone is an incredible technical achievement.
It's a full 360-degree forest backing that is seamless,
that falls off and really gives you an infinity edge of a forest.
And just painting that in the delicacy
that just needs to fall off in just the right amount,
but painting that not in the conditions that it's gonna be photographed,
but having the understanding and the knowledge
of how that's going to be represented on film,
it's just a lost art.
They bought, I think, 750 boxes of fake snow,
and they keep bringing them in.
It's a beautiful set.
I'm just really proud of how the team pulled that one together.
How often do you get to be in a lightsaber battle
in a forest with snow?
It seemed like an amazing thing to try to tackle.
We're here at Julliard, where I went to school.
We rehearsed a bunch of the fights here,
where I actually had class.
I was commuting back and forth
from New York to London the entire time.
DAISY RIDLEY: We started the sword training with bamboo swords,
and we started the staff training with just a wooden stick.
So when we got the real sabers and when we got the real staff,
it was heavy.
That's one thing, especially myself and Daisy, we really struggled with,
because we've both got quite small arms
so we really had to work our arms in the gym
to build up strength to be able to move around
as quickly as we need to be.
RIDLEY: The stamina needed to keep doing it was...
I mean, I don't know how I did it.
I think the adrenaline must have kicked in on the day,
'cause I never thought I'd be able to carry on for as long as I did
when we were doing the fight sequence.
Having a lightsaber in my hand was surreal.
Seven months of vigorous training, and the sabers feel heavy,
they feel powerful.
Every time I swung it, the saber would carry you one way.
You'd have to bring it back.
It required a lot of energy, a lot of focus, and a lot of passion.
But it was fun.
ABRAMS: It obviously took all of the training you would expect
for Adam and Daisy and John to get to do this,
and the ability to shoot on that stage, it was really exciting to see.
Roll sound. Roll cameras.
Good energy... And action!
Stop!
(GRUNTS)
Rey. Rey! (PANTING)
Adam Driver was scary.
He was so intense with that swing.
And I just remember getting so angry,
and I pushed him off and I started swinging... (EXCLAIMS)
(FINN SCREAMING)
(FINN GROANING)
This story is a quest
to discover something that we didn't know to begin with.
How do you ground your fight in something
where it's not just the great visuals of two glowing sabers
in the middle of the forest at night in a snowstorm?
It was a very powerful thing that was happening in the scene.
RIDLEY: The buildup was just so extreme,
and it's come after this incredible journey.
ABRAMS: Three, two, one, push!
RIDLEY: It was not difficult to bring the emotion that we needed to bring.
(GRUNTS)
We've got this incredibly strong female character.
There's something about this girl that people around her can feel.
There's something about her that's going to broaden the story,
and she is the last man standing, as it were.
It's an amazing feeling.