When George Lucas decided to move forward and produce the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, it was one of the biggest cinematic undertakings we’d ever seen. The three movies had a massive amount of hype that has rarely been matched since. So many people wanted to know what was going on on the set, and that apparently included Robert De Niro.
In a video posted of Hayden Christensen appearing at Fan Expo New Orleans, the Anakin Skywalker actor talks about the process of filming the final lightsaber battle with Ewan McGregor in Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith. Apparently during the long process, which took over a week to film, according to the actor, De Niro stopped by to see what his friend George Lucas was up to. Christensen said…
I remember one of the days that we were filming the fight, Robert De Niro showed up to set, just because he wanted to see what we were doing — not us, what George was doing. Obviously, I am a huge fan of his, and I remember just standing with Ewan, and he’s like, ‘Is that Robert De Niro standing over there?’ And I’m looking over [and go] like, ‘Yeah, I think that is him.’ And so we’re excited that he’s there, and then he walked over and he was very friendly.
Robert De Niro isn’t necessarily a name I would expect on a Star Wars movie set, but one can imagine Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor freaking out a little when one of the biggest movie stars ever happened to show up. Christensen says he’s a big fan, so the moment was an especially big deal.
However, the moment became even more special after a brief exchange between the two. Christensen revealed that he was in the habit of doing pushups before takes for the fight scene in order to get the proper physical feeling for the scene. This got the seal of approval from De Niro. The Anakin actor continued…
I remember — because I would do a lot of push-ups before each take to get my heart rate up and a little exhaustion going. And he came over to me and said, ‘I see you doing push-ups before the takes. I do that, too.’ That felt good.
The tradition of big names visiting Star Wars sets would continue long after the Prequel Trilogy. Several celebrities ended up with cameos as stormtroopers during the Sequel Trilogy after visiting the production. More recently, director Shawn Levy revealed that Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise both visited the set of Star Wars: Starfighter.
While the reaction to the Prequel Trilogy was mixed at best when the movies were released, the films have been reevaluated in recent years, which is part of the reason fans have been so excited to see Hayden Christensen return to the franchise in Disney+ series like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka.
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