Stuntman Talks Secrecy Measures on ‘The Force Awakens’ Set

26 year old Hungarian stuntman Toth Gyula has an impressive pedigree of stunt work on his resume, from Game of Thrones to Avengers: Age of Ultron. So when he received a call to act as stunt double for Adam Driver in ‘The Force Awakens’, initially he didn’t believe it, but eventually he discovered it was real and was surprised by the level of secrecy on set during his six month shoot.

Speaking to Index magazine he discussed a few details regarding his reactions to the role, the security measures in place during the arcane shoot and a few interesting details about wielding the infamous crossbar Lightsaber. Note: this is translated from the original piece for www.starwars7news.com.

On his first reaction to the offer

"‘One day I received a text message, that it would be a stunt casting for the new Star Wars. They were looking for high stuntmen, and could I come to London? At first I thought that this is a joke, and somebody was messing with me…and in the end asked if I was free to film Star Wars 7? Of course, I said yes right away, and I did not mind at all that this meant I was left out of the remaining Avengers 2 action scenes.’"

It’s no secret how secret the secret filming really is, and Gyula had first hand experience of the measures taken even for the main cast and crew

"‘Even at the one-day casting in the beginning I was taken straight to the studio Pinewood from the airport to the main building. Until then, I could not go anywhere until I wrote under a 20-page statement of confidentiality, one sheet with separate signature. In the studio I could walk only with escort and special magnetic card. On every corner there were security guards, they often stopped and asked for confirmation of my identity and say that I’m really have license for being there. It was necessary anyway, because the were other filming the studio was doing in parallel with TFA, and they did not want anyone there to peek.’"

On his own experience with the shrouded filming and the extensive precautions taken by security

"‘I have never seen as stringent measures as in the Star Wars 7 shooting. The precise production plan, to know what we are going to shoot the next week, I never got to know in advance…The entire story of the film is still a black hole for me for example. I will only put together all the pieces in the cinema on full screen, I still have a lot of white spots. The characters appeared through code names not to be able to identified ahead of time by accident. Of course, there were so vicious fans who flew drones in the studio courtyard to film the outside scenery. There was also a separate alarm code in such cases: released 50 security guards on the set, everyone were put in black hoods and sheets and led them to the tents that the drone can not take pictures of them.’"

When asked about the crossbar lightsaber, he confirmed he couldn’t talk about it but did discuss his first impression of the prop

"‘I was just looking at it: What is THIS? I came for a Star Wars production, not a medieval movie or something.’"

Interestingly he mentioned why the lightsabers are important for the new film

"‘I can tell that it is not by chance that the title is The Force Awakens, the lightsabers will have a major role. More, however, really I cannot say, everybody will see at the cinema.’"

Regarding working with Abrams, Gyula was excited that the production avoided as much green screen as possible, stating Abrams ‘strove to capture the IV-V-VI. atmosphere’. Good news for those left dizzy from digital lethargy in the Prequels. He stated how it made a difference for him and the actors

"‘I do not want to exaggerate, but I think 70 percent of the scenery was actually built and could be touched. It has made me much more confortable in the scenes, and for the actors probably also easier to play in than in front of a green background.’"

All good info to feed the excitement, what could be meant about the lightsabers? We see Anakin’s damaged lightsaber (the one Luke loses along with his hand on Bespin) being handed to someone in the trailer, and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber has caused a fuss with its unique design, so we can assume the Force will truly Awaken in some way come December.

Click here for the full translated piece.