How the Cast of ‘The Acolyte’ Trained to Become Jedi Masters: ‘We Had to Run Them Through the Gamut’

variety.com:

Jack Dunn When assistant fight coordinator Lu Junchang conducted lightsaber training for “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” the actors often demanded “more danger” from the stunt team, urging them to swing the prop sabers faster and closer to their faces. “Some actors will say, ‘Get closer, I want more danger.’ [Lee Jung-jae] on set always said, ‘More danger, please,'” Junchang recalls. “I get worried because if we get too close it’s not safe but, he kept saying, ‘More, more, more.'” For Junchang and the rest of “The Acolyte” stunt team, taking the cast from Jar Jar Binks to Jedi Master was no easy feat.

It required months of coaching from over a dozen trainers, encompassing lightsaber practice, force training, movement work and hand-to-hand combat. “Usually on a production, you’ll either have hand-to-hand or sword-based combat — this requires both,” says action designer Chris Cowan. “It was pretty difficult and intensive, because we had to run them through the gamut.” “The Acolyte” — created and directed by Leslye Headland — takes place in the High Republic Era, 100 years before any previous “Star Wars” story, and follows identical twin sisters Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg).

After being separated at a young age, Mae transforms herself into the deadly Jedi assassin known as the Acolyte. When Mae kills Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) Osha is blamed, and forced to search for her sister before she can kill again.

Jedi training for “The Acolyte” was scheduled three times a week in three-hour blocks. For the first month, it was “just basics,” according to stunt coordinator Mark Ginther. “Kicks and basic punches,” he says. “When we start doing fight choreography, or if we’re on set and we got to make a change, we’re going to.