When you realize it or not, there are a LOT of people who put everything they have into making the shows and movies that you love to watch. And for high-profile series like Obi-Wan Kenobi, even the stunt people have to go and work their butts off in order to make sure that all the shots are indeed in line with what is expecting, especially when it comes to things like the lightsaber battles.
Enter Tom O’Connell, who was a stuntman on the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, specifically in the role of Darth Vader. Which meant that when it came to doing the stunts for the lightsaber battle (which Hayden Christensen did part of for the record), he had to do a lot of work himself. Which he posted about on Instagram:
“I lost around 20lbs in the two weeks we filmed that finale fight scene. And I loved every second of it!,” the Vader stuntman captioned a sweat-soaked selfie posted on Instagram. “Anyone who has ever done suit work has my profound respect.”
Indeed, that must have been quite the ordeal to have to go through, and he made other posts about that final battle as well:
“In true Jedi fashion, Ewan stayed calm and collected throughout our two-week battle. Deborah Chow was a performer’s dream as a director,” O’Connell wrote, calling stunt coordinator Jonathan ‘Jojo’ Eusebio “the ultimate Jedi master guiding the story of the fight from idea to execution. What an incredible journey! My gratitude is overflowing.”
“None of it would’ve been possible without the team. This one is an all-star team I was lucky enough to be chosen for,” O’Connell wrote in another behind-the-scenes peek at the Obi-Wan finale. “What an absolute privilege and honor to work with such talent. Haters will say it’s photoshopped but… Thank you for everything, #jojoeusebio.”
So as you can see, this stuntman had a lot to be thankful for and a lot of work to put into things, but it was all worth it in the end as the final episode of the season turned out great.
Source: Instagram