Looking back on Star Wars, part 8: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
By Mike McNulty
Even the reason behind Anakin’s fall underwent massive rewrites. In earlier drafts, Lucas put more emphasis on Anakin’s belief that the Jedi are plotting to overthrow the Republic and remove Palpatine from office in order to end the Clone Wars.
Helping Lucas polish up the script was noted playwright Tom Stoppard. As Stoppard also wrote scripts for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, this may account for why much of the dialogue in Revenge of the Sith sounds as lofty and pseudo-Elizabethan as it does. It’s definitely melodramatic, particularly when it comes to the continuation of Anakin and Padmé’s (Natalie Portman) forbidden marriage. At least lines like “You’re going down a path I cannot follow!” are more bearable than anything from Attack of the Clones.
Also, for as much hype as there was about General Grievous–mainly that he’s a Jedi-killing droid wielding multi-lightsabers–he isn’t as impressive as he looks. Not helping matters is that in order to fully understand the character, one has to also watch Gendry Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars animated series where Grievous first appears, and which is no longer considered canon. In an interesting case of what might have been, Grievous was originally supposed to have been voiced by Gary Oldman. Unfortunately, because Lucas was making Revenge of the Sith without involving the Screen Actors Guild, Oldman, who was a member, opted out, and sound designer, Matthew Wood voiced Grievous instead.
Even the reason behind Anakin’s fall underwent massive rewrites. In earlier drafts, Lucas put more emphasis on Anakin’s belief that the Jedi are plotting to overthrow the Republic and remove Palpatine from office to end the Clone Wars. In later drafts, it’s because of his premonitions of Padmé dying in childbirth which makes him turn to Palpatine to learn how to use the Force to prevent death. Adding to this is Anakin suspecting Obi-Wan is also in love with Padmé, and trying to steal her away from him. In the end, it seems as though all three in some form or another made into the final cut, making things feel needlessly clunky and complicated.