Star Wars casts Ray Park in the role of Darth Maul because of a terrible video game movie

When you’re in “Star Wars,” you don’t always need that many lines or that much screen time to become a fan favorite. Just ask Ray Park, who quickly shot to fame with audiences after playing Darth Maul in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace.” Park doesn’t utter a single word as the character, as Maul’s few lines are dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz. When the character was revived in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels”, he was voiced by veteran voice actor Sam Witwer instead. But Park’s version of Mall has remained near and dear to fans’ hearts due to his unforgettable physical presence and martial arts ability. However, it probably wouldn’t have been picked up if it weren’t for a really terrible movie.

In 1995, “Mortal Kombat” gave us one of Best video game movies We’ve seen it for decades. It’s definitely goofy and corny, but it’s also fun, and captures a lot of the gaming spirit. Which is what made it all the more tragic when the 1997 sequel “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” turned out to be a garbage barrel full of bad decisions and bad special effects. Fortunately, it also gave Park his big break as an actor, which led directly to his subsequent audition for “Star Wars.”

“I did everything in this movie,” Park said. Star Wars insider In 2003 for his work “Annihilation”. “I didn’t know anyone in the film industry, but after Mortal Kombat 2, everything started happening.”

If “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” serves only to bring some attention to Ray Park, it’s worth it. Without him under Maul’s red-and-black alien skin, it’s hard to imagine the climatic lightsaber duel of “The Phantom Menace” becoming the legendary sequence it is today. However, Park wasn’t even a member of the guild when he was working on “Mortal Kombat 2,” and the gig wasn’t quite what you might expect from the soon-to-be-famous stuntman.

“I put the boxes together, I was the collision guy, and I advised the actors on their fight scenes,” Park told Star Wars Insider, describing the wide range of tasks assigned to him during Annihilation’s production. “This film was my apprenticeship.” Rick McCallum, George Lucas’s producer for the entire prequel trilogy, saw potential in Park when he started hearing about the young stunt star. “This one had to elevate the performances of Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor,” McCallum told Star Wars Insider in 2003. “Rey’s combination of physical agility and menace was everything.”

The results speak for themselves while George Lucas received a great deal of criticism for The Phantom Menace. Darth Maul emerged as the one thing that most moviegoers universally loved. His longevity in the film is a testament to Park’s performance, especially since Moll was supposed to die at the end of the film.

While Sam Witwer took over the role of Darth Maul in the “Star Wars” animated universe, Ray Park was slated to play the role again, finally getting his chance (albeit briefly) in 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The reveal at the end of the film that Maul was pulling several underworld strings got some mixed reactions at the time, mainly because Darth Maul’s complex timeline. Fans who haven’t seen “The Clone Wars” may not have known that he survived his “Phantom Menace” fight, and unfortunately, Park’s martial arts prowess is wasted in the film, as Maul only appears in 3D, dubbed by Witwer.

However, in 2020, more than two decades after “The Phantom Menace,” fans finally got to experience a new lightsaber battle with Park as Maul. When it came time to create the climactic Siege of Mandalore arc for Season 7 of “The Clone Wars,” showrunner Dave Filoni wanted a sprawling duel between Maul and Ahsoka Tano, so the team brought in Park and fellow actress Lauren Marie Kim to do the entire job. Motion capture of battle. The result is undoubtedly the greatest lightsaber duel in any of the “Star Wars” animated shows, and you can really see Park’s signature style in the final product.

So, next time you watch one of Park’s excellent performances in Maul, show a little gratitude to “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.” Just don’t watch it.