DARK STAR

Having swapped his Monkey magic stick for a lightsabre, Ray Park is kicking Jedi arse!

Echoing every schoolboy’s favourite saying, "silent but deadly', the most impressive thing about The Phantom Menace is the awesome new tomato headed bad guy. Virtually mute, Darth Maul spends the entire movie scowling while trying to slice and dice the Jedi good guys with his cocky double-headed lightsabre.
Played by British first-time actor Ray Park, 24 - a respected martial artist and occasional stuntman, who both helped choreograph the fight scenes and train Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson - Maul has quickly become the fans' favourite, their only complaint being that he doesn’t appear in the film for long enough. In fact, Park had a less than taxing five lines to commit to memory, and even then he was dubbed by Scouse actor Peter Serafinowicz.
"It would have been nice if my voice was used in the film - but I know that it wasn’t right," Park explains. "It might have been off-putting hearing my Cockney accent!"

Before getting the Star Wars call, the only screen-time Park had under his belt was for TV series Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. His impressive, acrobatic style was noticed by George Lucas's stunt director. Lucas had originally intended that Darth Maul would be more of a speaking part, but as it became clear that it would be impossible for a regular actor to handle the incredibly complex fight scenes, he slashed the villain's dialogue.

Now, nearly two years after he finished filming, Park is trying to remain calm as the publicity machine goes into overdrive around him. And in between interviews he shuttles back to Hollywood, where he's in contention for a number of roles - including one in the much anticipated X Men movie, set to star FHM covergirl Rebecca Romijn-Stamos... (Chief News Chick note – It was announced week commencing 26/7/99 on the Cinescape Website that Ray has indeed landed a role in the new X-Men movie as 'Toad' Magneto's chief henchman)

I was driving my car when the producer rang me on my mobile. He told me to pull over. He didn't even say I had the part; he just went, "Ray I want you to be nasty, bad, I want you to scare people!" I said, "Umm, okay, does this mean I have the part?" And he said, "Yeah, man - you're going to be a bad-ass!" I hung up and drove off, then had to pull over straight away because I was shaking so much.

At first I wondered if Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were going to be alright with me, but they were cool. I had to spend a lot of time with them going through the fight moves, but they picked it all up really quickly. The only time I was nervous was right at the beginning: the first line of dialogue to be filmed was between me and Darth Sidious.

It took far too long to put on to have a joke with it. I couldn't even touch my face while I was wearing it. The make-up artist had to scratch me if I had an itch, and if I needed to pick my nose he'd grab a snot rag and stick his finger up there! Poor guy - I had a cold towards the end of the filming.

'What's Darth Maul Like in bed?" Another one was, "Is there a homosexual relationship between Darth Maul and Darth Sidious?" I don't think so.

I've been finding it a bit overwhelming, actually. At one signing session a couple of girls asked me to spank them. Then a guy came up wearing nothing but a pair of leather shorts - he looked like a gimp. The three of them got together, came back and said, "Um, would you mind spanking all of us?"

Who had the worst wind on set?

As I had all the heavy robes on, I'd just do mine while standing there and hope someone else got the blame. I was on protein shakes at the time, so my farts were really stinky.

How did you get into the martial arts?

My dad was a big fan of Bruce Lee, and I was always really into Monkey and The Water Margin. My dad made me a Monkey magic stick out of a plumbing rod. I joined the Northern Shaolin Ching Wu Club; but a lot of stuff, like backflips and aerial cartwheels, I taught myself. Within two months of starting Wu Shu training I went to a national championship and beat most of the guys there. I took part in my first world championship when I was 16.

I've had loads of cuts from sword fighting, but the worst one is a six-inch scar across my neck, right by my jugular. When I was 18 I was walking home with my girlfriend when we were attacked by ten guys. I shat myself and tried to talk us out the situation - then one of them smacked me with a bottle while another hit me on the head with a brick. I didn't even think of running – I just did what I had to do. Two of them jumped on my back, and the next thing I know I've been slashed across the neck with a Stanley knife. I remember thinking, "I mustn't go down!" Luckily I was in serious training at the time - I had a big championship coming up - so I was in top form. I think that's the only reason I'm here today.

They might want to have a go at me so they can say they hit Darth Maul, or try and get me to hit them so they can sue me. I'll have to be careful.

When I kicked him across the room. I was 14. My dad would make me show him everything I'd learned after each martial arts lesson, then he'd go, "That's all very well, but how's that going to help if someone has a go at you? That's no good, is it?" Then he'd make me practise on him! I couldn't beat my dad with my bare hands because he was a very big guy, but one time when he came to hit me - just testing me-I knocked him away with my leg, jabbed him in the chest with a kick to stun him, then spun round and bang! - I back kicked him. I remember thinking as he flew through the air, "I could have killed my dad..."

I was in an international in Kuala Lumpur when a guy had his ear cut clean off. He just carried on 'til the end of his routine. And I saw someone in a sparring competition break his shin down to his ankle. He stood up and his leg was like jelly. I've smacked myself lots of times - I've even cut my jaw doing moves with a broadsword. It's quite a sting.

When I was a kid someone told me that to train with nunchukas you had to condition your body to take a blow, so I used to hit myself on the shoulders, back and arms every day until the were black and blue. And did you know that Thai boxers rub bamboo sticks up and down their shins to take out their nerve endings, that when they kick they can break tables?

They're actually metal rods, and because we were going for it one hundred and one per cent they got all bent out of shape. We went through tonnes of them. Ewan and Liam we really good and we never had any accidents, but one of the stunt guys hit me in rehearsal I blocked close in front of my face, but he hit me so hard that his rod bent and smacked me. And we couldn't help making the lightsabre noises. Ewan got told off for it, but we all did it in the fight at the end of the film. Anyway I can't help making Bruce Lee sound effect when I'm fighting.