Nick Gillard

English stuntman and stunt coordinator

Nick Gillard

Born	1959 (age 64–65) Brighton, England
Occupation(s)	Stunt coordinator, stuntman, actor
Years active	1977–present

Nick Gillard is an English stuntman and stunt coordinator. He is best known as the lead lightsaber fight and stunt coordinator of the Star Wars prequel trilogy films (1999–2005).

Biography

Gillard was born in Brighton, England. At the age of twelve, he ran away from military school to join the circus where he performed as bareback horse rider. Over the next few years Gillard worked with several circus's including Circus Althoff in Germany and Los Muchachos Circus in Spain. Gillard was invited to do stunts on The Thief of Baghdad. He enjoyed it, and later left the circus to perform stunt work in films, including the original Star Wars.^[1]^[2] Gillard was Mark Hamill's first choice as his stunt double for Return of the Jedi.^[3]

As a stuntman, Gillard held the world record for longest fire stunt, with a fire burn without air for over two minutes on Alien 3.^[4] He also performed a 200-foot power boat jump over two bridges in the film Amsterdamned, and was set on fire over 100 times.^[1]

Among Gillard's movie credits are Sleepy Hollow, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Gillard was the fight choreographer of the Star Wars prequels. He had a cameo appearance in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith^[5] as Cin Drallig ("Nic Gillard" spelled backwards). His likeness was used for the character with a larger role in the accompanying video game, for which Gillard choreographed the combat animations.^[6]

Filmography

As stunt coordinator, arranger or performer

Film

1977 The Spy Who Loved Me
1981 For Your Eyes Only
1983 Krull
1984 Scream for Help
1985 Restless Natives
1985 The Bride
1985 Legend
1985 Murder Elite
1985 Claudia
1985 Christmas Present
1986 Labyrinth
1986 Aliens
1987 The Living Daylights
1987 Empire of the Sun
1988 Amsterdamned
1988 Willow
1988 Dream Demon
1988 The Beast of War
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1989 Henry V
1990 1871
1990 Frankenstein Unbound
1990 Bullseye!
1991 Young Soul Rebels
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1991 Company Business
1991 Under Suspicion
1992 Far and Away
1992 Alien³
1992 Double X: The Name of the Game
1992 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1993 Son of the Pink Panther
1993 The Three Musketeers
1994 Being Human
1994 Black Beauty
1994 Interview with the Vampire
1995 Rob Roy
1995 Judge Dredd
1995 Waterworld
1995 Nothing Personal
1995 GoldenEye
1995 The Darkening
1996 Twelfth Night: Or What You Will
1996 The Wind in the Willows
1997 Seven Years in Tibet
1997 Tomorrow Never Dies
1999 Plunkett & Macleane
1999 Notting Hill
1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (Also swordmaster)
1999 Sleepy Hollow
2000 Shaft (Also second unit director)
2001 Buffalo Soldiers
2002 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (Also swordmaster)
2002 Reign of Fire (Also second unit director)
2002 Dirty Pretty Things
2005 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (Also swordmaster)
2008 Wanted
2010 Tamara Drewe
2013 The Fold
2015 The Hippopotamus

Television

1983 Owain Glendower, Prince of Wales
1983 A Pattern of Roses
1985 Lace II
1987 Screen Two
1987 Floodtide
1987 Way Upstream
1988 The One Game
1989–1990 Poirot
1989–1990 Boon
1989–2010 The Bill
1991 Duel of Hearts
1992 Forever Green
1992 Taggart
1993 Lovejoy
1993 Between the Lines
1994 Wild Justice
1994–1995 The Tomorrow People
1995 Pie in the Sky
1996 Broken Glass
1997–1999 Red Dwarf
2000 The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure
2005 Colditz
2009 Minder
2010 Identity
2010 Spooks
2013 Burton & Taylor
2014 Da Vinci's Demons (Season 3) (Also swordmaster)
2015 Jekyll & Hyde
2015 And Then There Were None
2015 Undercover
2016 Guilt
2016 Black Mirror
2016 Rillington Place
2016 The White Princess (Also swordmaster)
2016 The Domestics
2017 The Brave
2017 The Miniaturist
2018 The Alienist
2018 Kiss Me First
2018 Dark Heart

Video games

2005 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (Also likeness as Cin Drallig)^[6]

As actor

Film

1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark – German Soldier (uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Periscope Soldier (uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
1990: King of the Wind – First Sailor
1990: Frankenstein Unbound – Man No. 2/Man No. 3
2003: Cheeky – Taxi Driver
2005: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Cin Drallig
2014: Vampire Academy – Kenneth (uncredited)^{[citation needed]}

Television

1979: Premiere – Angel
1982: The Jim Davidson Show
1985: Mr. Palfrey of Westminster – Alec Thompson
1989: Ticket to Ride – Brother Paul
1989: Streetwise – Heavy
1990: EastEnders – Restaurant Manager
1990: TECX – Luke/Luc
1991: Bottom
1994: Minder – Queen

References

^ ^a ^b "Star Wars: Bio – Nick Gillard". Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 8 August 2003. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
^ "Star Wars: Den of Geek goes Jedi training with Nick Gillard". Den of Geek. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
^ "Nick Gillard / Jedi Training". Salt Lake Comic Con. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
^ The Guinness Book of Records 1999. 1998. p. 213. ISBN 0-9652383-9-3.
^ "Interview with stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard (Mr. Optimism)- March 2004". Desiring Hayden.net. March 2004. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Creating the Lightsaber Battles in ROTS Game". TheForce.Net. 4 May 2005. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2010.