Manny Jacinto, who plays the mysterious Stranger in Star Wars: The Acolyte, recently opened up about his intense lightsaber training behind the scenes.
Portraying Qimir, a character layered with mystery and depth, Jacinto knew he had to bring his best to the role.
But how does one find the inspiration to step into such an iconic universe?
For Jacinto, the key was drawing from the dedication of another actor who had already walked the Jedi path: Hayden Christensen.
In a recent interview, Jacinto shared, “The training day in and day out… I just wanted to get it right. I saw the Hayden Christensen videos and how hard he trained, and it inspired me.”
According to StarWars.com, Jacinto’s background in dance and his passion for the physical aspects of performance fueled his desire to do as many of his own stunts as possible.
“We aimed for Qimir to have a distinct fighting style, different from what audiences have seen in the prequels and the original trilogy,’ Jacinto explained. ‘While those films feature a more upright, fencing-like approach, we wanted Qimir to be fluid, quick, powerful, and sneaky. Achieving this required a combination of strength, flexibility, and dynamism.”