- "As a kid, I used to always fantasize about, you know, being in movies and doing the type of martial art moves and skills and tricks as my masters would do, so I would go away and practice it and, because I would see that and visualize it, it was there in my head to keep on practicing. Even though it was hard, I've not always got it and I got frustrated, I knew as a kid and a teenager that by putting the work in and the practice and the sweat, blood, and tears and the dedication it would get there eventually. And then I got lucky. Y'know, my sort-of dreams were answered in the sense of being part of movies, but I never thought in a million years that that I would be doing Star Wars or G.I. Joe. The sort of thing I wanted to do was Hong Kong action, you know?"
- ―Ray Park
Raymond Michael "Ray" Park (born August 23, 1974) is a Scottish actor, martial artist and stuntman who portrayed Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace[3] and Solo: A Star Wars Story.[4] Maul was voiced first by Peter Serafinowicz and later by Sam Witwer, whose lines were dubbed over Park's. In 2019, during Star Wars Celebration, Dave Filoni revealed that Park reprised his role as Maul for the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars through a motion capture performance, with Witwer again providing the voice.[5] Ray Park's talents as a martial artist allowed him to perform the difficult moves required by the role.
Park performed stunts as The Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow (1999, Tim Burton), although the Horseman was played by Christopher Walken in non-combat scenes. Park also portrayed another athletic villain, Toad, in the first X-Men film (2000, Bryan Singer). Toad briefly showed off his "lightsaber" skills in the movie with a metal pole as homage to his Star Wars counterpart; similarly, the Headless Horseman also moves his sword in this fashion.
Works[]
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Contribution(s) |
---|---|---|
1999 | Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace | Maul[3] |
2018 | Solo: A Star Wars Story | Maul[4] |
2020 | Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Phantom Apprentice" | Maul (Motion capture)[5] |
Sources[]
- Ray Park to attend Celebration on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace Scrapbook
- "Welcome to the Darth" — Star Wars Galaxy Collector 8
- "Life After Darth" — Star Wars Insider 48
- Ray Park: Snake Eyes Speaks! on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars in 100 Scenes
- More Star Wars Fan Favorite Actors and Creators Announced for Celebration Orlando on StarWars.com (backup link)
- The Star Wars Show: NEW Solo Deleted Scene and Ray Park on Returning as Maul! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
- Solo Snowball Fight Deleted Scene Revealed on StarWars.com (backup link)
- SWCC 2019: 9 Things We Learned from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection
- "Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Final Countdown" — Star Wars Insider 200
- Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – The Official Collector's Edition
- Phantom at 25 | Iain McCaig Talks Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, and working with George Lucas on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition
- ↑ Episode 6: Convention etiquette and Wizard Worlds Portland on the Nerdvana Webcast YouTube channel (backup link) (starting from 1:27:40)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Solo: A Star Wars Story
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 SWCC 2019: 9 Things We Learned from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
External links[]
- Ray Park on Wikipedia
- Ray Park at the Internet Movie Database