Filmmaking 101 #1: Lessons from Attack of the Clones
Why the Dialogue in Attack of the Clones is Actually Genius (from a certain point-of-view).
If all Star Wars scenes were written like this, Attack of the Clones could have won the academy award for best screenplay.
Before you call me crazy, let’s examine the Kamino-based conversation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett, and unlock why it's one of the better scenes in Star Wars. In case you need a refresher, here’s a quick transcript of the scene:
Taun We: “Jango, welcome back. Was your trip productive? “
Jango Fett: “Fairly.”
Taun We: “This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He’s come to check on our progress.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Your clones are very impressive; you must be very proud.”
Jango Fett: “I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Ever made your way as far into the interior as Coruscant?”
Jango Fett: “Once or twice.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Recently?”
Jango Fett: “Possibly.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Then you must know Sifo Dius.”
[Jango utters a non-captioned line to Boba Fett.]
Jango Fett: “Master who?”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Sifo Dius. Is he not the jedi who hired you for this job?”
Jango Fett: “Never heard of him.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Really?”
Jango Fett: “I was recruited by a man called Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogdon.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Curious.”
Jango Fett: “Do you like your army?”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “I look forward to seeing them in action.”
Jango Fett: “They’ll do their job well. I’ll guarantee that.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Thank you for your time, Jango.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi.”
For this scene, if we cut-out the introductory and closing dialogue, there are only 22 lines in this whole scene. But quite a lot is packed into this scene.
First things first: it’s important to identify the audience perspective going into this scene. Because of a previous scene where we see Jango give fellow bounty hunter Zam Wessel the deadly Kouhuns we know who Obi-Wan is after already. The filmmakers already gave that part away. More on that later.
But this means that the primary purpose of this scene is for Obi-Wan to discover this information for himself. The secondary purpose is to expose some of Jango Fett’s layers so that we can better understand who he is as a character. For example, how Jango processes threats.
The technique that George Lucas uses to write this scene is SUBTEXT.
At its heart, Subtext is when characters say one thing, but really mean something else. It's usually fairly subtle, and it's a powerful tool characters use to try and achieve their goals or get what they want.
Another way to put it:
Subtext is the art of saying what’s not being said.
If that’s confusing, think of it this way: it’s what characters REALLY mean, what they’re REALLY saying, underneath what they’re actually saying.
They’re saying one thing, asking one question if you will, but really asking something else entirely.
For example, when Obi-Wan asks, “Ever made your way as far into the interior as Coruscant?”, what he’s really asking is, “Did you organize an assassination attempt on Senator Amidala?”
But that’s too obvious of a question for Obi-Wan to ask. Jango’s answer would be “Umm…no. I wouldn’t be a very good bounty hunter if I answered that question.”
So what does Obi-Wan do instead? Throughout this scene, Obi-Wan constantly asks Jango questions that seem to have relatively little importance at surface level.
What Obi-Wan’s really doing though is trying to catch Jango in a trap by asking seemingly round-about questions, or making subtle declaratory statements that infer something else. His questions have a deeper, alternate meaning.
For example, Obi-Wan starts with trying to catch Jango Fett off guard by praising the clone army that’s been built from Jango’s DNA: “Your clones are very impressive; you must be very proud.”
Jango responds nonchalantly with, “I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.” Or in actuality, “Two can play this game, Mr. Jedi”.
Jango Fett knows exactly what Obi-Wan’s doing here and dishes the subtext right back at him. The fact that Jango instantly understands what’s going on AND has the presence to respond in like-form shows us, the audience, that the Fett is more than just muscle. He has the brains needed to be the most-feared bounty hunter in the galaxy.
But notice that the one time where Jango Fett pauses is when Obi-Wan asks him a question that he is NOT anticipating:
Obi-Wan: “Then you must know Sifo Dius.”
Obi-Wan breaks the subtext by offering a simple, straightforward question.
A question that Jango is NOT anticipating.
At this moment Jango knows that Obi-Wan has gained a slight upper hand, because he has a piece of information that Jango does not. He needs a moment to decide how to respond, so he manufactures a pause to tell Boba to close the door to the room that is hiding the most incriminating piece of evidence Jango has: his armor.
Jango uses this quick break in the conversation to make a decision on how he is going to respond. And he responds almost flippantly with “Never heard of him.”, returning the verbal duel to even ground, as it’s now Obi-Wan’s turn to be surprised.
With this “Never heard of him” line, Jango switches off the subtext and responds to Obi-Wan in like form. Since Jango truly doesn’t know who Sifo Dius is, responding with the truth that he’s never heard of him is his attempt to gain the upper-hand in the conversation.
Notice that Obi-Wan’s response is simply, “Really?” He doesn't believe Jango.
Jango notices this, and jumps in and for the first time, offers a piece of information that hasn’t been asked: I was recruited by a man called Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogdon.
Obi-Wan’s second, one-word response “Curious” reveals that he 1) has never heard of Tyranus, and 2) that he still doesn’t believe Jango.
The conversation is now at a stalemate. Both parties have offered surprising new information, and both are processing how to proceed.
It is Jango who makes the next play: Do you like your army?
So, what is Jango really saying and doing here? He’s redirecting the conversation back to where Obi-Wan started it. Using subtext to bring the discussion full circle, and underneath, showing Obi-Wan that he’s done answering questions about himself.
Which is interesting because Obi-Wan’s answer, “I look forward to seeing them in action”, is a VERY non-Jedi type of response. Jedi are supposed to love peace, not war, and Obi-Wan is the epitome of the Jedi Code at this point.
So, Obi-Wan’s response is a challenge. Both characters know that while this conversation is nearing its closure, their interactions will continue.
Jango acknowledges Obi-Wan: “They’ll do their job well. I’ll guarantee that.”
He acknowledges the challenge with more subtext by basically saying: Yeah these clones all came from me, so if you try to take me on, I’m better than they are.
Obi-Wan formally closes the conversation: “Thank you for your time, Jango”, but Jango gets in the last jibe: “Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi”.
This is such a fantastic line to close the scene with because, what self-respecting bounty hunter wants to meet a Jedi? None of them, of course!
“Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi” is a line dripping with subtext. We can infer all sorts of things about potential backstory moments between Jango and Jedi, but it’s the irony of the line that makes it absolutely the best line for the moment. Of course, this line is an outright lie, but the irony and subtext are what makes it hit home, and gives it a slightly and intentional comedic touch.
This is scene where not a lot is learned on the surface, but oh so much conflict starts boiling underneath the surface, and we leave the scene not being able to wait for the next confrontation.
But there’s one thing that could have brought this scene to the next level. The dratted Jango/Zam Wessel set-up scene, where Jango delivers the poison nightmare worms to Zam. This scene completely undermines the Obi-Wan scene, because it reveals WHO the bounty hunter behind the assassination attempts is!
In the Obi-Wan scene, there’s never a doubt that Jango is the bounty hunter Obi-Wan is looking for. The scene is kind of written to play like, “oh, maybe that’s someone else’s armor in the next room”, but we got a good hard look at the armor in the Zam Wessel scene. There’s never really a question.
Which is why the Jango/Zam scene should have been left on the editing room floor. If the scene had been cut, there would have been an extra layer of tension for the audience to feel within the scene, as we would have been also trying to guess, alongside Obi-Wan, if Jango is the correct suspect or not.
The quick shot of the helmet and armor on the floor would have truly added some additional suspense at that point, since all we would have seen from Jango previously is a quick, far-away shot of him rocketing into the air. Definitely not enough to make a 100% judgement call on, with the exception of maybe the hard core star wars fan with sharp eyes.
The irony though is that the Jango/Zam Wessel scene wasn’t even in the original script. It was added during pick-up shoots in order to give more clarity to the assassination attempt. Oh well, what can you do. It ended up in the movie and that’s that.
Until next time, have fun watching movies and making movies!