The Clone Wars: Episode 10 - Lair of Grievous

    It's time for another exciting episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Click here for information on this weeks episode: Lair of Grievous...

Jedi Master Kit Fisto Explores the Heart of Evil in Lair of Grievous

Jedi Master Kit Fisto steps from the shadows of the live-action films and into a Separatist trap in “Lair of Grievous,” an all-new episode of the hit animated series STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, premiering at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, Dec. 12, on Cartoon Network.

In the episode, General Grievous must prove himself worthy of the Separatists after repeatedly being defeated by the Jedi. As a test for his cyborg subordinate, Count Dooku lures Jedi Master Kit Fisto and Fisto’s former Padawan, Nahdar Vebb, to Grievous’ enclave as deadly sport for the Separatist general.

Episode writer Henry Gilroy says he’s always been intrigued by the concept of “where evil actually lives,” and this tale of attempted redemption for General Grievous presented the perfect opportunity to explore the idea.

“I went back to the old serials of the 1930s and looked at the terrible old places they used to create for the villains,” Gilroy says. “They were houses full of booby traps and monsters, with eyes knocked out of the paintings so the villain could look through and spy. It was fun to explore the home of the bad guy, to create a place so terrible that even the hero doesn’t want to be in there.

“It’s a great set-up because when the Jedi arrive, they’re expecting to find Nute Gunray – they don’t realize they’re in the lair of Grievous. From that point on, once they’re inside and realize they can’t get out, it’s basically a struggle to survive.”

The episode also provided the perfect vehicle for the series introduction of Kit Fisto, a popular Jedi Master who appears in both Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Like many other Jedi, his character was relegated to the background in the films – but is now more deeply realized through animation in STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

“Kit isn’t one of the most serious Jedi. He tends to be more jovial,” Gilroy says. “To put him in a dire, life-or-death situation makes for a fun adventure because he tends to look on the more positive, naturally humorous side. Dread kind of rolls off him.”

“Kit is great for this episode,” says supervising director Dave Filoni. “He has an excellent fight with Grievous, and the episode is brilliantly directed by Atsushi Takeuchi. While we had quite the challenge deciding what Kit Fisto’s voice would actually sound like, once it was determined he would have a bit of a Jamaican accent, Phil LaMarr really made it his own.”

The many faces of evil are on display, all with the visage of General Grievous, in “Lair of Grievous,” an all-new episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS premiering at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, Dec. 12, on Cartoon Network.

Matthew Wood Gives Evil a Voice in STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

 Matthew Wood is the voice of villainy as both General Grievous and the battle droids throughout STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, but evil gets a special opportunity to shine in “Lair of Grievous.”

Though Wood provides the distinctive sounds of Grievous and the battle droids, voice acting is not his “day job.” Since 1990, Wood has been among the chief innovators in digital sound technology at Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound, working on such films and TV properties as The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, Con-Air, Wall-E, Munich and Armageddon. In addition, he recently received an Oscar nomination for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.

Wood first dipped into the voiceover world with Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, and first performed as General Grievous on the big-screen in Star Wars: Episode III  Revenge of the Sith. As a relative insider, he knew what George Lucas was looking for in terms of the character’s sound, so he anonymously slipped his own audition tape into the casting pipeline. Lucas made the selection blindly, never knowing his eventual Grievous was already on staff.

“I like playing a villain because it’s just no-holds-barred,” Wood says. “Villains don’t have an inner critic; they just speak their mind and make demands, come hell or high water, with no ramifications.  And Grievous is a classic villain—he uses four lightsabers, he’s a Jedi killer, and I haven’t seen any humanity left in him. He knows about as much of the dark side of the Force as you can without having the Force, and now he’s just out for blood.  I haven’t seen any redeemable qualities in him. That kind of puts him up on the list of all-time great villains.”

Wood says he combines a low-pitched, deep voice, lots of yelling and a Bela Lugosi-influenced eastern European flair in his intonations of Grievous. When the voice is filtered through the computer, it is combined with the general’s trademark cough to signify his biomechanical nature. The bottom line for Wood is to capture the core of villainy within Grievous.

Wood also provides the voices of the battle droids in the series, which allow him to explore another end of the villain spectrum; as cannon fodder for the Separatists, the battle droids are used primarily as comic relief.

“I love playing both—and it’s especially fun when they’re together because I get to play that juxtaposition,” Wood says. “Grievous is so exasperated at the thought that he’s stuck with these idiotic, low-rent droids that can just be bowled over by Jedi, no problem.

“On the other hand,” he says, “the battle droids have this weird kind of desperation to them. They really want to succeed, but they just know that it’s not within their programming to do a good job. So there’s this weird, funny kind of sadness to them. It’s great to do both the villainy and the comedy.”

With four lightsabers, General Grievous is a potentially lethal adversary for Jedi Knights Nahdar Vebb (left) and Kit Fisto (right).

    Search Movie and TV News

---

Most Recent Movie and TV News:

    Seven (7) Things You Don't Know About The Original Star Wars Movie Poster
    Today Marks The 40th Anniversary Of Episode IV
    Today Marks The 34th Anniversary Of Episode VI
    The 40 Greatest Star Wars Moments According To TIME
    Today Marks The 37th Anniversary Of Episode V