14 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Count Dooku [Star Wars]

C is For Count Dooku. 

The character of the imperious Count Dooku was played to perfection by Christopher Lee, but here are some things you may not know about him.

He first appears in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as the leader of the federation of planetary systems rebelling against the Galactic Republic. Dooku was also the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious known as Darth Tyranus. He didn’t have a lot of screen-time, but he made an impression. 

What do he and Darth Vader have in common besides the cape? What does Dooku mean in Japanese? What’s his full name? How much sword fighting did Christopher Lee actually do? What made him say, “I didn’t think you would do this to me George!” Find out by reading the fourteen things you may not know about Count Dooku.

1. Lee was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. He turned it down and the role eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing.

2. Both he and David Prowse, who played Sith Lord Darth Vader, played Frankenstein’s Monster opposite Peter Cushing. Lee was in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Prowse was in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970).

3. According to Christopher Lee’s autobiography, the name “Dooku” comes from the Japanese word for poison, “doku.” To many, it sounds a lot like “dookie.” A slang word for feces.

4. Count Jard Dooku is the full name of Dooku.  To become a Sith Lord, Dooku had to murder someone close to him. After Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas revealed to Dooku that he had created a massive clone army for the Republic, Dooku killed him and took over operations.

A reader pointed out the previous trivia is not officially sanctioned.

5. In the Brazilian translation, the name of Count Dooku was changed. In the Portuguese language, “Dooku” has an obscene meaning when spoken (“Du Cu”). I’m not going to explain it, so just Google it. “Dooku” became “Dookan” for one translation.

6. The fight with Yoda was done completely against a green screen. He did all the maneuvers and they animated Yoda to match them. Lee said that it took “a very powerful imagination, experience, professional knowledge, powers of invention of your own and you have to have the right instincts.”

7. After having his hands cut off by Anakin Skywalker, the original script called for him to beg for his life. Christopher Lee felt this was out of character and Lucas had it removed. Instead, he just gives a shocked look before having his head cut off.

8. A bust of Count Dooku is in the Jedi library. The librarian identifies the bust Obi-Wan Kenobi was looking at as Count Dooku in a deleted scene from the film.

9. A small model of Yoda was used in the scene where he fought Count Dooku. Lee played a vampire in Horror of Dracula and, as a practical joke, the crew added vampire fangs to Yoda. Lee joked on-set, “I will not comment on that. I didn’t think you would do this to me George!”

10. Christopher Lee holds the world record for the most swordfights in movies. He did his own swordfights for Attack of the Clones. While a body double was used for the long shots, he was used for close shots.  “Almost all the fights were close shots.” he said “And not easy, to put it mildly.” He later said he was surprised to see how much of his swordplay was left in the film.

11. Originally, Yoda was to enter and fight immediately with Count Dooku, George Lucas added the conversation and the fight with the force lightning and rock falls. He felt it showed how powerful Yoda was and crew members felt it would give more drama to the scene.

12. In the fight with Yoda, Dooku used Obi-Wan’s or Anakin’s light saber in addition to his own, but the scene didn’t make into the film. 

13. Doug Chiang, the main designer on the Star Wars prequels wanted to create something unique for Dooku and thought that a curved lightsaber would reflect an earlier time. The idea was that Count Dooku was from the “old school” of training and thought.

14. According to Star Wars canon, Qui-Gon Jinn’s death may have led Dooku to leave the Jedi order.

References:

• IMDb Christopher Lee Trivia
• IMDb Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) Trivia
• Supershadow.com FAQ The dude’s a liar
• Jedi Council Forums – Count Dooku’s Lightsaber (Cached)
• Wookipedia: Dooku 
• Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force (Star Wars)
• Jedi Council Forums – Why were some of Count Dooku’s Lines removed (cached)
• TheForce.net Interview with Sir Christopher Lee

What did you think of Count Dooku? Did you learn anything from the post?

[Image Source: WIkipedia]