Ask almost anybody what their 6th favourite Star Wars film is and chances are that they will say ‘Episode II: Attack of the Clones‘. To be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with episodes I and II but my opinion changed with the former after visiting the filming locations in Tunisia last year. Visiting the Plaza de Espana in Seville at the start of the year heightened my interest in episode II and that was extended even further in anticipation of seeing the following at the Villa del Balbianello in Como.

Unlike the ‘Casino Royale’ shots (done at the same place) Star Wars episode II included a bit of CGI here and there. The first such example is when we see the villa from the lake (below) albeit with domes added to the roof. Sadly I didn’t get to take a photo of the place from quite the same angle as I never took a boat to that part of the lake.

 

Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala arrive at the lake retreat on the latter’s home planet of Naboo. They arrive by boat (below) but this was a different place to where I arrived and this scene could not be perfectly re-created as it was shot from the stone wall which isn’t accessible to the public. I had to take my pictures of the boat dock and steps leading down to it from different angles.

      

After climbing the steps (not on camera) we then see the pair of them walk along a terrace (below) with a pond in the foreground and a bush in the background.

     

They walk over to the balcony overlooking the lake. Notice the strange shape trunk on the right of each photo below.

 

This balcony is where the two heroes kiss for the first time (below) although Padmé later pulls away as their love is forbidden. Sadly my girlfriend wasn’t with me on this trip to re-create such a scene which I would have insisted upon no doubt to her disproval. By that I mean the geekiness of it rather than the kiss!

 

We return to this part of the villa for the film’s climax (below) as Anakin and Padmé get married in secret with R2D2 and C3PO the only ones in attendance. The former managed to turn up for my appearance again as he did in Tunisia and Spain. Sadly the beautiful red flowers in the movie are not so distinct now.

  

 

The loggia which appeared in ‘Casino Royale‘ was used a little differently in ‘Attack of the Clones‘. Only the area under the arches (below) is seen beginning with Anakin in a Jedi trance looking out across the lake early in the morning following his nightmare.

 

“Jedi don’t have nightmares” is what Anakin tells Padmé (below) but she says that she heard him and then he explains that he saw his mother in pain in his dreams and that he must return to Tatooine to try and save her. The sunlight made this one hard to re-create but typically I didn’t think about closing the door until later that evening!

 

The shot below was done using a platform and fake window and window sill but in reality it is just the garden out the back of the ticket office and bookshop. This was cut from the movie but does appear in the deleted scenes chapter on the DVD. It see’s Anakin being questioned in the garden by Padmé’s father about his intentions.

 

Another scene to end upon the cutting room floor was Padme’s bedroom (no, not a sex scene!) and this started with a view of the villa shot from below in the garden although as you can see CGI magic makes the two look quite different.

 

The deleted bedroom scene (seen on the dvd) was shot in one of the loggia rooms (below) although they basically stripped it of its period furniture and imported a rug, bed and so on to make it more Naboo-like.