Darth Vader | Behind The Scenes History

given the importance of Darth Vader to the Star Wars saga it's no surprise that he was always involved in the script in some way from the very beginning but it might surprise you to learn just how much the character developed before he first appeared on our screens in 1973 four years before the release of a new hope George Lucas but his ideas for would eventually become Star Wars down in a two-page synopsis titled Journal of the Wills the Journal of the Wills was expanded into a 14 page story treatment titled these souls which introduced the character of general Vader an imperial commander in 1974 Lucas converted these ideas into a rough draft screenplay by the time of this first script general Vader had become Darth Vader the character described as a tall grim looking general interestingly this draft also included another character called Anakin Starkiller the eventual inspiration behind the character's birth name but these weren't the only characters in the first rough draft of Star Wars that resembled Darth Vader as we know him today the script also included a number of Knights of the Sith led by the evil Dark Lord Prince valorum it also describes a character named Kane Starkiller a cyborg who is half machine half man why the second draft of Star Wars Vader was becoming much more fleshed out he was now described as a seven-foot SIF Knight with flowing black robes engaging in a duel with deke circular the character who would eventually evolve into Luke Skywalker despite his imposing stature and ability to mow down rebel scum with ease Vader was originally intended to die in the film with George Lucas yet to file his final draft the plan was at one time to kill Vader after in the now famous trench run scene towards the film's climax thankfully for us later Star Wars drafts involved the scene in which made her escape the star's deadly explosion although Darth Vader had by Luke's his final draft become far more like the Sith Lord we know and love today his physical design wasn't yet finalized originally Lucas was going to go with a look similar to that of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul with a simple hood and dark robes but that was about to change enter ralph mcquarrie the veteran film designer was brought in at the beginning of 1975 to paint five moments from Lucas's script in hopes to convince Fox to invest McQuarrie based fade his appearance on the iconic warriors of feudal Japan designing a samurai inspired helmet for the character spacesuit the mask was only intended for Vader scenes in outer space but Lucas loved the design so much that it became a permanent fixture of the character with the completed concept art in a budget of 1173 dollars for just the costume it was up to John Malo the costume designer for the original trilogy to translate McQuarrie sketches into a useable costume without straying too far from the quarry sketches Malo inspired by both samurai and Nazi influences fine-tuned the design the job of sculpting much of the armor felt scoped to Brian Muir and by 1976 Darth Vader's iconic suit was born with Fox now on board and development well underway the question of who to cast as the gigantic villain quickly arose with London chosen as the film's production based Englishman David Prowse was drafted in to portray the mysterious Dark Lord Krauss was already well known in Britain as the Green Cross code man the superhero invented to promote road safety for kids he had also starred in a Clockwork Orange in 1972 which caught the attention of George Lucas the six-foot-six bodybuilder was offered the chance to play either Chewbacca or Darth Vader believing the villains are more memorable Proust Joseph play Darth Vader for he didn't realize was that his face would be hidden for the role Kraus also believed his voice would be used but he soon discovered at the screening of the film that all of the lines he had recorded had been recorded by American stage actor James Earl Jones co-star Carrie Fisher had nicknamed browsed a farmer on set his distinctive West country accent a voice George Lucas believed audiences wouldn't find intimidating enough this misunderstanding was the beginning of uneasy relationship between brows and Lucasfilm one which continues to this day James Earl Jones may have provided the voice for Darth Vader but he wasn't behind the characters iconic deep breathing it's thanks to now legendary sound engineer Ben Burtt the audience's were blessed with Vader's famous breathing an unsettling sound which intensified the character's terrifying presence Burke created the sound by recording himself breathing through a scuba diving respirator with the breaths added to the final cut of the film Darth Vader's Reno and today was now firmly a reality with just the one suit made for Darth Vader in a new hope it was decided that the new more stylish and comfortable suit would be produced for the sequel the chest box now had working lights different color buttons and/or Abeche letters the belt received upgraded boxes switches and lights with the biggest changes were to the helmet the dome at the top was fixed more securely and the triangular chin vent was made larger to improve the vision and breathing for David Prowse in a new hope Vader only appeared for a grand total of 12 minutes but after the overwhelming success both of a new hope and the character himself it was decided early on but the Empire Strikes Back would center around Darth Vader's relationship with Luke Skywalker what this relationship would be wasn't clear at first and in the Empire Strikes Back first draft the now iconic scene in which Darth Vader reveals himself to be Luke's father was absent when George Lucas first stripped the saga up Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker who were conceived as totally different characters given that he was originally written to die in the first film Darth Vader was set to have a short life in the galaxy far far away before the decision was made to keep him around with the help of co-writer Lawrence Kasdan the decision was made to retcon Lucas's original plan for Anakin Skywalker and to combine the characters as one leading to arguably the most iconic line in cinema history I knew your father Michael Kaminsky argues in his book the secret history of Star Wars the darf fade his role as Luke's father wasn't even considered prior to 1978 and that the Empire Strikes Back was well on its way to having Anakin Skywalker as a separate character before the changes were made the decision itself was kept top secret when filming the reveal David Prowse was instructed to say the line no obi-wan was your father to keep the secret safe Mark Hamill himself only learned of the twist minutes before the scene was shot the Empire Strikes Back also saw a third name added to the list of actors to play the character with stuntman Bob Anderson stepping into the iconic suit for the fight scenes both in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Anderson was much smaller than brows a problem which was resolved using small stilts and low angle shots with Darth Vadar now cemented in the public imagination it was up to all involved in the making of Return of the Jedi to bring a fitting end to the characters story it was decided by Kirsten and Lucas the Vader would redeem himself by saving his son from the clutches of the evil emperor palpatine the only problem was that at some point you'd have to be a mass to bring a human face to the tragedy since Anakin Skywalker's death was unquestionably the emotional climax of the film the casting crew sought stage actor Sebastien Shore in the role when Shah arrived to the set for filming he ran into his friend Ian McDermott the actor playing the Emperor when McDermott asked him what he was doing there Sher responded I don't know dear boy I think it's something to do with science fiction Shaw's presence during filming was kept secret from all but the minimum cast and crew and he was contractually obliged to keep quiet the unmasking scene directed by Richard Marquand was filmed in one day and required only a few takes with no alteration from the original dialogue Lucas personally direct his show for his appearance in the final scene of the film Shaw stood in front of the black velvet screen and was told to look happy and smile for 22 years this would be the last anyone would see of Darth Vader on the big screen fast forward to the early 2000s and fans were eagerly anticipating the long talked about scene involving Anakin and obi-wan fighting above a molten volcano Hayden Christensen's body shape was used as the basis for molds of the new da fader suit on September 1st 2003 20 years after Return of the Jedi the day came for Darth Vader's return with a specially designed burnt and a consult and prosthetic makeup to recreate the same scars worn by sebastian shaw filming began for the final scenes before Hayden Christensen with Don Darth Vader suit the release of rogue one in 2016 saw the character returned in triumphant form slaughtering rebel scum just prior to the events of a new hope two new actors were drafted in to play Vader in Spencer Wilding and Daniel the proofs while Vader's armor from a new hope was recreated in painstaking detail for the scene of Darth Vader's castle a location which featured in the Empire Strikes Back first draft the writers decided to set the fortress on Mustafar where Vader sustained his grievous injuries in Revenge of the Sith Doug Chiang the production designer who used Ralph McQuarrie sketches from decades previously to design the castle explained that most of all chosen due to the special meaning has for the character as for rogue ones climatic scene in which Darth Vader slaughters a number of rebels retreating to the 10/2 before it almost never happened as director Gareth Edwards explained we were cutting the film together and my editor jay-bez Olson he said I think you need to see one last moment with Darth Vader like I think he needs to have like a badass moment and we all felt the same way when he mentioned this it was about four months maybe from from release and so I thought maybe we've missed the opportunity to do this and Kathy Kennedy came in and jay-bez pitched this idea to her and she really loved it the resulting scene instantly drew praise from across the board for depicting Vader at his ruthless formidable best [Music] you

Channel: Behind Star Wars

Views: 2,724,775

Rating: 4.6833768 out of 5

Keywords: Darth Vader, Behind the Scenes, History, Star Wars History, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen, Rogue One, Star Wars, Ralph McQuarrie, Concept Art, the secret history, Anakin Skywalker, Bob Anderson, Daniel Naprous, Spencer Wilding, HD, 4K, behind the scenes

Id: kmOG1wg5sVo

Length: 10min 48sec (648 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 29 2017

Reddit Comments

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