Originally published January 2, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Although James Earl Jones is the voice of the most iconic villain in the galaxy Darth Vader, it took two other actors to physically reprise the prestigious role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Welsh actor Spencer Wilding (who we exclusively revealed as playing Vader back in April) took part in an interview conducted by ITV, stating that “This character has got so much presence… It’s unbelievable. I’m just one small element of Star Wars. It’s a massive production, and it takes a lot to bring the magic of that film. It’s just awesome.”
Getting the performance right was paramount, as Wilding went on to comment on his collaboration with his trainer, saying “We studied the movements of Darth Vader. We had a trainer who got it bang on. We wanted to keep it ‘Darth Vader!’ It’s every actor’s dream. I’m still pinching myself!”
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story sees Gareth Edwards (Monsters) directing a cast that includes Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Diego Luna (Milk), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Alan Tudyk (Con Man), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Genevieve O’Reilly (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith), Jimmy Smits (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones), James Earl Jones (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope), Valene Kane (The Fall), Alistair Petrie (The Night Manager), Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode IV – Return of the Jedi), Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones) and Jonathan Aris (Sherlock).
