David Prowse Banned from Celebration 5

[Lonestarhobbies]

Not only did Daniels get to do deliver the vocal acting for his character in post, he was pretty much THE voice of the Star Wars tie-in media for the original trilogy, and became an excellent spokesperson for Star Wars at live events, including MCing the Star Wars Orchestra Tour, not to mention a very charming and gracious ambassador for Lucasfilm at any event he shows up at (probably because he doesn't have to get shoved into the suit to make a living as he did in the early years).

Anthony Daniels is a fantastic guy! I was once at one of the Plano,TX. toy shows setup with a friend of mine...and I was waiting outside of the show on Saturday morning with the rest of the dealers when a hotel shuttle van pulled up and opened it's doors. Out stepped a couple of people....one of them was very thin framed..... I still didn't catch on to who it was. This person calmly walked over to the line and stood right next to me. I thought, "Hey, no biggie...we'll all be inside soon" THEN, Mr. Daniels turned to me and asked me what time it was......Holy Cow.....I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice!!!!!!!!! I didn't want to be "that nerdy guy" but inside I was jumping like a 10 year old kid....."I" was standing next to C3PO!!!!!!!!!!!

I stood there chatting with Mr. Daniels for roughly 15 minutes......it was pure awesomeness!!!!!! He was sooo nice....and answered any questions that I had.


Sorry, I just had to share that story

[kingdom warrior]

I'll always have him in the same catagory as the guy that was inside the Lost In Space robot's suit.

To me the real robot was Dick Tufeld

Tufeld may have been the voice but if you ask the cast who was the Robot they will all tell you it was Bob May who had to act and deliver the lines to the actors, he also knew the Cast lines also so if they got stuck he could feed it to them....


As for Prowse there's no reason to be rude to fans, that's uncalled for. He should take lessons from Anthony Daniels who really left an impression on my son at a convention in jersey he took the time to talk to him and was great with every one there.....

[Sandman9580]

You know, I'm pretty sure the tipping point was Revenge of the Sith.

Prowse was to be in the suit at the end... until he who will not be named because he is by far the WORST actor in the history of acting decided he wanted to wear the stilts and put on the cape and mask.

Yeah, that was the perfect end to an embarrassing trilogy. There is no way that short, skinny shrimp could have filled out that suit. I loved how the sleeves were bigger than his gloves.

[Mikey]

Anthony Daniels is a fantastic guy! I was once at one of the Plano,TX. toy shows setup with a friend of mine...and I was waiting outside of the show on Saturday morning with the rest of the dealers when a hotel shuttle van pulled up and opened it's doors. Out stepped a couple of people....one of them was very thin framed..... I still didn't catch on to who it was. This person calmly walked over to the line and stood right next to me. I thought, "Hey, no biggie...we'll all be inside soon" THEN, Mr. Daniels turned to me and asked me what time it was......Holy Cow.....I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice!!!!!!!!! I didn't want to be "that nerdy guy" but inside I was jumping like a 10 year old kid....."I" was standing next to C3PO!!!!!!!!!!!

I stood there chatting with Mr. Daniels for roughly 15 minutes......it was pure awesomeness!!!!!! He was sooo nice....and answered any questions that I had.


Sorry, I just had to share that story

Great story

[MIB41]

It always seemed a bit deluded when Prowse states in interviews that the the change to James Earl Jones' voice for Vader was racially motivated.

I think hearing his voice as Vader compared to Jones, pretty much sums up the reality of the situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSm9DDxQv8E

I believe Threepio is a good example of the opposite happening. Where they never originally initially intended to have a robot with a british accent, it was Anthony Daniels' performance one set that really helped to bring the character to life with all the like-able earnest charm intact. He's written to be an annoying comedy relief character, and it could have just as easily gone the other way (JAR JAR!).

Not only did Daniels get to do deliver the vocal acting for his character in post, he was pretty much THE voice of the Star Wars tie-in media for the original trilogy, and became an excellent spokesperson for Star Wars at live events, including MCing the Star Wars Orchestra Tour, not to mention a very charming and gracious ambassador for Lucasfilm at any event he shows up at (probably because he doesn't have to get shoved into the suit to make a living as he did in the early years).

Excellent link Samurainoir! And that closes the point.

[huedell]

Excellent link Samurainoir! And that closes the point.

Not to me to me it doesn't... mainly because that doc was approved by
LUCASFILM.

In that footage it was very easy for the "Lucas crew" to handpick clips
that made Prowse's takes look foolish in contrast to our thoughts
on the "real" Vader movie moments referred to in those clips.

Not to mention that ANY thing that was shown in those clips
was unaltered by EQ on the voice, compression, etc....nor did it have
the sprucing up that a film score and VADER's trademark heavy breathing
sound FX would add...(and it certainly wasn't recorded in
the comfort of a soundbooth, which is where all James Earl Jones'
voicework was performed...as opposed to having to sqeak them out "live"
within a heavy costume as Prowse was made to.)

...and in addition there was an interview clip (or two?) of crew members
making dispariging remarks that were approved for the clip...so, if anyone
was going to say anything positive about Prowse's performance, if Lucas felt
that it'd make them look crude in any way, it surely would've been edited out.

Besides pointing out the flaws in those clips, the point is all moot
to me personally anyway because I think James Earl Jones' voice is awesome
as Vader, and, I'll add that what I think would "close the point"
in Prowse being replaced, is that regardless of how good an "edited Prowse" vocal performance would've been, I'm comfortable in saying I'd have
ultimately preferred James Earl Jones' voicework better.

[Mikey]

I think I heard Lucas made a conscious effort to have English speaking baddies and American speaking heroes.

If this is true, I wonder why he went with JEJ as the voice of Vader ?

[Bizarro Amy]

Maybe someone else here knows more details about this than I do. I was told another story about the friction between Prowse and Lucas by a Star Wars fan, but I haven't been able to verify it. I think it was alluded to in the article linked at the beginning of this thread. According to that, Prowse leaked to the press while ROTJ was still filming that Darth Vader was going to die. That happened before they decided not to film him unmasked as Vader at the end. To my knowledge, Lucas has never admitted to a connection between the two events, but shortly afterward, Sebastian Shaw was chosen to play the dying Sith lord.

[johnmiic]

...Then, after "Empire", Lucas told him personally, that Vader would be unmasked in the next film. Dave was elated. His face would finally be seen after all this time.

Cut to: A year and a half later... They're shooting "Jedi" and on the day of shooting, director Richard Marquand pulls Prowse aside and he's told that Sebastian Shaw will be used for the unmasking scene and read the dialog for Anakin Skywalker.
SC

I have to say that this was a cruel turn of events. I feel it should have been Prowse revealed in the costume in ROTJ. There's no legitimate excuse to have cut him out. What would have been worse would be to have Lucas remove him from ROTJ's ending in the Special Edition and substitute Hayden Christensen.

I do recall Prowse giving an interview with Starlog, post ROTJ, stating that his relationship with Lucas was strained because info for ROTJ was released early to the press from script-pages traced back to him. He stated in Starlog that the script was stolen from his trailer and he had no control over that but Lucas didn't believe him.

[samurainoir]

James Earl Jones has interesting things to say regarding the lack of performance when it came to doing Darth Vader...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0uPzrx0n90

David Prowse PSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgZIEFUT56k

[jimsmegos]

Personally I think it's a sad practice of "stars" selling autographs. If you love your fans it's the least you can do considering their love already got you paid in the first place. And Prowses vocal delivery I've heard sucks. Even if he would have been granted the chance to do the VO Vader would not have been Vader. As far as unmasking and seeing Dave instead of Shaw... nah... Shaw appearead to be more gentlemanly and refined, like a good guy should. Prowse, not so much

[MIB41]

Huedell, your great buddy! But I don't get your counter point about Prowse, when you say it's all moot anyway because you prefer James Earl Jones! Yes, the documentary did not offer an ideal portrait of Prowse. But to say his performance was misrepresented could only be supported if you can show a performance that is measurably BETTER. Sure, most actors dubbed their lines in this film, but even in the scenes with Prowse, the set recordings were only poor in audio quality, NOT in performance by those other actors. Those performances still translated. SO while it may have seemed cruel for Lucas to throw this kind of footage out to the public, maybe it was necessary if Prowse was out there overstating his importance AND leaking key plot points to undermine Jedi. Sounds like the guy has been trouble for a long time and Lucas finally had reached the end of his line. Samurainoir also offered some additional links showing the artistic process to Darth Vader's essence which clearly shows Prowse was NOT part of that discussion.

[Hector]

I had the pleasure of meeting Prowse back in the mid 90's...and he was pleasant to me.

Now, I did meet Temura Morrison (Jango Fett) and that guy was a complete ***. I swear to God, this Dbag literally ran over my wife in an aisle (slammed directly into her from behind) then rudely trodded on down the aisle. His handlers also bumped into me and nearly knocked a huge box of vintage Star Wars ships and parts out of my arms-----did we even hear a single "Sorry"?? Hell no....

I still shelled out the $35 I think it was for his autograph because I'd come there for one for me (signed to Brian) and one for a friend online. I so badly wanted to thank him for being such a Dbag after I had my signatures....but I said screw it.....

Careful...that was Jake the Muss...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB3C6KP6pGY



That's Morrison's best movie by far...Once Were Warriors is fantastic...

[huedell]

Huedell, your great buddy! But I don't get your counter point about Prowse, when you say it's all moot anyway because you prefer James Earl Jones!

You're right in that you and I both agree with Lucas that Jones is better
for the role, but I believe that Prowse would've possibly worked well enough
and that the only reason that Lucas decided against Prowse was to search
for a deeper-voiced actor... not that it's the "last word" but even Jones
offered that Prowse was "scary" in his delivery....Prowse had
something "mineable" if not superlative IMHO.

As far as the "highpoints" of Prowse's performance...we'll simply NEVER see
them because it would not benefit Lucas' cause one bit.

I may have missed something musing on this subject... but that seems appropriate for now.

[huedell]

I think I heard Lucas made a conscious effort to have English speaking baddies and American speaking heroes.

If this is true, I wonder why he went with JEJ as the voice of Vader ?

Because he wanted a DEEP menacing voice regardless of accent.