Interview Chris Neil: Coaching Vader

for those of you not afraid to read 😛

Chris Neil: Coaching Vader
January 05, 2005

Delving into the Power of Myth

Professional athletes aren't the only ones who benefit from the advice and extra inspiration from a dedicated coach to help them reach their best potential. Episode III Dialogue Coach Chris Neil offered everyone from seasoned actors like Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman to unknown extras the one-on-one attention they needed to push them beyond their own expectations.

In fact, he left such a lasting impression on the Coppola family with his work on both The Rainmaker and The Virgin Suicides that he was referred to filmmaker George Lucas as the perfect candidate for the dialogue coach position on the crew for Revenge of the Sith.

"Completely out of the blue Francis Ford Coppola contacted me to say, 'Rick McCallum is going to be calling you to offer you the role of Dialogue Coach on this next episode of Star Wars,'" Neil remembers. "I was working on another film at the time, so I waited for my cell phone to ring. And sure enough, 20 minutes later Rick called and asked me to be on a plane the next morning."

At the suggestion of Coppola, Neil met with Lucas and McCallum to discuss his potential role as a dialogue coach for Episode III -- a film that would demand some of the most challenging and emotional scenes from its cast yet.

"George and Rick both knew that there needed to be a certain amount of attentiveness paid to the actors on the movie," Neil explains. "There was not anybody in my position there for the previous two films and I think there was a discussion about that void that needed to be filled. Fortunately, Francis advocated that I go on the film because I had served roughly the same function on his last two movies. He and George obviously have a really close relationship so I think the fact that Francis could say on a real personal level to George, 'This kid is not going to intrude upon you, he's there to be of service to you and to the actors,' was a reassuring thing."

When Neil was offered the Dialogue Coach position, he realized that his usual experience working on dialog-heavy films such as the critically-acclaimed The Rainmaker or the indie hit The Virgin Suicides would be drastically different when compared to the Star Wars saga which often pitted actors against characters created digitally by Industrial Light & Magic in post-production.

To prepare for what would be some of the most dramatic performances in the Star Wars saga, Neil read the work that first inspired Lucas to tell the Skywalker family tale -- Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth.

I read all of Joseph Campbell's work that I could get my hands on," Neil continues. "It reminded me of the story behind Padmé and Anakin's relationship; especially the pivotal journey for both of those characters. It's the homework I do as a dialogue or acting coach. And sometimes it doesn't even enter into my equation in talking to George. But if I'm working on a scene with Natalie and Hayden, that information just seeps through unconsciously. It answers the questions when we're having a conversation about something, and that information clarifies things."

I really love forums like MF.com and KMC (yes, and sometimes TFN) for bringing us things that the Official Site would NEVER bring us until release- however I am beginning to understand why the offical site and the runners of Hyperspace are so more inclined to crack down on us when not only are we posting spoiler information and pictures (which I hope never ends), but we are now just copying slabs of OS material, taking away the need to ever even go to starwars.com. Don't you think that a simple [link] and the first two lines of a story would suffice? I'm not trying to cause an argument or bashing thread, but perhaps give the OS credit where credit is due.

cool thanks JP sorry haven't been around my computer has been down for now out.

*Performance expectations rising slightly*

Originally posted by smegsaber
but perhaps give the OS credit where credit is due.

Normally I do post the source, this time I forgot. My apologies. 😮

Great news that ROTS will have a dialogue coach,
I'm hoping for great emotional performances.

That's great news. I felt AOTC was a bit lacking in the acting department, though it was mostly only in the beginning. I wonder why Lucas didn't think of this on TPM.

Originally posted by CinematicESP
That's great news. I wonder why Lucas didn't think of this on TPM.

here here , i always felt the acting in the prequels to be of average standard at best , but being that most of them were acting to thin air i guess we cant expect too much , but hearing this new news is very exciting and im hoping that we can expect many many good things acting wise in ep III , something that i must admit believed wasnt going to happen , 132 days 2 go , CANT WAIT !!!!!!!!!!!!! 💃 💃

That's fantastic news!!!!!!!!!!

Hayden christensen actually needed someone to coach him through acting in general as he still has to prove his versatilty in other roles.

But representing one of cinematography's most beloved villians Darth Vader, would prove a tough task for anyone.
In Revenge of the Sith , we will be seeing a metamorphosis from Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader and christensen's performance will be pivotal for this transformation.

I am cravng to see Darth Vader being Vader but without the mask !

I read all of Joseph Campbell's work that I could get my hands on," Neil continues.

^ Thats a LOT to read ; Joseph Campbell has had about 32 works published to date, with more still being edited for publication

Great read JP... hopefully this guy had a positive impact on the actors.

Very cool, thanks.

Thank God.
I thought the dialog in TPM was flat, and dialog in AOTC was atrocious.
Remember the fireside scene when anakin trys to seduce padame with that terrible monotonous whine about the kiss she should not have given him 😘 , and you could see padme squirm thinking "Christ, I have a stalker here" 😱
(I know that some of the ladies loved that utter deluge of pish ...eh JP 😉 )

Now I can see what the problem was...they had no coach and Hayden was probably out of his depth saying such incoherent ramblings.
he probably thought if I offered these lines to a babe in a bar, she fall down laughing, and rightly so tbh. 😆

I hope this helps. Other than SLJ, the cast for AOTC and ROTS is B rate at best.

😈

Originally posted by Mortanius
😈

**Goes Commando style and preps carmoflage army suite, boots and AK-47....hunt's the dog!**

ROTS just keeps sounding better and better 😮‍💨 😉

Originally posted by bILLYgOAT

(I know that some of the ladies loved that utter deluge of pish ...eh JP 😉 )

I know Im such a softie for that stuff. 😉

Originally posted by eXSBass
**Goes Commando style and preps carmoflage army suite, boots and AK-47....hunt's the dog!**

Though I HATE to compare trilogies, this was one area i always thought the prequels and some of The matrix lacked in comparison to Lord of the Rings. There is not an emotional scene anywhere in LOTR(all 3) that wasn't fantastic. Quite frankly i am so hyped by this article that i have perma-smile 🙂 I can't help it! Especially interesting is thefact that it seems GL has finally realized he needs to ask help for things he's not particularly good at. Halellujah!!!!!!!!!!!

'ROTS' is really raising the ante. It's so exciting to read an article like this, really gives us fans more of a reason to be extremely excited for the film. Now there's an acting coach? It's going to be great, all around. And Lucas himself is saying PG-13 is very possible, oh man. We're going to get possibly the best 'SW' since 'TESB'...let's hope. Vanity Fair this Tuesday, should be a good article.