KMC Forums - OFFICIAL EP3 Thread for News Articles (Internet, Magazines, Interviews etc)

posted at TFN:

"Ian McDiarmid summary

Q: How did Ian get the role in a Star Wars movie, and how did
it all begin for him?
A: Ian got a call from his agent, and said that a car was
coming for him to pick him up to see George Lucas and Richard
Marquand during their lunch break while they were filming ROTJ.
They talked, but Star Wars didn't even come up in the
conversation.

When Ian got home from lunch, he got a call from his agent,
telling him he got the part of the emperor of the universe, and
of course, he accepted the part. Ian's says on hearing the
title of the part, "Oh, we'll be doing it then. (laughs)"

The casting director for Star Wars had recently seen Ian in a
play playing a very old man. (So that's how he assumes Lucas
heard about him).

At the time, Ian hadn't seen Empire Strikes Back, so he didn't
know exactly what he had gotten himself into.

He endured makeup tests about three weeks before filming.

The first scene he filmed was Palpatine coming off the Imperial
Shuttle. He did about two takes and we see the final result in
the movie.

Q: Describe the back-story of Palpatine
A: The only thing he knew was that he was very old, he ran the
universe, and Darth Vader worked for him.

He character came from the face. And from the face, emerged the
voice. Ian had no idea that his voice may or may not be used
for the final film. He was given the voice of the Emperor from
ESB, and was told to try to match it, or make it close.

George told Ian that he liked the voice, and told him to work on
it.

Q: Ian had no idea that he'd be returning to play a part in the
prequels, how did he feel about that?
A: During "Jedi" there was a rumor that Lucas had 9 films in
his head. Ian never thought "in a million years" that he would
be part of the early story about Darth Vader. He figured they
would just get a younger actor.

He got word years later (20 years) that Lucas was going to do
the prequels. So they met in London and they had a drink; Ian
orders a water, and George says to Ian, "Do you know anybody
that wants to play an Emperor?". Ian says, "Funny you should
say that." And George says, "Ok, you can give the water back."

Lucas told him about two people that might merge into one. It
was mostly a story about how a senator became an emperor.

The only reason it happened this way was because Ian was the
right age for the first prequel. The wonderful paradox -
"playing myself when young at my own age". He said we'll found
out that the Emperor is 120 or 110, (obviously referring to in
ROTS that we'll find out how old the Emperor is, and then tack
on the number of years to equal the age of 120 or 110 in ROTJ).

Q: Did his theater experience help him in any way?
A: Everything helps especially when you get older. He's not
sure if his experience has impacted his Star Wars performance.
He has played villains before, so he had ease with his role in
Star Wars.

Q: How did his fellow theater peers react to his involvement
with Star Wars?
A: They were extremely jealous.

He goes on to say that since then he's been very busy with other
things, he had retired from theater and put all his energy in
the last prequel, which made sense since he is a big part of the
third one.

He spends three months in Sydney, which he said was wonderful.
It was a thicker script, and he finally gets to publicly come
out with his character that has been hidden for so long, while
at the same time corrupting a young Jedi.

Q: What did Ian think the connection of Palpatine and Sidious
was, and how should the audience react to them?
A: He says the audience will react the way they react, and he's
not out to manipulate them.

He didn't know they were connected until he received the script.
He was on a need to know basis, and Lucas never told him. Liam
Neeson ask Ian, "Why didn't you tell me you were playing Darth
Sidious as well?" And Ian said, "I really didn't know 'til the
last minute and I didn't want to spread it about."

Q: What was Ian's reaction to wielding a lightsaber and
actually fighting?
A: He was furious to see that Chris Lee got to use the
lightning. He thought it was his prerogative. He was surprised
that he had two fights. His character was supposed to be the
fastest swordsman in the universe. He wondered how they would
accomplish this and he was given a stunt double/master
swordsman to do most of the fighting, but Ian was there for the
close-ups and had his do what fighting he could because Lucas
wanted the actor in there as much as possible. Ian said he saw
a bit of the finished product of him fighting, and he's
convinced.

Q: Describe the physical aspects of his character role in ROTS
A: Ian was relieved that he had some physical things to do and
that Palpatine wasn't just an intellectual. He was surprised that
he was involved in the big action sequence in the beginning of
the film. Ian comments, "Everything in the film is practically
my plot." and that he really don't need to be rescued. But, all
in all, he did his enjoy his experience and loved sliding down
chutes at various speeds bumping into Hayden and Ewan, and
laughing with them off camera.

Q: How did the events in ROTS effect his relationship with
Hayden?
A: Because of Palpatine's seduction of Anakin, they had a close
relationship since they shared each other's moments on screen.
The dialogue scenes between them were done at the same pace of
the fighting. The head stuff was just as important and
physical, as the physical elements were during a fight.

Q: What is Ian's opinion on who's to blame for Anakin's fall?
A: "It's a fall of a tragic hero." He falls because of his fatal
flaw. Part of what makes Anakin who his is, is his character
flaw. His flaw can be attributed by what happens to his mother,
and the absence of a father figure in his life. This can be
seen in Jake's performance in first movie and Hayden's
performance in AOTC. It really isn't straight forward or
obvious for the audience because it's not really supposed to be.

Ian said that a number of people didn't understand what was
going on because they were looking for "Luke 2." But Anakin
isn't Luke 2, he's Anakin 1. Coupled with the tragedies of his
life; Anakin's nature is his need for power. Palpatine sees
this and exploits it. Anakin could go one way of the other, but
he goes towards the dark. Ian says that it could have gone the
other way, the way of the light, but he doesn't and that's not
Palpatine's fault.

Q: What went wrong in ROTJ?
A: Ian speculated that maybe he wasn't really dead, but Lucas
said, "Yeah he's dead."

Ian figured he would have died anyway, since he was very old,
and Vader was old too, so he needed Luke, he need fresh blood,
but it doesn't work out for Palpatine.

Luke's refusal to Palpatine, coupled with Darth Vader's actions
lead to the end of the Emperor.

Q: What's the secret to Star Wars's long success?
A: Star Wars is a great myth. And myths last forever because
of their interpretation and re-interpretation. It's a myth for the
20th/21st century. Generations to come will want to see this
film because it's a movie about generations, fathers and sons,
strengths and difficulties of those relationships, and using
good things we have to make things better and controlling the bad
things that happen as not to make things worse.

---

It's a great interview, because they just let Ian speak. Most of the interviews today, the interviewer grabs onto something the interviewee says, and takes him onto a different tangent. They were good questions and Ian answered them to the best of the ability with personal experience, facts, humor and his love and appreciation for Star Wars and all those that were involved.

This summary does not do justice to Ian at all. If you get the chance, I highly recommend that you actually sitting down, listen and watch Ian speak. It is quite wonderful and enjoyable. "