Ian McDiarmid on the Origin on The Emperor’s Voice: “When I saw the face is the short answer. When I saw that mask all those years ago. The original intention, I think, was that my voice should be… Well, it might even have been Clive Revill’s voice because he’d already voiced the movie and consistency is very important for continuity when you’re making a film. And Richard Marquand the director said to me, ‘If you can get your voice close to Clive’s, George may let you keep it.’ I had no idea that it might be taken away from me at that stage.
I had the temerity to think Clive, of course, didn’t see the face that I’m looking at. He saw an actor or was it an actress – we’ll never know - in a mask. He matched the voice, presumably one morning, at a recording session. And I had some time to get to know this character. I thought, ‘Well, he comes from the bowels of the earth. He looks like an old toad.’ And before I knew it, I was making the voice – and no, I’m not going to do it. It just came out and George, as usual, heard it and within about 10 seconds liked it, fortunately. And I’ve been stuck with it happily ever since.”
On Going from the Sublime Evil in the First Half of "Episode III" to a Carbon Copy of His Performance from 20 Years Ago: “Yes, well it’s very interesting. I’ve said this a few times but it was a note that George gave…not really as a note. We were just talking and he said this quite casually. He said, ‘You should think of your eyes – Ian’s eyes, Palpatine’s eyes – as his – Sidious’ contact lenses.’ In other words, my face was his mask, which is an extremely interesting thing to say to an actor.
I knew that in ‘Episode III’ as you all did, really, that this face would have to burst through my own mask. So in a sense I couldn’t wait. I also knew that they’d mix it brilliantly – Rob [Bonstin] and others – from one face into another. And it would be my sort of Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde moment, my Dorian Gray moment, when outer good is subverted by inner evil.
I was really looking forward to it and the moment when Palpatine’s voice turned from one to the other. From lightish grey to dark black. It was a moment I was really looking forward to and one that I embraced. And when we were filming it, George got closer and closer and closer with that camera. He was practically up my nose for the final shot, so I knew it was a moment that I had to do my best to get right.”
Ian McDiarmid Shares His Opinion of the Use of the Image of The Emperor in Newspapers: “Well, you know, he was a politician and he turned out to be an evil monster. That’s not too difficult a story to follow, either in ‘Star Wars’ or if you happen to be looking at the front of any newspaper in practically any country. If you come from England, various people come to mind. And if you come from the United States, you’re not short of candidates there either.
What I think and hope, frankly, and this is me talking now, that when people do watch this film as you now can chronologically – or will be able to in a couple of weeks – that they’ll see lots of things that they hadn’t seen before. They’ll not just see a great storyteller in operation - George. We all know that. But will see that many other layers emerge and the one that interests me most, perhaps not unnaturally as I play the character, is the chart of the rise of evil, of fascism, if you like. And it’s very carefully plotted in the film, not just through my character but through organizations like the Trade Federation.
I bet some of you…have not found the Trade Federation fascinating. This may change when you watch the films in sequence because you’ll see how my character was manipulating quietly, steadily, patiently – the key word – all the time. And my conclusion as a result of all of that is not that just George is a great filmmaker and great storyteller, but he’s a pretty astute analyst of the politics of power.”
PAGE 3: Ian McDiarmid on Action Sequences and Working with Hayden Christensen
