Elstree 1976 (Star Wars Documentary on supporting actors)

Heartbreaking what he says about planning on getting in the best shape of his life for his 80th birthday (or whatever number it was). Dude, you were a Mr. Universe contender in your 20s, no 80-year-old is ever going to top that! If it weren't for his health issues, though, I'd say among 80 year olds, he could become the strongest!

Treadwell said:

He has softened over the years in the telling about being overdubbed. Back in the day, he acted like it was a broken promise, but now acknowledges that when George said "we'll rerecord it later", it was Dave's own assumption that it would be done using HIM.

He's also a lot more complimentary about James Earl Jones than he used to be.

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I'm not sure if you are referring to the documentary, but, while he doesn't explicitly refer to it as a broken promise, he basically makes it seem like Lucas planned for him to do the voice and then it was budgetary concerns and oversights that led to him not doing so. He pretty explicitly says that they didn't get around to overdubbing him while they were in England (makes it sound like Lucas forgot about it) and couldn't afford to fly him over to America to do the overdubbing. He then goes on to state that, luckily they got a really great "voice actor", JEJ, to do the work in America – which I thought was more than a bit of a slight to refer to James as a voice actor given his career both before Star Wars and after.

As far as the documentary itself, I watched it yesterday and echo what everyone else said here. After the first 15 minutes, I basically fast-forwarded through until they started talking about Star Wars, which was about 45 minutes in. I am as much a fan boy is everyone else, but I don't think a 45 minute backstory on these actors was really necessary.

M

As a huge SW fan for life I gotta say that I found the documentary quite boring. I probably shouldn't have expected too much from it and it's definitely one of those things that I don't believe I'll ever feel the urge to watch it again.

mkstewartesq said:

I'm not sure if you are referring to the documentary, but, while he doesn't explicitly refer to it as a broken promise, he basically makes it seem like Lucas planned for him to do the voice and then it was budgetary concerns and oversights that led to him not doing so. He pretty explicitly says that they didn't get around to overdubbing him while they were in England (makes it sound like Lucas forgot about it) and couldn't afford to fly him over to America to do the overdubbing. He then goes on to state that, luckily they got a really great "voice actor", JEJ, to do the work in America – which I thought was more than a bit of a slight to refer to James as a voice actor given his career both before Star Wars and after.

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I wasn't strictly talking about the doc but you're absolutely right. I forgot about that "afford to fly" thing. I guess thinking that makes him feel better, but of course Lucas would never have used Prowse for the voice, budget or no budget.

It's funny that he still psychologically clings to a universe in which it might have happened. I read a quote (or saw a video, or in person, it's all a blur) where he said a friend (or brother?) told him "face it David, Darth Vader is not from Bristol". Him telling that story made me think he was at peace with the issue, but here he is thinking it was budget and not an artistic choice...

And yes, JEJ is a lot more than a voice!

Treadwell said:

of course Lucas would never have used Prowse for the voice, budget or no budget.

It's funny that he still psychologically clings to a universe in which it might have happened. I read a quote (or saw a video, or in person, it's all a blur) where he said a friend (or brother?) told him "face it David, Darth Vader is not from Bristol". Him telling that story made me think he was at peace with the issue, but here he is thinking it was budget and not an artistic choice...

And yes, JEJ is a lot more than a voice!

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And it states in the making of books that Lucas never intended Prowse to be the voice. Lucas says that Prowse didn't have any where near a sinister voice and it was planned all along to dub him. I think it even says where Lucas told him it really doesn't matter what lines you deliver, you can't see your mouth moving and I plan to dub in your dialog. Something to that effect. So it really was Prowse's wishful thinking.

Again, nice enough guy.

The best bit was the guy who asked George Lucas to get him a cup of coffee. What a story to be able to tell your grandkids. Lucas fetched me coffee, priceless !

Treadwell said:

I read a quote (or saw a video, or in person, it's all a blur) where he said a friend (or brother?) told him "face it David, Darth Vader is not from Bristol".

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This. While Prowse has stated he had some expectation of overdubbing the lines, he states it was because the performance on-set was muffled a bit by the mask - not because he expected to do the performance markedly differently later. And as the raw-on-set footage (some of it in the Elstree documentary) shows, Prowse's voice when speaking Vader's lines was decidedly, um, non-threatening. Sure, I'm a bit biased listening to it after 40 years of hearing JEJ's voice, but still ...

M

bwayne64 said:

The best bit was the guy who asked George Lucas to get him a cup of coffee. What a story to be able to tell your grandkids. Lucas fetched me coffee, priceless !

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And this was the same guy who was being territorial about the extra showing up at cons. Who shows up to a set and asks someone, anyone, to GET them a coffee, unless you're the star or a producer or some big shot? Why wasn't the question "could you direct me to where there might be some coffee?"

I get he didn't know it was George, but to be a bit player expecting to be waited on is a bit much. These two factors add up to the guy being a bit big for his britches, imo.

There's a bit more to the story, that does basically revolve around Prowse not being able to keep his mouth shut, and being somewhat of a grandstander for decades.
In the 90's when the originals were shown in the theatres one last time before the Special Editions were released, there was a resurgence of interest in the actors and David went on a prolonged rant, badmouthing Lucas for the aformentioned reasons. It wasn't just him being mouthy in the 80s - it was that he rehashed it all well into the early 2000's.

I had opportunity to spend a good couple hours talking with him in 2002, and he was just as mentioned - warm and gracious until George was brought up. Then he bristled and became very agitated about how he was wronged. Rant, rant, rant. But mention bodybuilding, and Mr Hyde became a gentlemanly Dr Jekyll again.

Fast forward to last year - spoke with him briefly, reminiscing about that earlier conversation, and he was a very different, humble man. I do believe he finally regrets his years of biting the hand that fed him, and realizes the severed relationship was all of his making. I hope he is able to create the opportunity to make amends with the folks at LFL and finish strong. Hate to say it, but he doesn't have that many years left in him.

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