Thursday 12 January 2012

BEHIND THE SCENES: THE INTERACTIVE DARK LORD!


For all you Vader fans out there, here's a few behind the scenes shots of the London filming of Dave Prowse's iconic and much deserved return to the iron-lung suit for the 1996 STAR WARS interactive video/board game for HASBRO EUROPE, of which a portion of the Death Star II set (the storyline linked to RETURN OF THE JEDI) was resurrected and specially lit for Vader (once more voiced by James Earl Jones) and his troops to challenge his off-screen opponents, photographed by the classic first film's original Director of Photography: Gilbert Taylor. Both stars and cameramen did excellent work on a game which I still enjoy playing now and then...








At the time, news was rife that STAR WARS would be returning for the Prequels, of which Prowse was hoping he would be playing Vader again, telling CINESCAPE magazine in February 1996:



“I would love to play Anakin, but there’s some talk about Mark Hamill doing that role, playing his own father. I don’t know how they’d explain his going from his size to my size when he plays Darth Vader, though. Whoever they choose needs to be a very physical actor. He could be the greatest dramatist in the world, but without a physical presence, Vader wouldn’t be worth anything.”

 With thanks to Chris Baker for selected images.

Star Wars Interactive Video Board Game VHS footage - YouTube

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