David Prowse has repeatedly bitched about Lucas, ROTJ, the prequels, Hayden Christensen, and so on to anyone who would listen. In 1998 he accused Lucas of "reverse racism" because he chose James Earl Jones to provide the voice of Darth Vader instead of letting Prowse be the voice. Prowse even said that the only reason Lucas chose Jones was because Jones was black, and he wanted to fend off accusations of racism since the rest of the cast was white. That's patently ridiculous...Lucas chose Jones because his voice was genuinely intimidating, and Prowse's was not. Prowse thinks he could have voiced Vader, but he was wrong...he had a voice that was so not-ominous that the rest of the cast called him Darth Farmer behind his back.
Prowse was in a "fan film" in which SW "fans," who are "outraged by Episodes I and II, enlist Prowse, playing himself, to kidnap Lucas (played by a lookalike) and force him to make the then-forthcoming Episode III "more in the style of the OT."
Prowse said, while promoting the aforementioned bit of crap, that Lucas "had" to choose him to play Vader in Episode III. He said that he was the only one who could don Vader's suit. Never mind that Bob Anderson had played Vader during the lightsaber duels in ESB and ROTJ because Prowse couldn't duel worth beans -- Prowse never brings that up, and in fact, signs pictures "David Prowse IS Darth Vader," ignoring and disrespecting all the other actors who brought the character to life. Anyway, he claimed that Hayden Christensen is 5'9" and too skinny to don the suit, and sneered that Lucas would have to use "fancy digital effects" to make him believable.
Hayden Christensen is 6'1", not 5'9" (a fact pretty easily verifiable, though of course the nimrod who interviewed Prowse didn't bother to do so -- nor did he point out that Bob Anderson was the same height as Hayden and no one knew that he played Dueling!Vader until Mark Hamill revealed it), and while he is normally skinny, Lucas ordered him to work out and bulk up in preparation for Episode III, which he did. Many photos and screen stills of buff Hayden made the rounds, and caused much squeeing. Ultimately, some padding and lifts were necessary when he wore the suit, but even Prowse himself used padding and lifts when he donned the suit for the OT.
Besides which, Prowse has one leg shorter than the other due to a hip replacement (I think), and also a back brace. What made him think he would be SO much more convincing in the suit than Hayden? Nonetheless, he kept sniping at Lucas, saying that if Lucas "was honorable," he'd let him don the suit. He then said that Episode III's box office numbers would suffer if Lucas didn't let him don the suit, because "all his fans" would boycott it.
So, you tell me...how DID he do anything wrong, that he should be dis-invited to a Celebration?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-06-24 10:49 pm (UTC)David Prowse has repeatedly bitched about Lucas, ROTJ, the prequels, Hayden Christensen, and so on to anyone who would listen. In 1998 he accused Lucas of "reverse racism" because he chose James Earl Jones to provide the voice of Darth Vader instead of letting Prowse be the voice. Prowse even said that the only reason Lucas chose Jones was because Jones was black, and he wanted to fend off accusations of racism since the rest of the cast was white. That's patently ridiculous...Lucas chose Jones because his voice was genuinely intimidating, and Prowse's was not. Prowse thinks he could have voiced Vader, but he was wrong...he had a voice that was so not-ominous that the rest of the cast called him Darth Farmer behind his back.
Prowse was in a "fan film" in which SW "fans," who are "outraged by Episodes I and II, enlist Prowse, playing himself, to kidnap Lucas (played by a lookalike) and force him to make the then-forthcoming Episode III "more in the style of the OT."
Prowse said, while promoting the aforementioned bit of crap, that Lucas "had" to choose him to play Vader in Episode III. He said that he was the only one who could don Vader's suit. Never mind that Bob Anderson had played Vader during the lightsaber duels in ESB and ROTJ because Prowse couldn't duel worth beans -- Prowse never brings that up, and in fact, signs pictures "David Prowse IS Darth Vader," ignoring and disrespecting all the other actors who brought the character to life. Anyway, he claimed that Hayden Christensen is 5'9" and too skinny to don the suit, and sneered that Lucas would have to use "fancy digital effects" to make him believable.
Hayden Christensen is 6'1", not 5'9" (a fact pretty easily verifiable, though of course the nimrod who interviewed Prowse didn't bother to do so -- nor did he point out that Bob Anderson was the same height as Hayden and no one knew that he played Dueling!Vader until Mark Hamill revealed it), and while he is normally skinny, Lucas ordered him to work out and bulk up in preparation for Episode III, which he did. Many photos and screen stills of buff Hayden made the rounds, and caused much squeeing. Ultimately, some padding and lifts were necessary when he wore the suit, but even Prowse himself used padding and lifts when he donned the suit for the OT.
Besides which, Prowse has one leg shorter than the other due to a hip replacement (I think), and also a back brace. What made him think he would be SO much more convincing in the suit than Hayden? Nonetheless, he kept sniping at Lucas, saying that if Lucas "was honorable," he'd let him don the suit. He then said that Episode III's box office numbers would suffer if Lucas didn't let him don the suit, because "all his fans" would boycott it.
So, you tell me...how DID he do anything wrong, that he should be dis-invited to a Celebration?