To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Ian McDiarmid spoke with Variety from his flat in London and discussed the now shelved Palpatine series.
There was, at some point, supposed to be a series based around Palpatine. Was any of that backstory shared with you as part of the character’s mythology?
Just the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise. It’s fairly obvious that my character murdered Plagueis on his road to becoming Palpatine. But beyond that, no. With George, you didn’t discuss anything really. You turn up and you shoot. These films take a long time to make and the pressure is intense for many reasons; of course, George was at the forefront of all of that. So he had all of that to think about day by day. He takes a good deal of trouble over casting; but, once he’s cast, then he likes the actors to get on with it.
For example, the scene at the opera. I’d already done a scene in the makeup in the morning. We went to that in the afternoon and my voice wasn’t in its best shape. It’s probably the most Palpatine had ever spoken in the movie. I was kind of hoarse, so I was worried about that, mainly because I had about four wind machines being driven at me in the scene where he’s turning into the monster. So I was a bit throaty, and we did it about 20 times on a Friday afternoon — not the best time to shoot when everyone wants to get off for the weekend. And, in addition to my throat and the fact it was late in the afternoon on a Friday, there was a birthday party for the first AD, and a man in a gold suit — i.e. Anthony Daniels — was busy getting the champagne ready just off the set on a trolley. Then at one point, a mobile phone went off and the person answered it. So all of that was going on just outside my vision. But oddly enough, when the pressure’s on, the concentration can be even more intense. In a strange way, it may have helped the scene.
Is this a series you would still like to see?
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