HOW JAMES EARL JONES BECAME THE VOICE OF DARTH VADER – FOREVER:
James Earl Jones approached Darth Vader as simply another gig – if even that. He requested that his name be omitted from the Star Wars credits because he was “just a special effect”. Little could he have guessed that Vader would follow him throughout his career. It would do see even after he had retired. Jones last voiced Vader in a cameo in The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. But while he was done with Darth Vader, Star Wars was not finished with him, and in 2022, he agreed to allow his voice to be “cloned” by a Ukrainian AI company so that it could be used in the Disney prequel series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The process of breathing digital life into Jones’s voice proved unexpectedly fraught – not least because Russia invaded Ukraine late in production, and the developers found themselves fine-tuning Darth Vader as missiles thundered overhead.
Fortunately, they got the project over the line with Jones helping as a consultant – a sort of “benevolent godfather,” according to supervising sound editor Matthew Wood. He wasn’t the first Star Wars actor to be digitally recreated by Disney. The same Ukrainian developer had used AI to recreate the voice of a young Luke Skywalker for The Mandalorian.
But while “AI” Darth Vader had the actor’s blessing, the issue of digital recreation of actors’ voices is still a fraught one – especially when the original performer has passed. There were misgivings over the “cameo” by the late Ian Holm in the new Alien: Romulus sequel (Ridley Scott, who directed Holm in the original Alien, said the actor would have been delighted to return to the franchise). Most notorious was the appearance in the 2016 Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, a digital likeness of Moff Tarkin actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994 when computers were still coming out of the Stone Age.
Cushing’s estate consented to his appearance in Rogue One. But the use of his image is now the subject of legal action. Disney is being sued by Tyburn Film Productions, a London-based film company that says it signed a contract with the actor, giving it a veto over the creation of his image using special effects. Disney contends it has the right to use Cushing’s image from the original 1977 movie.
The case is to go to court, and the judgement will have implications for the use of the CGI likeness of dead actors. However, this will not have much impact on the future appearance of Darth Vader. Jones was happy to have his voice conjured by AI and was always appreciative of Star Wars and its fanbase – and more than willing to recite such iconic Vader-isms as “No, I am your father”. He has now left us, but Darth Vader will remain a beloved villain for decades to come.
As I wrote in 2019: All-Digital Hollywood Actors? Arthur C. Clarke Called It Over 30 Years Ago.
Related: James Earl Jones: 10 Iconic Performances.