CT Would it have been better to let Prowse do the unmasked scene?

Yea, it would have been good to see Prowse unmasked as Vader as long as they dubbed his north country accent, he played the character all through the OT and should have been given the chance to appear onscreen sans mask.

Love the above Frankenstein pic, Prowse as the unmasked Anakin could have worked well.

 

Here is a quick little mockup I made in photoshop for you guys and gals to help realize this idea. Now I wouldn't exchange Sebastian Shaw for the world, but I got to say, I like this, a lot. This would have totally worked in my opinion. Not only does he look the correct age, he looks more like Mark Hamill and also if your a prequel continuity enthusiast he does bare a resemblance to Hayden Christiansen as well.


Now play the unmasking scene and just listen to it while looking at this picture....

 

Yeah it's nice.

 

According to some rumors, Prowse didn't get to do the unmasking scene because of his bad relations with Lucas. Still, I think they always had another actor in mind, since physical stature wasn't even an issue in this scene.

 

That mock up looks really good.

 

"Ooo arrr, you were roight about me, me boy, tell yer sister you were roight, now get orff moy land..."

 

This is convincing as hell.

He does look a bit like Hayden.

 

Dave Prowse was interviewed for the Forcecast recently at a convention and he pulled no punches about how Marquand treated him on 'Jedi'. I won't repeat what he said about the late director - for fear of painting Prowse in a bad light without you hearing the context and hearing it from Dave himself. But he was treated like ***t it seems.

 

Aaaaaaand now you've convinced me! Prowse here and Hayden as the ghost, and I'm all happy.

GL? You seeing this? Tinker time!

 

No, it would not have been better to have Prowse play the unmasked Anakin, any more than it would have been better to have "Darth Farmer" (that's what the other actors called him) provide Vader's voice, or do the lightsaber duels in ESB and ROTJ. Which, by the way, Prowse was content to let everyone think he'd done, until Mark Hamill revealed otherwise.

I'm happy with Shaw for the unmasked scenes, and though it took be a bit to adjust to it, I'm OK with Hayden at the end too.

 

I think it was more David Prowse falling out with George Lucas rather than the other way around. Prowse performed all of Vader's lines when the OT was being filmed (so the other actors could respond etc.), but apparently wasn't told that someone else's voice would be dubbed into the actual movie. Supposedly the first he knew about it was at the premiere of Star Wars when Vader speaks his first line and it was James Earl Jones's voice.

 

I did think it would have been nice to have Prowse be the face of Anakin under Vader's mask for the short time that this was required at the end of Return of The Jedi, but that's film politics for you. Reading everyone else's posts though have made me realise it really makes no difference either way.

That being said: who's to say David Prowse couldn't attempt some sort of better accent though? It isn't impossible.

It's like at the end of the new Star Trek I thought Shatner should have said "Space, the final frontier" misson statement bit at the end and not Nimoy even though only Nimoy was involved in that particular movie. It just wasn't Spock's thing to say... It just would have been nice to ask Shatner. (I know, wrong forum!)

 

You would never ever trust that scene to an inexperienced dramatic actor. Especially a scene that's being shot secretly which means you have a skeleton crew and one day to do it. No way, not in a million years.

 

Prowse not playing Vader in the unmasking scene has nothing to do with his relationship with Lucas. He isn't an actor. The part required one. Shaw plays the scene brilliantly. Prowse was hired for his physique. Nothing more. That's why he was offered the part of Chewbacca as well. That he might have expected his voice to be used in the finished production is almost as daft as Peter Mayhew being bitter they dubbed him with animal noises. Heck, Lucas never even intended Anthony Daniels to voice 3P0. Only curious quirks of fate allowed that to happen. The woman playing Beru was dubbed as well. Prowse makes these things personal. Seems like he wants to attract attention. He gets no sympathy from me. He's managed to live off this saga for nearly 40 years despite having relatively little talent.

 

Prowse also claims he is due a share of Profits from Return of the Jedi. I do not see how this can be true as he is such a minor role in that film(he is Vader only when we do not see Vader fighting in this film and Empire and there is alot less of those type of scenes than in Empire). Lucas banned him from official conventions due to his comments. Shaw was perfect as the unmasked Vader and we do not need anymore changes.

 

I wonder what might have happened if they'd picked James Earl Jones to play unmasked Vader? We wouldn't have had Hayden as Anakin, for one thing.

 

....or Mark Hamill as Luke in the Special Edition either

 

People born of parents of two different ethnicities can be extremely variable in appearance.

 

Yes but they don't tend to look like they had parents of one single ethnicity. Regardless, it would have been a much mocked moment.

 

Prowse was only hired by virtue of his physical stature, they did the right thing by hiring an actor to the scene. I thought Shaw did an excellent job.

 

Don't explain the joke.

 

I agree.. The ravages of the Dark Side took their toll on him.

 

I guess George should have made Anakin older when he turned to the Dark Side, in order to fit with the unmasking in ROTJ.

 

Just imagine that scene between Anakin and Luke in the hangar bay after the unmasking with Hayden digitally inserted. I'm betting a lot more crying and screaming.