main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

CT David Prowse/Sebastian Shaw

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by Oberst Hans Landa, Feb 24, 2014.

  1. Oberst Hans Landa

    Oberst Hans Landa Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2014
    Does anyone know why David Prowse was not "the face" of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi? Is there a specific reason that explains why Sebastian Shaw was cast to play that crucial scene where Luke sees his father's face for the first time?

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Darthbane2007

    Darthbane2007 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2007
    Maybe they needed an ACTOR to portray Anakin?
     
  3. Straudenbecker

    Straudenbecker Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 2015
    Age difference, Sebastian Shaw was more well known plus a more talented actor.
     
    SateleNovelist11 likes this.
  4. Hawt for Rey

    Hawt for Rey Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2015
    Hmm.... Prowse delivered a ludicrous vocal performance in IV, but having heard JEJ's dubbing, does anyone know how he fared on the set of V?

    There was some recent skit where some journalist/nerd guy came into Prowse's house to get a revenge/rematch or whatever, and Prowse brought some good, decent sounding Vader impression. I think he could very much handle a dark, villainous role now, he has the seasoned face, the charisma and the vocal capabilities.
     
  5. SateleNovelist11

    SateleNovelist11 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2015

    Indeed. Shaw did a magnificent job. I really felt for Anakin the first time I saw Shaw's performance, and I still do. You can tell that there was more to this man than hate, anger, and fear. That's the best part of his characterization.
     
    Sarge and Seagoat like this.
  6. SegNerd

    SegNerd Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 18, 2015
    I believe one consideration was the fact that they didn't want Darth Vader to have a British accent.

    His accent is suppose to roughly match JEJ, as well as Luke's.
     
    SateleNovelist11 likes this.
  7. Hawt for Rey

    Hawt for Rey Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2015
    whaaaaaa-a-a-a-aa-a-a-aaa-aa-aaaa

    JEJ speaks posh English, Luke American. Christensen also American (gotta check if he moves into English when turning evil.. might have, not sure), and Shaw was English if I remember correctly.
     
  8. Hogarth Wrightson

    Hogarth Wrightson Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2015
    Sebastian Lewis Shaw (29 May 1905 – 23 December 1994) was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet.
     
  9. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013
    The whole accent thing is rather baffling

    Shaw didn't really have enough lines to properly derive his accent, and at that, he's practically whispering. I can sort of hear the English accent, I suppose, but it seems a tad ambiguous
    Interesting that JEJ was told to imitate an English accent when voicing Vader and Hayden just used his natural American accent

    Then again, they tend to meld together a bit for me because of an upbringing with an English mother and American father....
     
  10. SegNerd

    SegNerd Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 18, 2015
    Admittedly, I didn't realize Shaw was British. But it's still possible he could imitate an American accent better than Prowse.

    James Earl Jones and Mark Hamill are Americans, and Hayden is Canadian. Their accents are not identical, but they are much closer to each other than to a British accent.
     
  11. Hogarth Wrightson

    Hogarth Wrightson Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2015
    I could always hear Shaw's English accent in his pronunciation of the words "sister" and "were" as "sisteh" and "weh", and the way he glides the final "t" of "right" into the opening vowel of "about", so that, to an American ear such as mine, it sounds like "Tell your sisteh, you weh righ tabout me." For whatever that's worth.
     
  12. Hawt for Rey

    Hawt for Rey Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2015

    Yes, JEJ is American; so is Peter Dinklage.
    Vader and Tyrion have English accents - so pronounced and stereotypical, it's baffling when people miss that.
     
  13. Hogarth Wrightson

    Hogarth Wrightson Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2015
    Incorrect. Jones is not doing an English accent; he's doing a Mid-Atlantic accent like that heard in Golden Age Hollywood films.

    A Mid-Atlantic accent (also known as a Transatlantic accent)[1] is a cultivated or acquired accent of the English language once found in the American upper class and taught for use as a standard in American schools for actors. It is not a vernacular accent typical of any location or any natural variety, but a consciously learned blend of American English and British English, intended to favor neither.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
     
    SateleNovelist11 and SegNerd like this.
  14. Hawt for Rey

    Hawt for Rey Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2015
    They say Leia is doing a Mid-Atlantic in that Tarkin scene as well, but everyone including Carrie calls it English - either way, MA is much closer related to RP than RP to any other notable English accent;
    in crude terms, it can be said that it's just posh Americans talking British.

    To convey an American upper class, there are other American accents and speech manners that can convey that.
     
    SateleNovelist11 likes this.
  15. Catina barman

    Catina barman Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2015
    The reason why they had Sebastian Shaw as Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker instead of David Prowse was because it shows that Darth Vader was an undeveloped man.