CT Dave Prowse, is it time he was brought back into the fold

For most of us Dave Prowse is the embodiment of Darth Vader and for those of us lucky enough to have met him I think we can agree he's an absolute gentleman to speak with.
I find it kind of sad that even to this day he is frozen out of anything official by Lucasfilm (and now Disney) to do with Star Wars. Yes maybe he done wrong back in the day (allegedly) but come on that was over 30 years ago, it's about time Lucasfilm just let it go and involve the original Darth Vader in celebration stuff in the future.

 

I believe he is still quite high functioning and remains in the early stages. It isn't to late for him to enjoy the fandom in these crucial few year. I would like him back!

 

He did something???

 

This is news to me, what did he do wrong all those years ago ?

 

Technically, the only thing that he did wrong was this...



Which contributed to Lucas being annoyed at him. But the other issue was that during the filming of TESB, Bob Anderson was used in place of him for the dual and then Anderson filmed more scenes in ROTJ than Prowse did. He also complained about his voice being dubbed over by James Earl Jones and then that Sebastian Shaw was used as Anakin Skywalker, rather than himself. The last time he actually wore the suit was around 1993, when he filmed material for a board game that used original live action footage of Vader and various Imperials.

 

He said himself that being dubbed over by James Earl Jones was something that he was always aware of and never harbored any ill feeling about, unless there's an older statement to the contrary. Seems like it all went south following or during Empire. They used a few subpar stand-ins during Jedi, which seems like a slant to Prowse.

What went on between him and George is personal, and couldn't possibly all be from unknowingly leaking the big reveal in a newspaper article (I could have sworn it was coincidence). But a Lucasfilm spokesperson said he burned too many bridges in the past. Which is a shame, because he's stayed active in the community over the years, only just retiring from the convention circuit at 81.

 

Yes. Lucas should not be clouded by his emotions. He needs to let go of his hate and feel the light side of the Force.

 

I'd love to have Prowse back. Grudges don't do anyone well, and Prowse didn't do anything that bad, from what we know.

 

I saw an interview with him on YouTube where he said that the only reason he could think of for the freeze-out was that he allegedly leaked some plot points. I never knew he told a thousand people in 1977 that Vader was Luke's father. That must have played a part in what happened to him!

 

Has anyone seen the doc 'I Am Your Father' on Netflix? I only watched the first bit, but it's the story of a Spanish filmmaker and Star Wars fan wanted to ask Prowse to re-shoot the un-masking scene.

 

The People vs. George Lucas is not an anti-Lucas doc though. There are lots of people in it who are anti-Lucas, and there are also those who take the other side. I saw it once but I don't remember what David Prowse said, does anyone remember?

 

He cancelled all of his out of country appearances about 2 months ago. He said that his health won't let him travel for convention appearances anymore. I'd say that we won't be seeing too much of him...

 

Not according to this:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04...ders-voice-getting-dubbed-by-james-earl-jones

He seems to think he was lead to believe he would do the ADR. And that somehow they "forgot" to do the ADR in Britain. Hate to break it to you Dave.... that was never in the cards.

I met Prowse once years ago. He was nice enough, but man... he was SURE Vader was such a popular character because of him. I won't say he didn't add to the character (he surely did), but I think most of us would agree most of the credit goes to the costume designers and JEJ.

Not that I begrudge him. If I had been in that suit, I'd sign everything with Strongbow IS Darth Vader too, as obnoxious as that sounds.

 

Harsh truth: Prowse's job was to fill out the suit, nothing more. He thinks he owns Darth Vader since he wore the suit. He doesn't. He never has. He's basically a stunt man just to fill the suit. That's all he was ever meant to be.

 

He was a very capable physical actor. Vader's body language speaks volumes even when JEJ doesn't speak a word.

 

Not surprised, as I remember that being the most common story out there. There was another point where he said Jones was chosen simply because it was cheaper than shipping Prowse over from the UK. It seems Prowse was simply left out of the loop and was left to connect the dots on his own. The whole "is Darth Vader" thing seems to be a direct response to how James Earl Jones is more commonly associated with the role.

I will say that he is rightfully the actor for Darth Vader, even if James Earl Jones is [deservingly] more noted for being the voice. The only qualification for the role was literally height, but Prowse's monster movie background served him well. Bob Anderson deserves his props for exceptional sword fighting, and Sebastian Shaw as Anakin, etc. Though beyond that, there was really only stand-ins out of necessity. There was either scenes where no acting was required, or brief/obscure enough where no one would notice the difference. I guess my point is that Dave Prowse wasn't just a stand-in, he was Darth Vader.

 

Yeah, if you watch the clip, mentions the "voice actor was cheaper" idea.

Vader is a composite character. Prowse does have a pretty grat physical presence in the suit. He moves with a confidence that helps sell the character. But Jones' voice... in terms of value, I don't know how much they got paid, but Imma guss that by ESB Jones was pulling in more dollars for the role.

 

I mean, to this day, Jones is irreplaceable when it comes to the voice, returning for Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, Rebels, etc., whereas Vader's actor has been changed multiple times. It was almost disrespectful how many scenes use stand-in actors in Return of the Jedi.

 

i never heard much until the last couple years of him being frozen out. i read during production of ROTS where he said that GL "owed it to him" for him to be in the movie in the suit as Vader. It came off pompous to me and i thought , yeah right he already gave you three movies. So perhaps he 's been difficult to deal with .

 

prowse has always been an egotist. he's better off as far from sw as possible.

 

True dat. He's menacing and yet subtle.

 

I think many people should be credited with Vader's character, and one of them is David Prowse. It would be incorrect and a real shame for anyone to try and discredit him, or belittle his contribution, as some posters did in this thread. It would also be incorrect and a real shame to overcredit him, as Mr. Prowse has often done for himself through the years. That's my view.

But one can see why David Prowse would have felt slighted by being dubbed over throughout the films. It could very well feel like an insult to be told, as an actor, that your voice is not wanted for the movie. Chistopher Plummer had an antagonistic relationship with The Sound of Music for a long time, and I've always thought that was because they dubbed over his singing voice with another actor for the film. Maybe it's not appropriate on a personal level, maybe it's not genuine or ethical from a film presentation standpoint, but whatever one decides we should be mindful of the contributions of each and every person who contributed to the making of a motion picture.

Even moreso when their performances are...rectroactively...edited out of the movie entirely, in order to make them "match" with essentially unrelated films that were made decades later.