* Was Padme trying to imitate Darth Vader's voice? *

In the film, the Queen had a very deep voice.

This however was not something Natalie Portman could do with her own natural voice.

On the "Actor's Studio" interview, she mentioned that Lucas altered the voice after they filmed those scenes with the Queen.

My question is why?

Was it Lucas way of saying "Luke's parents both used different voices during their lifespan"?

Opinions please!

 

It's all to do with the decoy. The monarchy created a flat, monotone voice that any of the Queen's decoys could adopt. Padme herself has a distinctive voice that her handmaidens couldn't replicate as well.

 

You had to distinguish between Amidala and Padme. If they sounded identical, then that would have given away her identity.

 

I agree with the opinions of both Kwenn and Moleman 1138; it was crucial for Lucas to create a salient discrepancy between Amidala (decoy) and Padme so that the audience would naturally and easily be able to discern between the two characters. It is also important to consider that much of the detail in the "Star Wars" universe is derived from other sources. The Amidala character was, I think, influenced largely by Japanese performance art such as Noh and, more specifically (as it pertains to her appearance), Kabuki theater. For further investigation into these matters, take a look at "The Mikado" (1939, Victor Schertzinger) or any production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, or reference Kon Ichikawa's 1963 film "An Actor's Revenge", for example. I think it becomes clear that Lucas was deliberately channeling a certain stylistic approach to both Queen Amidala's look and the intonation of her speech in the film in addition to creating the aforementioned dichotomy.

 

Yeah, that all sounds very logical to me.

But it's funny that Lucas wants to create many parallels in his saga. He says the saga is like a poem that requires such parallels in the story.

And the voice thing could be just another one!

 

He says the saga is like a poem that requires such parallels in the story.

Eh, he says a lot of things.

 

Also, she might have wanted to sound older, more mature.

 

Also her voice did change during shooting of the film, so she had to redub some of her lines. And I assume they altered other lines to match her new tone. Although assuming can get you where you dont wanna be.

 

a thought on this: in the original trilogy leia had two voices as well. one was her slightly english voice which made her sound more professional. the other was her regular carrie fisher voice. i have read an explination about this having to do with some diplomat type thing. i feel that it's the same with padme. she needs to use that voice with a bit more umph when she's trying to gain the attention and favor of the galactic senate.

 

What was it called again....diplodialect? Yes, both Leia and Padmé change their voice whenever needed. I think Jar Jar had a diplodialect piece of dialogue which he would have messed up causing the some senate members to laugh. It was originally included to the emergency powers scene but cancelled in order for the seriousness of the scene, I guess.

 

I think Carrie used the English accent because she thought it was the thing to do.... when most of the characters are being played by British actors and the film is being film in England.

But as soon as she had scenes with Harrison and Mark, she droped the accent.