Sebastian Shaw question

Why do you think Lucas cast Shaw, who was 10 years older than Alec Guinness, to play his apprentice?

 

Why did Lucas cast MacDiarmid, who was a lot younger than Guinness to play the Emperor?

It doesn't matter how old a person is, they just need to look the right age for the part. MacDiarmid achieved this through prosthetics, and Shaw just simply looked old enough to be Luke's dad. Also when you look at Obi-Wan and Anakin standing as Force Ghosts at the end of Jedi pre-Special Edition, Shaw looks younger than Guinness, just about.

You also have to take into account that, at the time, the prequels were nothing more than a few pages of notes and didn't really evolve into the films we have to today until Lucas began seriously working on them in the early 90's, so at the time of ROTJ, Anakin may have actually been conceived as being older than he ended up being in the prequels.

 

Exactly; it doesn't matter what age the actor is, but what age they look like. Personally I would've thought Shaw was about 4 or 5 years younger than Obi Wan. Still doesn't make much sense but the point is he doesn't look older. Without the great hair and beard, he looks younger. Sounds cliche, but it's true.

 

I'd tend to agree. He didn't look that old and I wouldn't expect Vader to age all that well anyway. He's not exactly the healthiest man in the Galaxy. Mark Hamill was about 24 or 25 when he was cast as 18 or 19 year old Luke.

Typically the physical age of an actor is irrelevant. Just take a look at how many people on t.v. are in their late twenties and playing teenagers.

 

I agree, I think he looks younger than Obi-Wan. But I think he still looks a little on the old side for someone supposed to be in his mid-forties.

 

He wasn't supposed to be in his mid-forties. To answer the original question, Sebastian Shaw was 77, which is about the same age Obi Wan is supposed to be, but, as was pointed out, Shaw doesn't look quite that old--Anakin was supposed to be in his sixties, roughly ten years younger than ObiWan.

 

I still think its odd that Lucas cast someone so old to play Anakin, and also someone who doesn't look much like his son.

 

Obi-Wan was supposed to be 77? Then he would have been 45 in TPM.

 

Obi-Wan is 57 in ANH
Vader is 40

 

Being burned alive and kept in that suit for 20-odd years makes a man look older than he should.

Obi-Wan was 57 in ANH; Alec Guinness was 62.

 

I still think Obi-Wan could have been considered a little older in the prequels ( without changing anything in the actual films, since his character's age is not mentioned ), so that by ANH Ben would be a bit older than 57.
It's like they're implying that if you're a padawan and you're over 25, you must be retarded.

 

A lot of people here are forgetting the timeline was changed between the making of the OT and the making of the PT. Both Vader and Obi-Wan were supposed to be older than they ended up being. Maybe Lucas realized it would be harder to show a grown man and full Jedi falling to the dark side so he backtracked and made Vader 22. Who knows?

You can also retcon it away by saying both Obi and Vader have had hard lives and look the worse for wear as a result. (Vader for obvious reasons. Sexy, obvious reasons. )

 

I agree. War & stress will put some years on ya.

 

Not forgetting no sun on your face for 20 years results in pallid complexion

 

We've all pretty much agreed that Lucas screwed up the age factor due to the creation of the prequels. If we follow from ROTS, Anakin is about 42/43 in ANH. Which means he's roughly like 46 in ROTJ. I'd say Shaw can pull of 46 give or take a few years. I still think Obi looks older, because not only does he have grey hair and a grey beard, but also the character he plays reflects him as older. As Lucas said, Obi Wan is supposed to be the elder wise master, which he plays well. The way he is just makes him seem older....Plus the fact that we know Anakin was one of his apprentices we know that means he must be a little younger at least.

Plus this factor shouldn't really matter seeing as now we see shaw for a matter of about 3 minutes in the movie, where he's supposed to look old anywaise because of his state. Now there's the ghost of Hayden to confuse us even more and bring up yet more questions.

 

In Vader's case, he was referred to as young around the time he, uh, "betrayed and murdered your father."
When we found out that Anakin and Vader were the same person, that makes Anakin young at that time.
But in Obi-Wan's case I agree.