James Earl Jones has forever etched himself among the hearts of Star Wars fans with his menacing vocal performance as Darth Vader, arguably the most popular character from the original trilogy. However, Jones faced one problem while voicing the character for The Empire Strikes Back.
During an interview, Jones spoke about wanting to try a different approach with voicing Darth Vader in the sequel to George Lucas’ 1977 original film. However, Lucas vetoed his suggestion due to one issue, which made a lot of sense. Here is what Jones had to say about returning to voice Vader for the sequel.
James Earl Jones Explained the Issue With Voicing Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back
James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader in 1977’s Star Wars directed by George Lucas, and has since been associated with the character. While Jones has mastered the menacing mechanical voice of Vader, that wasn’t the case back in the day when he returned to work on The Empire Strikes Back.
During an interview, Jones revealed that he wanted to try a new approach to voicing Vader so that he could further explore the character. Hence, he wanted to make the voice more psychologically oriented. However, Lucas quickly vetoed the decision.
I remember on [Empire], when George had a chance to counsel me, he said, ‘We don’t know what we did right [on A New Hope], so let’s just try what we did.’
Jones made the above statement, via The Hollywood Reporter, explaining the issue with experimenting with Vader’s voice.
The first Star Wars movie was a massive success, with Vader proving to be the breakout character. Hence, it is understandable that Lucas would have wanted to play it safe and not experiment with Vader’s voice. Lucas’ decision proved to be the right one as Vader’s popularity only soared after Empire Strike Back.
James Earl Jones Revealed the One Person Who Did a Scarier Darth Vader Impression Than Him
During the same interview, Jones also explained why the process of voicing Vader for the sequel was slightly harder compared to the first film. Jones revealed that since actor David Prowse, who physically played Vader, was aware his voice wasn’t going to be used, he did not focus on the dialog delivery.
Eventually, when it was time for Jones to work his magic and dub over the scenes, he was provided a tape by director Irvin Kershner, with the dialog recorded in Kershner’s voice. The result was shocking for Jones, who said:
Kershner gave me a soundtrack with him doing the voice of Darth Vader…it was scary as hell. Kershner was scarier than I could ever be.
Jones’ words confirm that according to the voice actor, Kershner was the only person who could beat his menacing and scary performance as Vader. However, how Kershner’s Vader voice sounded will be something only Jones is likely to remember as most fans recognize him as the iconic Sith Lord.
The Empire Strikes Back and other Star Wars movies are streaming on Disney+.
