The actor behind the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader has signaled he will be stepping down from the role – but has allowed his voice to be used for future productions.
James Earl Jones first voiced Darth Vader in the 1977 original star wars film and went on to star in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
However, Star Wars sound editor Matthew Wood told Vanity Fair that the 91-year-old actor was “considering ending this particular character.”
Jones went on to portray the role in films, including the first installment of the Star Wars anthology series, Rogue One, and the third installment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Future projects from Disney and Lucasfilm will use artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology to recreate Jones’ younger voice from his previous films.
Ukrainian voice cloning company Respeecher will use AI technology to create new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings.
They previously remastered his voice from the original Star Wars movies for the recent Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and some of his archival voice recordings were also used.
Wood said Jones’ family were very pleased with the outcome, and he described Jones as “a benevolent godfather” for his guidance on performing the role during production.
The Ukrainian startup also worked with Lucasfilm to create the voice of a young Luke Skywalker for the Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett.
Wood said the Kyiv-based team was hit by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but managed to get the shows done.
Some of Jones’ most famous lines from the beloved Star Wars franchise include: “No, I’m your father”; “You don’t know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master” and “The force is strong with this one”.
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While Jones voiced the role, the late actor David Prowse appeared onscreen, wearing Darth Vader’s signature costume consisting of a black mask, helmet, and long cape.
A respected stage and screen actor over a six-decade career, Jones also voiced Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King and played King Jaffe Joffer in Coming To America alongside Eddie Murphy, reprising respectively the two roles in the remake and the sequel.
The actor behind the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader has signaled he will be stepping down from the role – but has allowed his voice to be used for future productions.
James Earl Jones first voiced Darth Vader in the 1977 original star wars film and went on to star in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
However, Star Wars sound editor Matthew Wood told Vanity Fair that the 91-year-old actor was “considering ending this particular character.”
Jones went on to portray the role in films, including the first installment of the Star Wars anthology series, Rogue One, and the third installment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Future projects from Disney and Lucasfilm will use artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology to recreate Jones’ younger voice from his previous films.
Ukrainian voice cloning company Respeecher will use AI technology to create new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings.
They previously remastered his voice from the original Star Wars movies for the recent Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and some of his archival voice recordings were also used.
Wood said Jones’ family were very pleased with the outcome, and he described Jones as “a benevolent godfather” for his guidance on performing the role during production.
The Ukrainian startup also worked with Lucasfilm to create the voice of a young Luke Skywalker for the Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett.
Wood said the Kyiv-based team was hit by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but managed to get the shows done.
Some of Jones’ most famous lines from the beloved Star Wars franchise include: “No, I’m your father”; “You don’t know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master” and “The force is strong with this one”.
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
While Jones voiced the role, the late actor David Prowse appeared onscreen, wearing Darth Vader’s signature costume consisting of a black mask, helmet, and long cape.
A respected stage and screen actor over a six-decade career, Jones also voiced Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King and played King Jaffe Joffer in Coming To America alongside Eddie Murphy, reprising respectively the two roles in the remake and the sequel.