A lot of us, Star Wars fans especially, know that dreadful cackle that we heard at the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker teaser, and we know too well that Ian McDiarmid is by far and large the ONLY Palpatine we’ll gladly accept for the role. But those that might be confused as to why Charlie Hall’s piece in Polygon seems to indicate that Ian is stating that Palpatine is dead and gone need a bit of data it would seem. Whether or not the emperor really is dead is a good question since in the comics and the books he’s been notorious for creating clones, and there’s also the possibility that he’s a Force ghost. As Phil Hornshaw of Gamespot could also tell you he was a certified planner that had a contingency for just about anything and everything that might come along. While a lot of that might no longer be canon there’s also a good reason to believe that it will still play a factor in the next episode since believing that Kylo is the big bad, or believing that Snoke will return, is kind of hard to imagine.
But on that note, let’s delve into what you didn’t know about Ian.
10. He had a role in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow too.
If you can recall he was the cowardly doctor that was fooling around with one of the maids and was part of the ruling council of Sleepy Hollow. He met his end in the church along with the rest of the council when he was struck in the head by one of his fellow conspirators.
9. Ian has directed British theater as well as acted.
He’s had a long history with the theater and has gained great renown for his works both on and off the stage. This seems to be where he’s the most comfortable and is able to really excel since he has many credits to his name that would prove this.
8. He has an MA in psychology.
While it seems that his heart has always been in theater it would seem that he took his education seriously to appease his father as many people, no matter how supportive of their children, do tend to believe that acting is an uncertain career choice that is not guaranteed to work.
7. Ian became enamored of the theater when he was just 5 years old.
It seems so unlikely to be taken with something in such a way when a person is so young but then there are those that find out what they love deeply and with great passion early on and then there are those that try to take in everything and end up not deciding on anything for a good deal of time.
6. He’s not much for giving autographs and pictures.
Some actors don’t mind, others don’t see the need for it. He’s seen how some people actually charge for autographs and has said that he doesn’t need the money. He’s not one hundred percent set against this but it’s not something he rushes out to do.
5. He’s primarily a stage actor.
If you look at his list of credits you’ll see that he doesn’t have a whole lot of acting credits outside of the theater, though he does have a good amount of TV credits to his name. He’s been quite prolific throughout his career to be honest and has earned a great reputation along the way.
4. Ian was fully on board with the profile of Palpatine.
He likes the fact that there’s little if any real depth to the character. One thing you can admit about Palpatine, especially if you’ve been a Star Wars fan long enough, the emperor is all about hate, fear, and power. He doesn’t have a whole lot of layers to him since power is about all he cares about, and acquiring it is his one main objective.
3. He created Palpatine’s voice by using a Japanese method that allows a person to use their stomach for voice projection.
This produced that customary croak that you hear whenever he speaks, a sound that’s almost like the body saying that it’s ready to give up at some point. If you know the story of the emperor though, at least a good chunk of it, then you’d know that the Force is really the only thing keeping his body together, so the voice is very accurate.
2. The makeup he had to wear for Star Wars took about and hour and a half to put on.
It took longer initially until the makeup artists finally got the process down and found a way to streamline it. Still, that’s a long time sitting in a chair letting people work on you.
1. He did star as Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.
Eventually he was digitally inserted into The Empire Strikes Back to finally gain some continuity, but originally he didn’t show up until the third movie.
That laugh is going to haunt me now for a while.
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