50 Roles for 50 Actors: Dream casting the Star Wars saga

Dream casting the Star Wars saga: Kenneth Branagh as Conan Antonio Motti

Why would anybody challenge Darth Vader? You don’t have to be a genius to know that’s a bad idea, but Imperial officer Conan Antonio Motti (apparently they had Italians a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away) thought he could get away with it when he ragged on Vader for failing to discover the location of the Rebels’ secret base in Star Wars. For that impudence, Vader repaid him with one of the movie’s most iconic lines: “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Then he choked Motti from several feet away using space magic the Force.

It’s a pretty iconic scene, and we want to find the right person to take actor Richard LeParmentier’s place. We’ll need someone smarmy and arrogant, or at least someone who knows how to play smarmy and arrogant characters.

Again, you can’t go wrong with a Brit, and Kenneth Branagh fits the bill. Dressed in a suit with his hair slicked back, he just looks like the kind of person who would hold an upper management position in an evil empire. He’s also played his share of overconfident jackasses, from Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn to Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and even Hamlet in Hamlet. I’m sure Branagh is a lovely person, but I’m also sure he’d have no trouble playing the kind of guy you just want to choke.

Next: Governor Corpseface