As Star Wars: Episode III-- Revenge of the Sith celebrates its 20th anniversary, there has been a lot of reflection over the past decades on the film. One person who discussed his career as Emperor Palpatine was the beloved Ian McDiarmid, who sat down recently in an interview with Variety. While they talked about Episode III, McDiarmid shared a humorous story about how he impressed one of Hollywood's greatest directors.
McDiarmid and the interviewer, Todd Gilchrist, discussed the recent passing of Clive Revill, who was the original voice of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. McDiarmid shared his appreciation for Revill, calling him, "a very fine actor," and saying that the two of them had met a few times.
McDiarmid figured that Revill would just dub over his part. George Lucas liked what McDiarmid did and kept his vocal work. Though he also felt bad for taking the vocal role from Revill. He said, "It must have been disappointing to him that he didn’t continue to play him. But of course, he didn’t really play him in the first place. It was a woman in a mask, Marjorie Eaton, and his voice."
But he turned to discuss how they re-recorded Emperor Palpatine's lines for the films. In a studio in London, McDiarmid met with Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Steven Spielberg to redo the dialogue. This also happened to be the first time the McDiarmid met Kennedy, he shared. After a few scenes, Spielberg cried out, “Oh my God, you’re evil!” Having impressed such a prominent Hollywood director like Steven Spielberg, McDiarmid was quite relieved by the entire ordeal.
Star Wars: Episode III-- Revenge of the Sith is currently in theaters for a limited time for the film's 20th anniversary.