No one in Star Wars: Episode III has a more rousing, dazzling, scene-stealing turn than veteran Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid.
The long-time British stage star and theatre director puts his permanent mark on the big screen in Revenge Of The Sith as the malignant politican Palpatine, the man who would later be Emperor of all the Universe and creator of all things evil in the original Star Wars trilogy.
So it is no surprise to find that McDiarmid, a soft-spoken fellow with a dry British wit, absolutely relishes his role and this final instalment of the Star Wars big-screen series.
"He is quite cold, he is entirely cold-hearted," McDiarmid says of his character, a man who will morph into something far more terrifying than expected, even with the clues we have from Episode VI -- Return Of The Jedi, in which McDiarmid first joined the George Lucas team.
"This is the climax," McDiarmid says of the critical role Palpatine plays in the fate of Anakin Skywalker in Revenge Of The Sith. "This is when he is revealed in all his terrible tyranny. So it's great to go out with a bang."
An even bigger surprise is the warmth McDiarmid has for Lucas as a man and the respect he has for Lucas as a director. McDiarmid refers to both Lucas and himself as "shy artists" who have struck up a lasting friendship since Return Of The Jedi. And he defends Lucas' directorial skills, something the actor feels he knows intimately from directing plays as joint artistic director of the Almedia Theatre in North London from 1990 to 2002, as well as being an actor for hire in films such as Dragonslayer, Gorky Park, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Restoration and Sleepy Hollow, as well as in a series of major British TV series and specials.
McDiarmid says there is no difference in Lucas since Return Of The Jedi. "He's the same guy he was. He always struck me as a shy visionary and I don't say that lightly."
Secondly, McDiarmid says Lucas is in tune with actors, something that outsiders have accused him of failing to be because of his technical wizardry. "George doesn't want to tamper with good acting," McDiarmid says in defence. "He loves good acting more than most people, actually."
As a result, Lucas is not a filmmaker who will ever replace complex human characters with digital replicates, McDiarmid says. "(He) would never dream of doing that.
"On the other hand, this whole digital revolution can take use further in lots of ways and I think he and Rick (producer Rick McCallum) are really sorry that the industry has taken so long to catch up with the technology and that there are so few digital theatres able to show the film digitally."
If Lucas appreciates the actor in general, McDiarmid appreciates one of his fellow actors in particular. Palpatine has most of his key scenes in Revenge Of The Sith opposite Anakin Skywalker, which meant that McDiarmid was intensely involved with Canadian star Hayden Christensen.
"He's a fine actor," McDiarmid enthuses, trying to counter notions that young Christensen struggles in the role because viewers do not necessarily like his character's actions.
"One of the best things about actors, as you get on a bit," says the 60-year-old McDiarmid, "is finding really good young actors -- and I speak as a former theatre producer as well as an actor. And, when we first met him (Christensen) and first read with him all those months ago for Attack Of The Clones, I knew that he was someone special.
"And it's great to see in this movie all of that potential fully realized in a really, really fine and complicated performance. I think a lot of people were puzzled by Episode II. They should not have been because they knew the story. But they wanted the Darth Vader villain and, of course, in number two, he's a mixed-up kid and that's what he very well played.
"Now he's allowed to emerge as a complicated human being." Yes, and with a lot of help from McDiarmid as Palpatine.
"I'm entirely responsible," McDiarmid says with a mischievous grin. "Well, not entirely because he (Anakin Skywalker) has a little lust for power for me to exploit."
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