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Throwback: When Late James Earl Jones Revealed He ONLY Made This Much From Voicing Darth Vader In Star Wars Movies
James Earl Jones made a very low pay while voicing the famous villain, Darth Vader, in one Star Wars movie.
Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of death.
James Earl Jones passed away at the age of 93 on September 9, 2024. The late actor has given his voice to a number of famous characters in the history of cinema, one of which happens to be the globally acclaimed villain, Darth Vader.
Talking about the Star Wars antagonist, the veteran and late actor had once revealed the shockingly less pay he had earned while giving his voice to Darth Vader.
While having a conversation with the American Film Institute, Jones stated back in 2009 that the space opera’s writer/director George Lucas wanted to have a heavy voice for the villain. “So he hires a guy born in Mississippi, raised in Michigan, who stutters. And that’s the voice. That’s me,” Jones mentioned.
During the interview, he mentioned that he had only earned $7,000, which he had thought was enough, as he got to be a voice within a movie that came out in 1977.
The movie was Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, in which David Prowse wore the costume of the famous villain; however, his voice didn't please the director, eventually having Jones onboard.
Further, in 1995, Jones expressed to Canon O’Brien that it was a job of only two and a half hours to record the voice of Vader’s dialogue for the Star Wars movie. The late actor also stated that it was Orson Welles who was first chosen by Lucas for the voice, but he didn't pick him up as the writer thought his voice would be too recognizable.
In the project Star Wars-Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas called Jones again, while the latter thought to give the character a new touch. However, George Lucas reminded him, “We don’t know what we did right, so let’s just try what we did,” Jones told AFI.
The idea was to keep the voice of the character very subtle and not too expressive so that Darth Vader doesn’t give a feel of being human.
While the voice did attract a lot of fanatics of the space opera, James Earl Jones did not receive credits for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back until 1983’s Star Wars - Episode VI: Return to the Jedi, which is when the audience first got to see his name in the credits.
Besides being the voice of Darth Vader, Jones also shared his skills for The Lion King and also played Terence Mann in Field of Dreams. The late actor won three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, and three Emmy Awards, eventually becoming a member of the EGOT club.
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