Throwback: When The Sandlot Star Patrick Renna Revealed How James Earl Jones Left Huge Impact On Young Cast Members
The Sandlot actor Patrick Renna opened up on how the late James Earl Jones inspired the young actors on the first day of the movie shoot. Scroll down to read the details.
Trigger Warning: This articles contains mention of death
James Earl Jones passed away at the 93 after leaving his mark in the Hollywood industry with brilliant performances. The actor gave his breakthrough performance in Star Wars and had been popular with his iconic character, Darth Vader.
Paying his respects to the late actor, Patrick Renna, who portrayed the role of Hamilton in the film, recalled his fondest memories of Jones. Renna shared that the actor inspired the young actors on the first day of the shoot itself, and it left a lasting impact on the young minds.
In a previous interview with The Rich Eisen Show, Renna revealed that the cast and the crew of the film were mesmerized by the actor’s presence on the sets, as they all popularly knew Earl Jones as Darth Vader.
The Big Green star went on to state, "He was there for a day. He had this huge trailer, and he was larger than life. He's the famous James Earl Jones—we're all speechless, and he was so cool."
Renna went on to explain that the legendary actor was supposed to shoot a scene with every teen on sets, but then the makers made changes in the script and two young actors, Tom Guiry and Mike Vitar.
Renna shared that none of the cast members had the courage to go up to the iconic star, and finally, Marty York reached up to the actor and said, "None of us had the guts," Renna shared. He said, "'Sir, I hear you're James Earl Jones,' or something like that. 'You were Darth Vader in Star Wars.' And he looked at him and said, 'No, I am your father.' And that was it."
Renna went on to reveal, "That was the only time any of us talked to him, and it was pretty great. I didn't need to meet him after that. It's good, it's done.”
He continued, "I'll never forget; I remember that day, just seeing him from afar. Field of Dreams had already come out; he's been in plenty of movies and then, of course, we know him as that voice."
James Earl Jones rose to popularity in the 1950s and became famous amongst youngsters as the voice of Mufasa from The Lion King.