More than four decades after giving his voice (not his body) to cinema’s most famous villain, James Earl Jones ended his career as Darth Vader. According to the prestigious magazine vanity, The 91-year-old actor has reached a deal with a Ukrainian artificial intelligence company to reproduce his voice for future TV titles. Star Wars.
In the new report Vanity Fair Posted on Friday, sound artists Lucasfilm and Ukrainian artificial intelligence company Respeecher discussed how Jones’s voice was digitally recreated for the recent Disney + release. Star Wars: Obi Wan Kenobi.
In the prequel, Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen return as Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. Although Christensen wore Vader’s dark suit in the series, it was Respeecher who provided the voice of him during his duels with his former master and Sith Inquisitor Reva Sevander.
“He said he was trying to kill this particular character,” said Lucasfilm sound editor Matthew Wood. “So how can we go on?”
Before and during the war
Jones’ family told Lucasfilm and Respeecher they were pleased with the results and gave them permission to continue recreating his voice in future projects.
But Respeecher’s work was nearly lost when Russian forces invaded Ukraine last February, forcing his team to complete their work quickly. This was said by Bogdan Belyaev, a Respeecher sound artist was sending key sound data to Skywalker Ranch in Northern California on the very day Russian troops began their attack.
“Why did I do it? It’s a great honor to work with Lucasfilm and I’m a fan of it Star Wars since I was a child. Even in war, there is no excuse not to miss the opportunity to work on something you have loved since your childhood, “Belyaev said.
Although Respeecher cannot disclose what he is currently working on, the company does continues to develop its artificial intelligence programs even during the war months.
“We create jobs for people, we create jobs, we pay them money, we contribute to the Ukrainian economy and this is quite significant,” said CEO Alex Serdiuk. “But also, hopefully, more people will hear about Ukraine, our tech community, our startups, because of that.”
The first time, for only $ 7,000
James Earl Jones recounted how he was cast in the first film of Star Warsincluding salary modest $ 7,000 in exchange for the voice of the iconic villain Darth Vader.
The man, an eminence who already has a theater with his name, recounted this and more in an interview with the American Film Institute.
Don James is 91 years old. He is an actor with a long career with great successes at the box office both lending his voice and acting, since, in fact, Star Wars, The Lion King, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, The Lion Guard, Conan the Barbarian, A Prince in New York, The Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October or Game of patriots.
“George Lucas, the director, wanted … pardon the expression, a dark voiceJones said of the well-known director’s plans for the iconic 1977 film. “So he hires a boy born in Mississippi and raised in Michigan who stutters. And this is the rumor. It’s me“.
Speaking of the sad cachet that was paid to voice the bad leader of all the bad polls in fiction, Jones was uttered in a treble clef: “I was lucky enough to have all these alleged downsides for a job that paid $ 7,000! And I thought it was good money. And I could be a voice in a movie“.
CJL
Source: Clarin
