Vader's toilette
[In second place under Ten Fascinating Face-masks]
2. Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) in the Star Wars movies.
Is it a mask or a helmet? Well, both, since the insect-armoured Lord Vader flies into battle at the head of imperial forces, but also takes care that his true visage is never beheld, something we grasp in Episode V when an underling intrudes upon Vader's toilette and so glimpses an appalling vista of scarred scalp. Vader's mask loomed over the artwork of all the Star Wars lobby posters, but it was shot with maximum gleam and menace in Irvin Kershner's Episode V. Clearly it concealed a horror. Others projected horror on to it, Luke Skywalker presciently dreaming of his own face there. In Episode VI Vader's death scene finally saw the mask come off to reveal ... vintage English thespian Sebastian Shaw. (Critic Danny Peary later asked if he was alone in having expected to see James Earl Jones.) When Lucas undertook his prequel trilogy in the 1990s the mystery of how Anakin Skywalker came to be imprisoned behind that mask was reopened; and in casting the vapid Hayden Christenson, Lucas instantly voided said question of interest.
From 10 Bad Dates with De Niro: a book of alternative movie lists, edited by Richard T. Kelly.
2. Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) in the Star Wars movies.
Is it a mask or a helmet? Well, both, since the insect-armoured Lord Vader flies into battle at the head of imperial forces, but also takes care that his true visage is never beheld, something we grasp in Episode V when an underling intrudes upon Vader's toilette and so glimpses an appalling vista of scarred scalp. Vader's mask loomed over the artwork of all the Star Wars lobby posters, but it was shot with maximum gleam and menace in Irvin Kershner's Episode V. Clearly it concealed a horror. Others projected horror on to it, Luke Skywalker presciently dreaming of his own face there. In Episode VI Vader's death scene finally saw the mask come off to reveal ... vintage English thespian Sebastian Shaw. (Critic Danny Peary later asked if he was alone in having expected to see James Earl Jones.) When Lucas undertook his prequel trilogy in the 1990s the mystery of how Anakin Skywalker came to be imprisoned behind that mask was reopened; and in casting the vapid Hayden Christenson, Lucas instantly voided said question of interest.
From 10 Bad Dates with De Niro: a book of alternative movie lists, edited by Richard T. Kelly.