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The July 1987 issue of Starlog Magazine featured an interview with Sebastian Shaw. It also had some great never-before-seen photos of Shaw.

Part II: Beneath the Black Mask
The revelation of Luke's true father beneath the evil visage of the Vader personality was one of the great surprises of Return of the Jedi, one that required Shaw's total complicity. "My filming was done under conditions of quite extraordinary secrecy," he explains. "Nobody was allowed to know that Darth Vader was in fact Anakin Skywalker under a spell, and that he was Luke's father.

"So secret was it that my actual contract said that I was not do disclose my role to nobody, not even my nearest and dearest. And my family and friends, very curious, would ask, 'What are you doing in Jedi?' I had do answer, 'I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to tell you.'

"I was besieged by the press as to what I was doing, because the word got out that I was cast.  But until I got word from California and the grand man himself, I couldn't say anything.  Eventually, they came through on the phone, and said, 'Yes, it's OK. You can do it.'  That was when the film had opened.  But they didn't want anybody to know while they were still making the movie." True to his word, Shaw revealed his pivotal role to "absolutely nobody.  I really was faithful to that condition."

Apart from the challenge of keeping quiet about his character for a year after filming, there were more intense physical demands made on Shaw even before filming began.  "Very early on, once it was settled I was going to do it, I had to have a life mask made, because the makeup of that terrible wound and the bald head had to fit exactly," notes Shaw. "I found that rather a trial: It was about a quarter of an inch thick, and it covered my entire face and head.  There were just two little holes, to breathe through because it covered your lips.  I was in that for about 20 minutes. And that's not very nice, particularly if you have the slightest inclination toward claustrophobia.  Then, they break the mold in half, and take the mask from there.

"The makeup people told me that some quite famous actor couldn't take it when they tried to do that to him.  Her said, 'Gaa, let me out of here, let me out,' and ruined the whole thing.  I don't know what they did then."

Despite his part's significance, filming of Shaw's scenes took only one day.  "I remember going down to Elstree Studios, near London.  I was driven down, and whisked straight away into a caravan, and my lunch was brought to me, makeup came to me, and then I was hustled into the studio -- nobody saw me. It was all completely secret. I think many people -- even some of them who had to do with the administration -- didn't really know, until they saw the finished product.  It was astonishing. And everybody concerned -- director, producers --were watching that scene, all the time, with hawk-like eyes, because it was so important.

"Richard Marquand directed the scene, but George Lucas as around all the time keeping an eye on things, because after all, Star Wars is his baby.  And they were very careful, clearly.  There was this huge Star Wars stage at Elstree -- it was vast, and it was empty.  They cleared it completely, except for the absolute minimum of people.

"I wore the Darth Vader mask and costume, and played the whole scene through from the moment he sank down. They used James Earl Jones' voice for one or two of the early bits, and then my voice blended into it. We worked fairly hard that day.  The scene was so beautifully written that we never altered the dialogue at all. It was just as it was written, and it played quite beautifully.  There weren't hundreds of takes or anything like that.  Mark Hamill had a few, for his close-up, because he was so terribly anxious to get it right.

"Mark was absolutely delightful to work with.  He was very kind, and maybe even appreciative, to an old actor like me. He was glad to work with somebody of my experience.  He was very nervous with the scene because, quite suddenly, a new dimension came into the whole thing, a real and genuine emotion -- for Luke to meet his father, in those circumstances, and know that when that dreadful mask was taken off, it meant it was curtains for him. Incidentally, Mark nearly took my ears with it. 'Wow,' I said."

Interview Part 1 - Interview Part 2 - Interview Part 3

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