Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmidis a Olivier and Tony award-winning Scottish character actor and director. He has appeared in 47 films since 1976. Internationally, he is most famous for his role as Palpatine in the Star Wars film series...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth11 August 1944
CityCarnoustie, Scotland
consistency important film
Consistency is very important when you're making films.
evil knew until yes
Yes I was, and again, I didn't know how evil he was going to be - I knew he was going to be pretty evil - until I got the script.
The part that I think is one of the most interesting is of course the one that Hayden Christensen plays.
believe job
And also, it's sort of my job to make you believe things about him that aren't true about me.
actual arrived dvd episode filming george lucas scene taken
If you got the DVD you can see that George Lucas has taken that person out, as well as the voice, and we shot this scene when we arrived in Australia during the actual filming of Episode 3.
chance extreme situation
For me it's even more interesting, because my character comes out of the shadow. It's a chance to really act emotionally, because the situation is an extreme one.
best camera closer filming final george knew looking nose scene
It was a scene I was really looking forward to, and one that I embraced, and when we were filming it, George got closer and closer and closer with that camera - he was practically up my nose for the final shot. So I knew it was a moment that I had to do my best to get right.
middle move movies number quite realize sidelines
But he did say that the character would be on the sidelines in movies One and Two, and move into the middle with number Three, but I didn't realize he would move in with quite such a bang.
both charming extremely face painful people putting
But in both cases, the people who were putting my face on were extremely charming and very entertaining. So it's never been a painful experience.
across certainly darth devil might people whom worse
In this film he's worse than the Devil and certainly worse than Darth Vader, whom I think comes across as more sympathetic than people might imagine.
revenge satan
At least Satan fell; he has a history, and it's one of revenge.
nice long rooms
When George asked me to be the prequels, it was the same kind of meeting - it was very short and to the point. It was nice to see him after a long time, and we met in a hotel room.
villain all-time
Im the blackest villain of all time.
smile play faces
I suppose it's easy to play a hypocritical politician with a smiling face; it's also quite gratifying to play.