James Earl Jones retires as Darth Vader

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

James Earl Jones Signs Over Darth Vader's Voice Rights, Retiring from Star Wars

James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Star Wars' Darth Vader, signs over the character's voice rights after 45 years, thus retiring from the role.

After 45 years, James Earl Jones is saying goodbye to the galaxy far, far away by officially retiring from Star Wars.

According to Vanity Fair, Jones has signed the voice rights to his character Darth Vader over to Lucasfilm and Respeecher. The latter is a Ukranian company that uses archival recordings and an A.I. program to create new dialogue with the voices of performers who have either aged out of their roles or have passed away. This method was recently used to recreate the voice of a young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) for The Book of Boba Fett and to mimic Vader's voice, which Jones has now aged out of, for his scenes in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Matthew Wood, a sound editor at Lucasfilm, has recorded Jones' voice numerous times throughout his 32-year career with the company, the latest being for The Rise of Skywalker. When Wood showed Jones Respeecher's capabilities, the actor agreed to sign over the rights to his voice to keep Vader alive. "[James] had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character," Wood said. "So how do we move forward?" Though many studios recast voice actors when the original performer can no longer play the part, Jones' distinct sound has become synonymous with Vader.

James Earl Jones' Darth Vader Legacy

George Lucas first hired Jones to dub over the voice of David Prowse, the actor who played Vader on set, during post-production for 1977's A New Hope. Though the job earned Jones just $7,000 at the time, it turned the actor into a household name. Jones has since voiced the iconic villain in more than a dozen Star Wars-related projects.

In recent years, there has been controversy surrounding the use of CGI and other digital techniques to de-age and posthumously cast deceased actors. The technique was used to recreate Grand Moff Tarkin and a young Princess Leia for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which audiences met with mixed reception. A main source of controversy is that actors who have passed away, such as Tarkin's Peter Cushing, are unable to give their consent for studios to use their likenesses in their projects. The fact that Jones has given his blessing for Lucasfilm to use his signature baritone in future Star Wars content, including those produced after his own passing, may ease these concerns for fans.

Jones has enjoyed a career spanning more than 60 years and is among the few performers to earn the coveted EGOT (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). In addition to Darth Vader, he recently reprised his roles as Mufasa in Jon Favreau's 2019 remake of The Lion King and as King Jaffe Joffer in Coming 2 America.

www.cbr.com/james-earl-jones-darth-vader-voice-rights-retires-star-wars/

[mcmahonfan85]

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Like it's understandable, he's 91, but everything about "We'll still use his voice through AI Generated voice lines" is... well it sure is a sentence isn't it?

It's one of the most recognizable voices ever, in any media, and maybe just in general, you hear that voice, you know who it is.

If Kenobi was his last true performance in the role, he went out with a bang. Now I'm curious if James is going to be a part of that Mufasa prequal Disney is doing or not...

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Sept 24, 2022 5:14:57 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

If Kenobi was his last true performance in the role, he went out with a bang.

Jones didn't utter a single line on Kenobi, it was entirely an AI performance. His final performance was The Rise of Skywalker... which is really kinda depressing.

[Rise]

Sept 24, 2022 5:14:57 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Like it's understandable, he's 91, but everything about "We'll still use his voice through AI Generated voice lines" is... well it sure is a sentence isn't it?

It's one of the most recognizable voices ever, in any media, and maybe just in general, you hear that voice, you know who it is.

If Kenobi was his last true performance in the role, he went out with a bang. Now I'm curious if James is going to be a part of that Mufasa prequal Disney is doing or not...

I think I read somewhere that he's not... So I'm assuming from this news and Mufasa that he's either retired or unwell.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Given how utterly tired he sounded in the Lion King reboot it seems kind of overdue. Perfectly understandable with his age but he kind of just can't rise to the level of performance he used to.

[Ryushinku]

Can't beat Father Time. I felt rather sad when I could hear that age in his voice in Rogue One, just 'off', not quite the power.

They did a superb job with the voice work for Vader in Kenobi, sounded entirely like the Vader of old. It helps that Vader's voice is heavily treated anyway.

If Jones is cool with it, I'm cool with it.

And more importantly, man, what an absolutely epic voice. You get these rare actors - Jones, Christopher Lee, Keith David, Max Von Sydow, Morgan Freeman and so on - with such distinctive voices that it really makes them special whenever they said anything.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

The AI in “Kenobi” sounded frighteningly good. That being said, it also feels skeevy as all hell.

[Johnny B. Decent]

It is what it is, guy's 91, so he can do whatever he wants, but damn, what an end of a era.

[Cyno]

They still credited Jones for the voice in Kenobi. Didn't realize it was AI-generated. I loved when in Kenobi you hear a mix of his voice and Hayden's voices. Honesty, Hayden could probably do the
voice fine from now on with the filters they use.

End of an era, though. James is getting up there in age, so I get his retiring. Still sad, however.

[schma]

I remember years ago I had thought he had died for some reason. I was rather happy when I found out that wasn't the case. At this point, I say good on the dude. He could have called it a day with the original trilogy but he kept going for decades afterwards.

[jason1980s]

Sept 24, 2022 22:55:24 GMT -5 schma said:

I remember years ago I had thought he had died for some reason. I was rather happy when I found out that wasn't the case. At this point, I say good on the dude. He could have called it a day with the original trilogy but he kept going for decades afterwards.

I thought he did too because the end of the Bleeding Gums Murphy death episode of Simpson's I thought had BGM in the sky talking to Lisa then showed Mufasa and Darth Vader who died and as a kid I didn't really know James Earl Jones but knew the "This is CNN" guy and he was with Vader and Mufasa so I thought he was dead.

[schma]

Sept 24, 2022 22:58:51 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Sept 24, 2022 22:55:24 GMT -5 schma said:

I remember years ago I had thought he had died for some reason. I was rather happy when I found out that wasn't the case. At this point, I say good on the dude. He could have called it a day with the original trilogy but he kept going for decades afterwards.

I thought he did too because the end of the Bleeding Gums Murphy death episode of Simpson's I thought had BGM in the sky talking to Lisa then showed Mufasa and Darth Vader who died and as a kid I didn't really know James Earl Jones but knew the "This is CNN" guy and he was with Vader and Mufasa so I thought he was dead.

I think that might actually have been what made me think so as well.

[A Platypus Rave]

I'm not sure how I feel about the AI thing...

It seems like people should be able to retire...

I get it he's the voice of Darth Vader... but like... other people could give a performance and Vader is the easiest thing to setup a voice change, since "His Voice" isn't even really his voice.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Sept 25, 2022 1:26:17 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

I'm not sure how I feel about the AI thing...

It seems like people should be able to retire...

I get it he's the voice of Darth Vader... but like... other people could give a performance and Vader is the easiest thing to setup a voice change, since "His Voice" isn't even really his voice.

As I understand it, this is just a more advanced version of the process you're describing. AI voice technology requires a performance to overlay the new vocal track to as it is not capable of "acting" by itself. In Book of Boba Fett Mark Hamill performed all of Luke's scenes and the AI replaced his voice with a synthesised version of his voice circa 1982 using the exact tones and inflections Hamill used as a guide, while on Kenobi I believe Hayden Christensen performed all of Vader's dialogue.