It is hard to believe that such a malignant, malevolent, evil, demonic S.O.B. is played by such a sweet and wonderful gentleman. That is what a great actor is able to do.
Star wars is like most things is a biblical metaphor...notice george lucas says...palpatine is the "devil" and anakin is the "chosen one". Many science fictions and storys replicate biblical themes.
@@chrisnenshati7400 Most things? A far stretch! And Star Wars is much more: The force is basically buddism, and palpatine's rise is based on the third reich.
This is why I love George, watch all the behind the scenes George is so passionate about making his vision come to life. So involved in all the ideas his studio helps with. He truly loves what he does. It’s beautiful; then everyone shat on his creation that he was passionate about so he sold it to Disney.
My fav character in the whole saga. When I was a kid, everyone wanted to be Han Solo, Luke or even Vader. But not me. I wanted to throw Force lightning to everyone 😂 Seriously
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Ian was literally the only cast member who was able to make Lucas' stale dialogue sound not only convincing, but gave it a great deal of weight too. Him and McGregor are both fine Scottish actors who were the highlight of the prequels.
George probably works better with shakespearian or just old theater actors cuz half the time they can act without much direction. George struggles with actors like Harrison or hayden when they need more direction when necessary. Harrison over time just gave up on george lol
+JAN2MARS Palpatine was always my favorite character in Star Wars. Even when I was a kid during the original trilogy I thought he was badass. I remember when all the kids wanted to be Luke or Han or something, I wanted to be Palpatine and the empire. ULTIMATE POWER MOAHAHAHAHA
+arsenalrulez1000 I agree that Ian is a terrific actor who nailed Palpatine/Sidious character, but I think he should stay the hell away from Hollywood because Hollywood is crap! What have they done lately...in years as a matter a fact? The only thing Hollywood makes these days/years are remakes and superhero movies...it's ridicilous!
God Palpatine is such a glorious bastard, he's one of those villains who can pull off being nonsympathetic in EVERY SINGLE ASPECT and no one cares because he's just so charismatic and has so much fun doing what he does that it just somehow makes him believable. It's gonna be weird not having his presence around in future movies, he is really THE character I have the hardest time imagining Star Wars without.
I think Palpatine is truly the most evil villain in cinema history. His countenance and persona just gives me chills! Superb acting from Ian McDiarmid.
I suppose you could say that the Star Wars movies (or at least the E1-3 arc) are a basically a tragedy. The fall of Anakin, the Republic and the Jedi and the rise of one man.
My favorite Ian McDiarmid story is one he told about Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee was another older, classically trained British thespian. One whom Ian thought he'd found a contemporary in. And then it came time for the lightsaber duels. Ian discovered rightaway he had no ally in Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee was a champion fencer who could duel in his sleep! Ian realized he would now, once again, resume his role as the sickly puppy of the litter when it came to lightsaber dueling on the set.
@@jacktheflash8478 I think he was more saying how in the prequels the actors had a large amount of influence over their roles, vs the sequel series which seems to have the actors on rails.
The Jedi were corrupt, disconnected from the force for century, Qui Gon realized this before his death, so he never want to be a jedi council. What Sidious did was simply force will to balance the nature of the force
The thing that stood out most to me about this is how well-spoken and articulate Hayden Christianson (sorry if I misspelled his name) is in his answers. I feel like him and Ian both have brilliant minds, and their similarly charismatic and charming personalities formed a perfectly symbiotic relationship between a Sith master and his apprentice.
I thought the exact same thing! Thanks for pointing that out because I feel that this isn't said enough. You can tell Hayden is a hardcore fan of Star Wars, who appreciates the lore very well and who has a great grasp on his character's evolution.
My guess is it stems from live audiences. With a live audience, not only do you have only one shot to get it right, but you have only one shot to really hit it home. You can't go halfway, then say, "Eh, lets do that again." You need to give it your all the whole time, and when all you do is go all the way, so long as you keep it up, you can only go up from there.
Ian Mcdiarmid and Hayden Christiansen were both AMAZING actors and were the absolute highlights of the prequels. They don't get anywhere near the credit they deserve.
Battle Axe Films I will say Ewan is a good actor but when he says the line about the younlings being killed is laughable. I don't know why he didn't pull that off. He's very capable of it.
When the Star Wars movies were made with true and real passion. With good and bads, the 1-6 episodes really felt truly great and fulfilling when watching.
I think that's what draws people in. There are Cheesy moments, there are bad moments, a few plot holes and wrong dialogue choices but... you can tell it had heart. It had passion behind it. It had people that really cared and were invested
George actually wanted Sidious to be Anakin's real father he wrote it into one of the early drafts of the scripts I for one am glad he decided to scrap the idea.
donaldthescottishtwin (DTST) In the former expanded universe, now known as the Legends continuity, Sidious and Plageuis did in fact accidentally create Anakin out of the force. So there's that.
sheev palpatine sidious emperor chancellor and..this dude has so many titles names that it is hard to remember hes the same dude lol for 5 fucking films
I love Sidious. He used his enemies to prop him up as Emperor. Conquered the Galaxy with nothing but guile and deception, and yes, a pair of brass balls.
Ian McDiarmid gave such a powerful performance as the Emperor Palpatine, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, in the Star Wars film series! Going to miss him in the new Star Wars films!
+AdjutantReflex well, you're wrong because, see... the right way to do it is not to make him look more terrifying, but to make him look the way he was in Return Of The Jedi for continuity reasons. It had to be the same person, but younger. Looking back at pics of him in Jedi, he had a wide variety of looks, whereas he had a singular, almost cartoonish look in Sith. Lucas also, obviously CGI'ed shadow under his hood and Jedi, it was more natural looking.
TheWilczak See, everything that you just said there simply amounts to "i prefer the way he looks in Jedi better", and while thats cool, you'd be wise to remember that not everybody is going to share your opinion. You prefer the old look, i prefer the recent look. As for how he is "supposed to look", and "continuity" thats really up to Lucas, not you. You can obviously tell that its the same character, only now he has more detail on his face, and to me, he looks more realistic, not cartoonish. Do remember that there is no such thing as "right" or "wrong" opinions, rather there is merely agreeable, or disagreeable ones.
Palpatine is such a cool character. He’s a guy who was completely corrupted by power. He represent a kind of evil that is very present in real life imo
Clorox Bleach But remember that with rating system from 0 to 100 movies that get 10/10 might only get 99/100. So in practice it is harder to get 100/100 than 10/10.
George NAILED it! To me, Palpatine is the greatest villain of all time. The depths to his manipulation of the Jedi Order and the Clones to increase the despair, anger, and hate in the galaxy to feed the power of the Sith is astounding. Truly magnificent character and an amazing actor who plays him.
Dang I don't know why people disrespect Hayden, I thought he was great, an when he talks in these videos he sounds smarter than Einstein, honestly who would've thought. I respect him
@Eddie Venkman Well, you have to consider that Vader is an almost completely different person. Anakin didn't have to be majestic and imposing only because Vader is. On the contrary, it makes sense that Vader literally is everything that Anakin was not. This said I'm not denying the bad writing issues of the Prequels, and the fact that Christensen is not exactly Anthony Hopkins, but there is at least something good about his casting.
I loved Hayden. Even when I was young o recognized the annoying parts of his role were just how he was written. I saw Jumper just because of him. That movie was deplorable but he was still the best part of that film as well. Hayden is fantastic. People just have no insight.
The problem is that the dialog and direction in “Clones” are so sloppy that Christensen ends up looking terrible. But he’s really pretty good in “Sith”.
What I always admired about Sidious was what a master in social interaction he was. He created a full alternate persona, projecting it to the public in order to gain power, and deceived everyone up until it was too late for anyone to stop him. Truly, this kind of villain is very interesting to see; the evil genius, whose downfall is caused by their own hubris.
Probably the only actor in history who first played an older version of the character and then almost 20 years later played the younger version of the same character. I don't know any other actor ever who has done the same.
Watching Episode 3 now and thanks to the wonderful performances of Ian, Ewan, Hayden, and co., this is definitely the best of the Prequel Trilogy movies! 👍👏
Such a gentle and soft spoken man in real life yet he can transform into the epitome of evil in an instant. That takes real talent. His portrayal of Palpatine in The rise of Skywalker is possibly his best yet. Genuinely frightening & chilling.
If Darth Sidious was a real person and I meet him, I would shake his hand. Darth Sidious is AWESOME!!!!! Respect to Ian for playing the character SO well
Revenge of the Sith was a rare instance where the villains in a movie clearly won and it was still heartbreaking to watch the heroes either become villains or face certain deaths.
TitanFind yeah usually I’d go to Sam Jackson but if you actually watch his performance it’s very spaced out, theatre training as taught by British academies is very disciplined - doesn’t matter if you’re on stage/set for a pay check, you never let on
While i dislike Christianson's acting (Though i blame dialogue among other things) I definitely agree the opera scene in episode 3 was one of the strongest scenes in all three of the prequels. Also loved the amount of lore with darth plagueis
Argel Tal There is a difference between agreeing with an opinion, and repeating an opinion word for word that is so personal that it is highly unlikely that you had the same. ;)
This might be considered controversial, but I really think Ian McDiarmid deserved a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for this performance. He makes the movie. He has to be perfectly manipulative with Anakin, so that you will believe Anakin would trust him, but then he has to sell the cackling force of evil as the Emperor. He does extremely subtle and extremely over-the-top in the same character and he doesn't miss a beat. That opera scene alone is the kind of thing that wins Oscars. I think it must be the internet stigma around these movies that kept him out of any big awards, because this performance is seriously the best McDiarmid has ever done.
Love Ian McDiarmid and Palpatine. ❤️ Brilliant actor, nailing every line. His eye acting is superb as well. A master in acting indeed. I would see anything he did as Palpatine. I remember he was in Sleepy Hollow as well, with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.
They are every bit as good as the original trilogy! I personally like them a bit better, although I grew up with episodes 4-6, and saw them in theater.
By fanboy I'm sure you're trying to imply that I have an irrational favoritism of the OT, but yes I do hold ep 4-6 in much higher regard than ep 1-3, as it should be.
I really enjoyed the fight between Palapatine and Mace Windu. It harkens back to the original trilogy's lightsaber fights, where it wasn't about awesome flips and kicks but about an intense struggle between two opponents
