Page 77 - Star Wars Insider #187

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INTERVIEW: MICHAEL PENNINGTON

ON Michael Pennington’s all-to-brief

appearance as the rattled Moff

Jerjerrod in Star Wars: Return of
SCHEDULE have been a minor character into
the Jedi (1983) turned what could

a memorable fan favorite. Insider

caught up with the well-respected
MICHAEL PENNINGTON Shakespearean actor to learn

more about the character.

Insider has the unexpected pleasure tar Wars Insider: How did the
role of Moff Jerjerrod come to
of interviewing Return of the Jedi S you back in 1982?

actor Michael Pennington, and we Michael Pennington: I know
it must sound a bit boastful,
are honored by his presence… but Lucasfilm just called me

up. I’d left the Royal Shakespeare Company that
W ORDS: MARK NEWBOLD summer—I’d been playing Hamlet—and the
question my friends and colleagues were asking
was, “What’s the next great challenge you’re going
to take on? What’s the next mountain you’re
going to climb?” Well, the first thing that came

up was this quite short engagement on Star Wars:
Return of the Jedi. I think I was on it for a week,
no more than that, and then I did a bit of post-
synching dialogue later on. We shot an awful lot
that didn’t actually make it into the fi lm. There
were more scenes that didn’t make the fi nal cut
than did.

Including a scene where Darth Vader (Dave
Prowse) Force-chokes Jerjerrod!
Yes, that’s right. Some of the scenes were put back
in, then taken out again, but my main scene—
Jerjerrod’s initial conversation with Darth Vader—
remained intact. I had a lovely time working on
the movie, and I took the role seriously. I liked
George Lucas; and Richard Marquand (the director
of Return of the Jedi) was a contemporary of mine
who sadly died not very long afterwards; and I
liked Dave Prowse, who had this strange job as
Darth Vader. I enjoyed everything about it.

What did you make of your character? Moff
Jerjerrod had a very different relationship with
Darth Vader to that of Grand Moff Tarkin in
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).
Nobody likes having a big director or a boss
coming in and telling you it’s no good just

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