Ewan McGregor says Darth Vader gave him 'a proper jolt of absolute fear' when filming 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'
- "Obi-Wan Kenobi" star Ewan McGregor told Total Film was "truly frightened" on set.
- He said that Darth Vader "scared the shit out of me" when he faced him for the first time.
Ewan McGregor told Total Film that Darth Vader "truly frightened" him when they were filming scenes together for the upcoming TV series, "Obi-Wan Kenobi."
McGregor reprises his role as Obi-Wan in the Disney+ series, out May 27, that follows the events of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, the last of which "Revenge of the Sith" came out almost 20 years ago. The series shows McGregor's Obi-Wan facing off against iconic "Star Wars" villains such as Stormtroopers and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) for the first time because the prequels were set before both villains existed in their full form.
During an interview with Total Film, McGregor said that filming scenes with Darth Vader "scared the shit" out of him.
"I've never met Darth Vader," McGregor said. "I had rehearsed the scene with Vader, but not with the helmet on or anything like that. When we came to do the scene, when they shouted 'action,' he had to come from behind me. I turned around, and fucking Darth Vader was coming at me. It was like I was six again."
He continued: "It scared the shit out of me. I'm not joking. It gave me a proper jolt of absolute fear. I was like, 'Oh my God, that's not acting. That's real. I'm really, truly frightened right now.'"
McGregor felt a similar way when facing Stormtroopers, who were Clone troopers in the prequel movies.
"I'd worked with Clone troopers before, but so many of them were CGI," He said. "I never worked with Stormtroopers, and, again, I was like seven years old again. Because when you're actually faced with a Stormtrooper, with a blaster, it's like: 'Fucking hell.'"
"I've acted for 30 years, and I've never been genuinely frightened when I'm acting...," he added. "But I had moments on this that were genuinely quite scary."
McGregor was not the only one affected by the gravitas of Vader on set. Director Deborah Chow told Total Film that there was "a moment of silence" when he first came on set.
"Just having Vader standing in front of you is a crazy thing," she said. "It's an amazing thing, but it's very intense when you first start doing it."