With four decades under his belt as the Emperor of the Universe, Ian McDiarmid has seen a thing or two, and speaking with Variety as Revenge of the Sith scoops up some serious coin at the global box office on its 20th anniversary he delves into the delicious character of Sheev Palpatine, from Return of the Jedi right through to The Rise of Skywalker.
Variety: How carefully mapped out was Palpatine’s arc when you were first re-hired to play him in “The Phantom Menace”?
IM: It wasn’t mapped out at all, really. When I first got the part, I had no idea what the world was that I’d be in charge of as the Emperor. So it started off as a big mystery. I had no idea that Palpatine would figure [into the story so heavily]. But by then it so happened that I was young enough to play the younger Senator. When I first met George about it, he said, “Do you know anyone who wants to play an Emperor?” I said, “I think you know the answer to that question.” And then I got the script and realized that he was more than one character, which made it even more fascinating to play — an ordinary, everyday, fairly hypocritical politician with a monster hiding inside his body.
Variety: Was there an early mention of the character that clued you in on what you wanted to focus on in your performance?
IM: Not really. Back in 1982, I met George in 10-minute chat over lunchtime. My agent told me if I wanted to be, I could be the emperor of the universe. I knew he was at the center of power. So I speculated in my head about maybe how he got there… But also, it didn’t seem relevant because I died. But the more I did it, I thought it was a really tremendous invention of George’s. … It was fairly obvious to us all that he had more in mind than just an exciting adventure story for kids.
