Darth Vader voice actor stops – and had his voice cloned

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“Star Wars”
Actor behind Darth Vader’s signature voice retires after having his voice cloned

Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

© Picture Alliance

James Earl Jones lent his voice to Darth Vader for decades. Now the actor is finally retiring at the age of 91. But the villain’s voice remains.

“I am your father!” – With these words, many not only have film scenes in mind, but also the typical voice of Darth Vader with its deep sound and heavy breathing in their ears. Behind it was the actor James Earl Jones in the English original. The American has been lending his voice to the villain from “Star Wars” since 1977 and thus shaped the film world without appearing with his face himself.

But now Jones wants to retire at the age of 91 and end his acting career. In the mini-series “Obi Wan-Kenobi” he was still heard this year as Darth Vader, but he will no longer be involved in further productions. At least not actively – because Jones had his voice cloned, so to speak.

Startup clones Darth Vader’s voice

As the US magazine “Vanity Fair” reports, an artificial intelligence (AI) will speak the villain in the future. However, viewers will continue to hear the usual voice of James Earl Jones. This was made possible when the Ukrainian startup Respeecher used audio recordings of Jones to generate an algorithm that imitates the actor’s voice. This can now also speak new sentences and thus continue to be used in the films from the “Star Wars” universe.

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Jones immediately gave his approval, Matthew Wood, the responsible sound engineer, told Vanity Fair. The result can obviously be seen or heard. Wood praised the “incredibly human touch” of the voiceover. Respeecher edited Jones’ voice for “Obi-Wan Kenobi” so that it sounded like it did in the original films of the trilogy. In the German versions, various voice actors have repeatedly lent their voices to Darth Vader over the decades.

Sources: “Vanity Fair”



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