There has been a lot to be said about George Lucas over the years and how he has been slowly ruining his masterpiece but did you know that he almost didn’t give us the iconic character of Yoda as we know him today? Say what you will about his massive tampering of the original trilogy over the years and his misses on the prequel trilogy, but can you imagine a world without Yoda speaking exactly how he does? Recently Frank Oz (‘Sesame Street’, ‘The Muppet Show’) who voiced everyone’s favorite elderly Jedi let us know how close he was to not having the job!
Not only did this famous master of voices almost not get the job but apparently Lucas was actually actively campaigning for him to not get it and interviewing many other voice talents as he could find!
According to Oz:
“George didn’t want my voice in the beginning. I gave him a (demo) tape. He said, ‘No thank you.’ And in post-production for about a year I heard that he was auditioning voices for Yoda. He had no intention of using me for the voice. Then I was on my honeymoon with my first wife about 25 years ago or 30 years ago, and he said (mimes a phone), ‘Frank can you come out…I think we’d like to try your voice.’ And so I flew back (from Hawaii) and recorded Yoda.”
Flying back from Hawaii on his honeymoon no less! That is a man who is serious about his work. That is also a man who has given us so many iconic memories from the way he talks. You can hear him tell that direct snipped from the interview here:
Of if you have some time to kill watch the full 42 minute interview here:
Even if he didn’t do the voice, he is still credited as the head puppeteer for Yoda. Still, a world without Frank uttering “Do or do not, there is no try” is most likely a world where most of the’ Star Wars’ fans that I know wouldn’t want to live in.
Can you imagine a world without Yoda talking and sounding the way he does? Are you at all surprised that even before the film was created he was hard at work to not give us the iconic experience that he did?
Source: Cinema Blend
