The man in the can

By GREG DIXON

The Star Wars films' greatest insider talks to Greg Dixon about his long-term, short-stature role.

Do you want to talk to Darth Vader?" asks R2-D2. Crikey, am I dreaming? Well, no. Midget actor Kenny Baker - the bloke inside R2's tin can throughout the entire Star Wars franchise - seems dead keen for me to have a yack with Mr Vader, aka fellow English actor David Prowse.

It turns out the pair are having breakfast together at their hotel in Chesterfield, a town south of Sheffield, where they performed their Meet Darth Vader and R2-D2 show the night before.

"Do you know Dave?" Baker asks me, like I might have met cinema's greatest villain down the local.

No, I tell him, but he hands me over anyway - I suspect wee Kenny wants to finish his brekkie.

Mr Vader (body) turns out to have a Somerset-like accent rather than the smooth tones of American actor James Earl Jones, Mr Vader (voice).

Prowse admits walking about in black cape and plastic helmet in the first Star Wars trilogy (shot in England) all those years ago has been a blessing.

"It's the perk of the job, innit?

"We're reaping rewards of something we did 27 years ago. [Kenny and I] now do nothing else but travelling around the world doing autograph signings, personal appearances, sci-fi conventions and television shows. It's marvellous."

The pair have plenty in common, it seems. The 2m-tall Prowse, a former British weightlifting champion, was hired for Star Wars because he was the sort of size Lucas wanted for Vader. Ditto for the 1.1m-tall Baker: he was the only person Lucas could find who'd fit into R2's tin can.

As well, they have the slightly dubious distinction of never having uttered a word in a final Star Wars production. So your stage show is clearly the long and the short of Stars Wars, then?

"That's right. We're a good pair, a good pair," Prowse says, slightly desperately.

Baker, who appears alone at the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo in Auckland next week, was initially an unwilling robot. The stage veteran - he first trod the boards in Burton Lester's Midgets in 1950 - turned the role down three times.

"I was working in a musical comedy act called The Mini Tones. We were on TV and on the West End. I turned it down because I said to [Lucas production team] I'd rather be in cabaret and be on TV than stuck in a robot. They said you can do the filming during the day and the cabaret at night. Which is what I did, luckily, because I'm still rolling along on the crest of the wave as it were."

Baker, 68, won't be appearing in costume as Armageddon. Lucas won't release the robot, which apparently cost as much as Rolls-Royce to develop. The closest fans will get to seeing him with R2 is the photographs Baker signs of him and tin can together. Mr Vader (body) is in the same boat.

Unlike Prowse, Baker has appeared, albeit inside R2, in the five Star Wars films released. He was also an Ewok in The Empire Strikes Back, a role not too dissimilar to his appearance as Bungo in that 1977 Wombles classic, Wombling Free.

The last of the Star Wars prequels will be shot in Australia sometime from mid-year. Although Baker says he's looking forward to it, he's not exactly sure how he will be involved.

Indeed he knows nothing about the sixth and final episode, though he hazards, "I won't be surprised if there were baby Wookies or something like that".

Of the two trilogies, the originals of the 70s and 80s and the prequels of the 90s and 00s, Baker prefers the early three. Like many, he's found the computer-generated nature of the prequels less than lifelike.

"There have been a lot complaints about [all the CGI in the prequels]. And I think George, with the last one, will put it back as close as it can get to Episode IV, where there were more actors and [it was] a bit more realistic. I hope, anyway."

With the end nigh for his most famous part - he's been in a dozen or so other films including Time Bandits and The Elephant Man - will he admit to a little sadness?

"Well, yes and no. It's not very comfortable in there. There's sharp edges everywhere and it was hard work trying to make it move. There wasn't much I could do inside the robot except wobble it around, shift it a bit, move it, shake it - which apparently came through. But I love location work, I love to go out to different countries.

"I'm not obsessed with it. I've got 'em all on DVD at home and my kids watch it occasionally. But I'm not all that crazy about science fiction."

Don't let Darth hear you say that, R2.

* Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo, Aotea Centre, Sat April 12 to Mon April 14, Aotea Centre.