#good job to all three of them
the kenobi show vader is just so good, he’s goddamn terrifying!! not just a generic tall man stomping around in cosplay, but a fucking apex predator on the hunt, snarling and snapping, radiating danger. we don’t need to see his sneer to feel viscerally that it’s there—it’s being shouted in the way he holds his body, the way he moves, fights, and kills. the physical performance in the suit has been critical to delivering the level of menace from vader necessary to carry the tone of the show
i wondered the degree to which it was hayden, and it turns out it was a combination effort:
Obi-Wan Kenobi Stuntman Reveals Which Scenes Hayden Christensen Gets Replaced as Darth Vader
“Stuntman Dmitrious Bistrevsky took to Instagram to respond to fan inquiries regarding Darth Vader suit duties for Obi-Wan Kenobi:”
“Darth Vader is played by three people, we all worked together to create the best Darth Vader in cinematic history. It’s me, it’s Hayden, it’s Tom [O'Connell]. We are a symbiosis. We all contributed our strengths to create the best representation of the character.”
“Bistrevsky and Christensen are responsible for the acting, while O'Connell works on Vader’s fight choreography. Bistrevsky confirmed that Christensen gets replaced during scenes when Vader is fighting as well as for full body shots of Vader:”
“Hayden and I both act in the Darth Vader scenes, we bring the character and emotions (and the pain, suffering, anger) I’m 6'7 so when you see a full body shot it looks better having an actor, than a CGI creation. Tom specializes in the fighting. The fights are Tom. Full body with Helmet On is me, Hayden carries the heaviest burden of all, the pain and betrayal of his best friend and once mentor.”
“Evidently, Christensen’s physical preparation was enough to get his doubles shaking in their boots:”
“Hayden wore the suit, I wore the suit, Tom wore the suit. We all worked together to create the best character we possibly can. We are a team. Without Hayden there would be no story for me to tell. He is my friend, he showed up so hard for this project. He bulked, Hayden was so swole when he arrived to set that both Tom and I quivered in our muscle suits.”
“As for Bistrevsky’s performance, his work required the same amount of commitment to the lines as Christensen - with some special assistance:”
“Yes I did, I learned all my lines like everyone else. But we found out early on that when I spoke with anger it shook the helmet. So we had a voice actor on set, my friend Dorian, he would voice act the scene, and I would act to his intensity while adding my own character choices. We danced together to create the performance alongside my movement coach/consultant Olga Sokolova. Her and I have a secret hand language so she would be giving me notes in real time as well. It was a great big dance, it shouldn’t have worked, but it worked out beautifully.”
