Lucasfilm – 2016(NEW YORK) — For Ben Mendelsohn, playing a villain in the new Star Wars film Rogue One was a career highlight. “Look, it’s an incredible honor,” he told ABC Radio. “I mean, I’m a fanboy of [Star Wars] first. I saw the first film when it came out.”
It’s safe to say the accomplished Australian actor would be lining up at the theater to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story this month if he wasn’t playing the evil Director Orson Krennic, the guy who designed the planet-smashing Death Star.
On that note, Mendelsohn says Krennic certainly has a leg-up on the baddie meter compared to Darth Vader, who appears in the new movie.
The actor joked,. “The guy I play is…the builder of the Death Star. So, yeah Darth Vader’s pretty good, but he’s no match for ‘the awesome power’ of the Death Star.”
But Mendelsohn also admits that appearing onscreen alongside Vader is somewhat intimidating for aStar Wars fan.
“He is a towering figure, so it does take a few times for sort of the jitteriness to go down.”
Joking aside, the actor said of getting tapped for the role, “It’s just an incredible honor, and it’s very, very exciting.”
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters Dec. 16.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
