Ben Mendelsohn pads villainous résumé with his ‘Rogue One’ baddie
Ben Mendelsohn understands the aesthetic benefits of having an evil entourage.
His villainous character, Director Orson Krennic, in Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story (which is closing in on $790 million worldwide at the box office) is a steely, caped individual who’s decently intimidating by himself — if a bit whitecollar — but is made cooler by the black-armored Imperial Death Troopers always by his side.
“They’re incredibly imposing and the (stunt) guys were pretty extraordinary,” says the Australian actor. “They were very overqualified, which I think is actually the vibe of the Death Troopers themselves.”
An Emmy Award winner for his ne’er-do-well Danny Rayburn on the Netflix series Bloodline, Mendelsohn, 47, breaks bad again as the ambitious Imperial officer who’s in charge of getting the Death Star operating to its destructive potential, which puts him at odds with higher-ups and lands him a tense meeting with Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones). His professional life gets even trickier when the Rebel Alliance attempts to steal the Death Star plans. Mendelsohn talks about his
Star Wars role and his penchant for antagonists: QWhat role helped you most in finding Krennic’s personality?
AIt
was theater, probably playing Mark Antony in Julius
Caesar. That was closely preparatory because it was about an empire, it was about the way one conducted one’s self, and it was about the arguments one has to make in order to politically survive within that space. QThe
Empire has always consisted of the bad guys, but the Star Wars movies show how a republic can turn into a fascist state.
AStar
Wars belongs to the Rebels and the Jedi and those who want to get in touch with and use the Force. But the fleshing out of the Empire and the way it works is really fascinating. I’d be perfectly happy to sit through a Star Wars movie centered more or less completely within the Empire with these nasty Rebels every now and then trying to disrupt things. Storytelling takes a perspective, but you’ve got to make a case for the other side, like a good defense lawyer. Q That movie would probably involve a lot of government bureaucracy. A It would feel like an Empire groaning under the weight of a certain amount of bureaucracy. You can understand that from empires of past and whatnot. Q What is Krennic’s take on Vader?
A Krennic believes more in overwhelming force rather than the Force. He’s not terribly interested in the Jedi stuff. But Vader is absolutely formidable, and there is no doubt about that. He views him as something of the Emperor’s favorite little pet if you like, but Vader’s Vader. He’s not someone to dismiss by any stretch of the imagination. Q You’re also a villain in Steven Spielberg ’s upcoming Ready Player One. Are evildoers just more attractive? A It just seems to be the way the chips are falling at the moment. I always take it as a compliment getting to play the bad guy.