Prowse recalled that he was able to get away with naughty language because his mask had no microphone in it and he had to shout his dialogue through it. Even then, most of the crew couldn’t hear him. Being heavily muffled, that gave Prowse the freedom to cuss up a blue streak. In the above-mentioned scene, where audiences can see the back of Darth Vader’s head, Admiral Piett (Kenneth Colley) enters Vader’s meditation chamber to inform him that a ship they were pursuing has entered an asteroid belt. Prowse knew he said the following, even if Colley didn’t:
“When I was wearing the mask, people had difficulty hearing me, so I used to change my dialogue. I’d take a line like, ‘The asteroids do not concern me, I want that ship,’ and change it to, ‘Hemorrhoids do not concern me, I need a s***.'”
What I wouldn’t give to see a cut of “The Empire Strikes Back” with Prowse’s voice dubbed back into place, using his original improvisations.
Prowse’s comments are particularly funny, given the somber tone of “The Empire Strikes Back.” The original “Star Wars” was a lightweight space adventure that bore the clunky, pulpy spirit of the low-budget 1930s sci-fi serials that inspired it. “The Empire Strikes Back” was thuddingly downbeat, taking broad archetypes and trying to make them into more dramatically intense characters. It’s no wonder that “The Empire Strikes Back” was such a critical and financial bomb, and its failure may explain why there haven’t been any “Star Wars” movies or TV shows since.