Back-Up Vader Speaks

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In his four-year history of donning a Darth Vader helmet as part of the Southern California 501st Garrison, Andrew Page has never had a call of duty quite like standing next to filmmaker George Lucas on a football field for 2007 Rose Bowl.

"I was in a boxed-in area on the back of a golf cart and no one could see who was inside," Page describes. "They drove me out to the edge of the football field and started playing Darth Vader's signature breathing sound throughout the stadium. The crowd went nuts. They pulled back the tarp doorway and I stepped out. I escorted George Lucas and his kids onto the field and stood there shaking my fist and doing my Vader-isms for the crowd. Oddly enough the only other thing going through my head was not Star Wars related. I couldn't help think how my favorite NFL team lost on this very field in Super Bowl XXI."

A few days before the coin-toss event, Page found himself supervising the Rose Parade float decorating activities on a reality TV show. "I not only took part in the pre-game show for the Rose Bowl, I also was fortunate to portray Darth Vader at a television shoot for a show on E! Entertainment television, 'Girls next Door,'" Page says. "The fact that I was not allowed to speak when the girls kept asking me questions like 'Why are you so tall?' was difficult. So I just stayed in character and walked around the part of the float that the girls were building as if Vader was giving his final approval. I think I even patted one of them on the head."

Read the full interview here:
Back-Up Vader Speaks