Admiral Ackbar, a secondary but iconic character of the Star Wars galaxy, makes a cameo appearance in Return of the Jedi. His actor refused to comply with a specific request from his director after the film ended, which infuriated him…
A loveable humanoid squid well loved by fans (not to mention the cult meme It’s a trap!), Admiral Ackbar was a secondary but important character in the Star Wars galaxy, first appearing in the 1983 film Die Return of the Jedi Knights”. He was then played by Timothy Rose while his voice was that of Erik Bauersfeld.
Both reprized their roles in the 2015 film Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. In 2017, Tom Kane voiced the character in the film Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, following the death of Erik Bauersfeld.
It has also been seen in The Clone Wars animated series, not to mention appearing in Star Wars expanded universe novels, video games and comics as well. In short, a character who has become iconic.
In Return of the JediIt is he who, as leader of the rebel fleet, coordinates the forces with Lando Calrissian to win the final battle of Endor. The film ends with the destruction of the second Death Star and the celebration of victory over the Empire across the galaxy.
Rose resisted a request from the film’s director, Richard Marquand, who wanted his character and his fellow planet Mon Calamari counterparts to start dancing in the command ship. After all, not only the Ewoks could celebrate.
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The actor actually thought Ackbard would celebrate it more soberly, if not more solemnly. He therefore refused to comply with the director’s request, as he explained in an interview in 2019:
“I was down to less than 200 numbers [par tirage au sort] be mobilized for Vietnam. I had very strong ideas about war at the time. I think it’s something to be proud of [NDR : son engagement], but that’s no cause for celebration. There is one big difference. In the final scene of Akbar, they turned the camera on him… I thought of our people who died, their people who died, and the weight made me fall into the chair.
And [le réalisateur Marquand] got really angry and said, ‘okay, let’s do this again and this time you get up and dance.’ I said, ‘if you want Akbar to dance, you can put someone else in the costume.’ You got my performance . And they left him in.
The (very short) sequence can be found in the video below, approx. 02”29. It’s true that it’s more elegant than dancing the caterpillar in the ship…