With a humble drive for success, Spencer Wilding has gone from a kickboxing champion to the boots of Darth Vader. His passion for what he does comes across in every role he has taken on. From The Wolfman through to the mean guard with the Walkman in Guardians of the Galaxy, he has given his all to every single part and by doing so, he has earned the stamp of approval from James Gunn, Christopher Nolan, Gareth Edwards to name just a few. STARBURST caught up with Spencer to discuss his incredible journey through entertainment, whilst digging into the stories that defined some of his biggest acting roles to date!
STARBURST: How did you get involved with the world of acting?
Spencer Wilding: When I was young, I always thought I was going to be a movie star. It’s a strange thing, but it is what it is. I had a feeling. I had done every job out there. I went from a Catholic School, and then I went to a high school, and then I went to a farming college. I always knew there was something else for me. I did that for a couple of years, living on a small farm. So that went well for a little bit. Then I went to a sports college, and I was getting close to where I was going to go. Then I went to Rotterdam, working in construction over there for a couple of years. I left there at the age of 24, and I discovered kickboxing. I became the Welsh and British kickboxing champion. When I got the belt, Lisa Scott-Lee’s (from the act, Steps) dad, Tony Scott, had a photography shop in town near where I live. So my mum said to me, “Spen, take your Welsh belt, with your British belt, and go get a nice picture, I can be a proud mum, and put something on the mantelpiece.” So I said, “Yeah, no problem, mum.” I went into kickboxing to get myself into the films, really, but I got so deep into the kickboxing that I thought this must be the entertainment thing. I was fighting in front of thousands of people, and I was very successful. A couple of days later, Tony rings back, and they say “Your pictures are ready Spen” I go “Great, thanks Tony” and then he goes, “Spen, you’ve got a great look, have you ever thought about being in the film industry?”, and then this massive light bulb went off in the top of my head, and I said “Carry on!” and he said he has some friends down in London, “this sports agency that put top athletes in adverts, TV and film. Can I send your information to them?”, I said “Yeah, great!” A day later, they signed me up, and then it started from there! For the first year, I was going for auditions, but I was severely dyslexic; I couldn’t read or write until the age of 32. I just thought that was the way it was, and they didn’t understand about dyslexia in my school days, you’re just put in the back of the class.
So, I kept going down to London, failing all of these auditions. I couldn’t read the scripts properly, and I definitely didn’t know how to act, because I hadn’t been to acting school, and I had never been to anything like that. So, it was one of the last auditions that I went for, for Snatch to play Tommy, and it was at 3 Mills Studios. I went in there to read for the producers and directors; they were all there in a room. In a way, they were giggling because there was a grown man in front of them who was reading the lines wrong, and I definitely wasn’t doing acting. They followed me out of the room, I completely crashed the audition, and someone goes “Listen Spencer, we can see you’ve got a problem with reading, do yourself a favour, go and get yourself some sight reading lessons, and we’ll see you in the future, you’ve got a face that we want to see.” So I started doing some sight-reading lessons, I started to learn properly, and I got some scripts down the line, and then, like a year later, I hadn’t heard anything from my agent. And then, on Radio 1, Warner Bros. were looking for a six-foot-seven actor to play a werewolf in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. So, I just had this calling, I felt it, like, “They want me in this way!” I got in touch with my agent, and I said, “Am I still signed with you guys, because I haven’t heard from you for a long time?” They said, “Oh yeah! We’ve been very busy,” I said, “I get it, guys.” They didn’t know I couldn’t read, so it is what it is. So I said, “Warner Bros. Are looking for a six-foot-seven actor in Harry Potter!” It was one of them. They said “Give us two minutes, we’ll get back to you” and then they rang me up in one minute and said “Listen, you’ve got the audition! You’ve got to be at Warner Bros Lewisham Studios at 9 in the morning tomorrow” So I just got there, and I knew, as soon as I got into the studios, I just knew that it was for me. It felt like I had these big invisible arms around me, like, “Welcome.” So I had several auditions and got the role. From that day, in 2002, I didn’t stop working. I went from Harry Potter, to Batman Begins, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Stardust, Ghost Rider, etc. It just flew. 50 shows later, I am still active, and I still working. That’s the story.
One of your early roles was is in Batman Begins, which is a movie that both put Christopher Nolan on the map, and changed how superhero films were made. So what was it like to be in that world as an actor? What other memories do you have from that time?
Batman Begins was awesome, and it was my second film. I was working on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at the same time, going from studio to studio, day to day. With Christopher Nolan, I remember the first audition, he wasn’t in the room and then I got a second audition and he was in the room, just him and I. He said to me “Spencer, what I want you to do, is imagine there are ten ninjas in here, and you’ve got to fight them” and I went “Yeah, no problem” so for about two – three minutes, I just fought ten ninjas, imagining they were there. I kicked their ass, and then he just clapped. Gave a good clap for a minute, shook my hand, and said, “Congratulations, you’ve got the role, that’s it” So I played League of Shadows warrior one. I’m the guy who burns down Batman’s house.
I read that you really enjoyed playing The Wolfman (2010), can you elaborate on maybe why that is, and just what you really enjoyed the most about working on that movie?
When I get into the character, the character gets into me, I became The Wolfman. So, to feel the presence of that wolfman, was ferocious. I was in over 110 makeups for The Wolfman; Benicio del Toro was in six. So, 96% of The Wolfman was myself. So, they let me get on with it, because I was The Wolfman. Some of it was filmed at The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, and I remember there was once a break at 2-3AM in the morning, I was doing a night shoot. There was a little radio up there with me, and someone from the crew said, “Spencer, do you want us to bring your lunch up there or are you coming down?” I said, “No, bring it up!” It was a perfect, clear night with a full moon, and I was having a moment. I was dressed up, looking out at the moon. There were about 30-odd people gathered on the streets, being very quiet, just watching what was going on from the sidelines. For a moment there, I stood up, looked at them, and I just howled at the moon. I did it for them. They all just went crazy. Little moments like that were pretty awesome. I worked with Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Anthony Hopkins. So, I was Benicio del Toro’s stunt double, while no one was playing The Wolfman, I was doing stunts. I wasn’t a trained stuntman, but I could just move really well. The stunt team had confidence in me to do stuff. I was jumping off Greenwich Naval College, out the window, 100 feet in the air with a descender on my back. I had the confidence to do it. I was doing 21-hour, back-to-backs on that project. The whole production was going through it, and I was taking it, and I was doing it, and I was loving the role. I was tired, but every time it went to action, The Wolfman was there, and he delivered.
Great! And can you tell us about the makeup process for the character? Like, how long did that take to do, and what was it like to do?
Rick Baker, the god in the industry. I helped Rick get his seventh Oscar for that role. The make-up got the Oscar, but I was behind the make-up. I feel very privileged that I was there. I had several different makeup artists work on me, but it was Rick Baker’s creation. I remember on the very first test makeup, Rick Baker did my makeup for eleven hours in the chair. I got out, maybe only twice. But I loved every single moment of it. Watching such a master put his masterpiece together.
You get to have a really fun moment as the guard in Guardians of the Galaxy! How fun was that character to play, and was there anything in particular that you wanted to maybe bring to playing him?
The thing is, I wasn’t originally supposed to play that character. Do you remember the character that said, “Take them down to the showers. It’ll be easier to clean up the blood down there”? They wanted me to play him, and then at the 11th hour, they changed it. They said, “No, you’re going to be the mean guard.” Like I said, I didn’t read too well in the beginning of my career. We all know the mean guard; he steals the Walkman off Chris Pratt, Star-Lord. So, I went to the premiere with my mum. Because at this time, actors were just getting their scenes; they weren’t getting whole scripts. It was all secretive so that ideas wouldn’t get leaked. I would never leak anything anyway, I am a professional actor. I said to mum, “Listen, I’m only doing a one-minute scene in this film, it’s one of them, I don’t know if you’ll even remember me,” but the film started. It’s the opening scene, with Star-Lord, with his mum passing away. It was so powerful. Then, all of a sudden, I saw the Walkman, and I went “Mum, this is going to be a great minute that I’m in” because I then knew how important the Walkman was in the film. Guardians of the Galaxy is such an amazing production. James Gunn killed it. There’s a deleted scene where you see the mean guard listening to music for the first time, dancing through the prison, and then there’s the audio from the director speaking over it. He said there are several reasons why this didn’t make the film, but I think we made a mistake; we should have left it in.
What else can you tell us about the deleted scene, and how did it come together?
In the film industry, you can be in the trailer all day long, and they might not even get to you if they’re behind with a shot or something like that. I get it. I’ve come across actors who have been in trailers, and they get a bit upset because they haven’t got to them. I’ll say, “Listen, don’t be upset, you’re still working, you are on the production, they will get to your part, your scene. If they’re behind, they’re behind, you’ve got to roll with it.” So it was like five o’clock, it was half an hour before they went to overtime, James Gunn came to me and he said, “Spencer, listen, I’ve got a scene to do, but we’ve only got half an hour to get it before we go to overtime. If we go to over time, it’s going to cost the production a lot of money, do you think we can get it?” I said, “Yeah, no problem!” he said “What I want you to do, is put the ear phones on, you’ll be hearing music through it, and your character will be hearing music for the first time, and then I want you to be dancing through the prison, and be mean to one of the prisoners.” I said “Yeah, no problem!”, we did it, it went quiet, everyone applauded, it was funny. He said, “Spencer, that was brilliant, but do you think you can dance like an alien?” I said, “Listen, you’ve employed an alien,” so I gave him a dance like an alien, and the rest is history. If you haven’t seen that deleted scene, it’s well worth a watch, it’s really funny.
What else do you remember the most about working with James Gunn on Guardians of the Galaxy?
After we did that scene, I was waiting on the side of the road for my driver at the studios. After half an hour of filming, we did a couple of attempts at those scenes, and we nailed them. James came to me, and he was driving past in his car with his driver, he stops. James Gunn jumps out of the car. He goes, “Spencer, you did a brilliant job there, you’re going to have to roll with it, here’s some Play-Doh.” I went, “What!?” So, what he did on the production was that he only gave out so many Play-Dohs if anybody did an exceptional job. It could have been anyone on the production. It was James Gunn’s thing.
Obviously you took on the role of Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but before we get to that, I wanted to ask if there’s a particular memory that stands out to you the most from when you first watched A New Hope?
So, my dad took me to see Star Wars when I was five years old, in 1977. I remember it vividly: a cinema in Prestatyn, North Wales, it had two screens. To the left, Star Wars was going on, but my dad pushed me to the right. I was sitting there, waiting to see the giant spaceships flying over my head, and there was just a guy in a bed. My dad had snuck me into see The Pink Panther Strikes Again! As he didn’t want to watch Star Wars. So my mum took me the next day to see Star Wars. It was amazing, I just remember it so vividly, a five-year-old kid, eating his popcorn, drinking his drink, looking for the starships, and there’s nothing there, just a guy in bed. Pink Panther came out at the same time.
So how did you end up taking on the legendary part of Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?
Obviously, there were rumours coming in, saying that Darth Vader was coming back. He hadn’t shown his face for many years. I got called up by my agent, and he goes, “Spencer, can you come down to the workshop?” which is the agency in Manchester. I said “Yeah” he goes “We’ve got something in” I go “Oh right, what is it?” he goes “We don’t know!” I said, “What do you mean you don’t know?” he said, “They won’t release anything, what it is, character, production, nothing” I said, “This is strange!” I had been acting now for over twenty years, and I had never heard of this before. I was 46 films in when I landed Vader. So I went up there, and I said, “What do they want to see?” and they said, “They want to see some guy walking around the room with authority,” so I did that. A few days later, I got another call back. They go “Spencer, they want to see you again” I said “OK, do we know what it is yet?” they go “Nope, but we got lines.” So, we don’t know what it is, but it’s a guy with authority, and we’ve got lines. So, I went up there, did the lines, and then they called us back again, a third call back. I said, “What is it?, do we know yet?” and they go “Yeah, it’s Star Wars!” I go, “I knew it! I had a feeling.” So I went back up, walking around, stopped, did the dialogue, and then I turned around to Joe and Darren after we cut, my agents. I said, “Listen, I’ve got a funny feeling that this is Darth Vader”. On the last audition, they called from Pinewood Studios, and I’ve filmed in Pinewood Studios many a time over the years, doing The Wolfman, Stardust, etc, the lot. So, they called us in, and when they called us in, there were people at the gates, trying to get a photo, trying to figure out who was coming in, trying to get some inkling, because they knew actors were auditioning for Darth Vader. They wanted to know who was going to be playing Darth Vader. It was such a secret. They said “Spencer, when you come out of the car, you’re going to go to the studios, but there will probably be people hiding in the streets/trees, so they’re going to put a towel over your head, to get you to the building” I went “OK!” I really thought they were winding me up.
So they put a towel over my head, and I went right into a room that I’d never been in in Pinewood Studios. We walked in there, and there was a little tent inside the room. They drew back the tent, and there was the helmet, the body, the boots, the gloves, the lot. It was all there, and I was like, “Oh my god.” They said, “Yeah, this is the last audition, you’re going to be auditioning in the suit as Darth Vader.” That’s the moment Darth Vader’s presence and spirit took over me properly. I always question, “Is there a real presence and spirit of Darth Vader?” because all of the other characters were real, and when I feel it, something changes. So when he came to me, I’ll never forget the dresser putting the helmet on my head, you could tell he had done it a million times, and as he puts the helmet over my head, my eyes go black, Darth Vader was in the house, and I knew he was with me, and we had accepted each other. The dresser must have looked inside my eyes, because he literally run out of the room, he got scared. So, that was it. Then we got a phone call a couple of days later, Joe rings me up, he goes “Hi Spencer” and I’m like “Come on, did we get it!?” because I had literally been sat by my phone, not letting it leave my side. Because I thought, if I get Darth Vader, my life was going to change a little bit. It’s just one of them. I had played some iconic characters, but Vader is at the top. So, we get the phone call, he says “Yeah, we’ve got the part” and I was like “Joe, why are you being so calm? We’ve got Darth Vader! It’s awesome!” so, between Daniel Naprous and I, the two of us that played the part, the fans were really happy with what we brought to the character. The rest is history.
When you look back, why do you think Rogue One went on to do so well with the fan base, and what else do you remember the most about working with Gareth Edwards?
I think Rogue One was so good because the director was such a die-hard fan without a doubt. When I went on set, Darth Vader was on set. It was a closed set; not many people knew what was going on. There were only a couple of people on set. I remember the very first day, Gareth Edwards hadn’t seen me or heard me do the Darth Vader voice yet. I know it’s always going to be James Earl Jones, god rest his soul. When I get into character, everything comes with it, the movement, the voice, the presence, everything. A voice came through me, and the real Darth Vader voice came through me. They blasted it out through the speaker, and everybody was just like “Whoa.” So a Darth Vader voice came through me. Do you remember the scene, where you see Vader coming out through the steam, and he has a moment with Krennic? Well, they gave me additional dialogue, where I walk up to him, and I go “Don’t be too short as an Emperor.” That was a moment, and it was amazing. You feel everything that comes with Darth Vader. You get special powers, and it was just amazing. There’s a feeling that goes with it, being a part of such an immense production. I was five years old when I first saw Star Wars in 1977. So to see a character, from when you’re five years old, look at you on the big screen, and then 40 years later, you get to play him, it was amazing.
What else can we expect to see from you as an actor in 2025? You’re involved with The Toxic Avenger right?
We were filming that in Bulgaria for twelve weeks in 2021. The film went out to Fantastic Fest in Texas in 2023. I’ve got Dane DiLiegro, who is the new Predator. He was starting up in the creature world, where I was starting up twenty years ago, he gave me a phone call a couple of years ago, saying “Listen Spencer, I’m a great fan of your work, I’m getting into the creature work, can you help me out?” I am always here to help people out when I can and where I can. Sometimes they come and take your work, but I believe that, if you’ve got your name over that character, it doesn’t matter; it’s your character or it’s not your character. So Dane and Macon Blair are watching the film, and it opens up in Texas in 2023. It gets a standing applause. Blows everybody’s head off. Dane rings me up. He takes a picture of both of my credits, and he goes, “Spencer, you’ve been credited for both characters.” I said, “Well, they both made it then, that’s great!” I do have some importance in the film that I just can’t discuss.
What advice would you give to someone reading this who wants to get into the film industry?
If you want to follow this crazy dream of being an actor, stuntman, or whatever you want to play, you’ve got to do well in school, do the best that you can, and get yourself a good job to feed your dream as such. If you want to be a stuntman, it’s going to take you years of training, years. It’s going to cost a lot of money. You can’t live off the parents, you’ve go to do it yourself, earn your own money. All I’ll say is, be careful crossing the road, and eat your sprouts!
Check out Spencer Wilding’s INSTAGRAM page.
