STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Exclusive: Actress Catherine Taber On How She Landed The Role Of Padme

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Exclusive: Actress Catherine Taber On How She Landed The Role Of Padme

We recently spoke with voice actress Catherine Taber about her involvement in many Star Wars projects, and she revealed to us how and why she was initially cast as Padme Amidala in The Clone Wars!

By LiteraryJoe - Jan 16, 2021 01:01 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars

Catherine Taber has been a part of the Star Wars universe for over a decade, and has lent her voice to numerous video games, animations and characters, including Leia and Padme.

Taber is probably best known for her portrayal of Padme in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but she has also voice acted in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I & 2, Star Wars: Forces of Destiny, Star Wars: Detours, Star Wars: Uprising, Lego Star Wars, Star Wars: Rebels. She also played Leia in Robot Chicken, and had an uncredited speaking role in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Recently, we spoke with the actress in support of her newest film, Haven's End, in which she plays the lead.

While chatting with her about her new movie, the conversation inevitably turned to Star Wars, since The Clone Wars just wrapped in 2020. This part of our conversation focuses on her initially getting the role of Padme Amidala all the way back in 2008, and what it was that snagged her the gig.

"With the role of Padme, I didn't really have an audition originally. This was a secret project, and they were going to all these big on-camera agencies, and everyone was reading for it, but I was really, really new. But my agent actually called Andrea Romano, the amazing casting person, and said, "you gotta see this girl. She is Padme," and got me the audition. And I definitely went back and rewatched and re-listened to the movies and stuff. But I approached it like Padme was a character almost like in a Shakespearian sort of way in that other people had already played her, and other people besides Natalie had played her. So it was more about what her essence is and what's meaningful to her.

I like to throw in personalization, and so I had said one of the lines, and then I ended it with 'Ani'", and they said that they heard a lot of people that were good up until that point. And they're like, "Oh yeah, she's good." And then when I said, Ani, they were like, "yep, that's her." So sometimes a role matches up with you, and that's Padme for me. I love the character so much. It's been such an honor to play her and to get to do EK Johnston's books and all this stuff since then, where I get to continue her. But the best part about playing Padme is meeting all of these people throughout the world. Not only who cosplay as her, but there are also whole clubs and leagues of people who love her as much as I do. And that's the coolest thing cause she's such a great character to admire and idolize. We need some more Padme Amidala in the world, except, I always say, for her taste in men."

You can hear the Star Wars: The Clone Wars clip of our chat with Padme Amidala voice actress Catherine Taber below, and stay tuned for more. Be sure to check out the trailer and synopsis for her newest film, Haven's End, and share your thoughts in the usual spot!

*This interview has been edited for clarity.*


 
Major cities across the globe are under attack. A surgeon and her friends flee Atlanta to her family property in the countryside of south Georgia. They arrive to discover her estranged brother and his girlfriend already holed up on the land. As they try to figure out how to work together to survive, strange lights and unusual activity in the surrounding forest lead them to believe they are not alone.

Haven's End is now available on DVD and Digital.

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TheManWithoutFear
TheManWithoutFear - 1/16/2021, 1:39 PM
I had no idea it was Andrea Romano. Legend of the industry.
AC1
AC1 - 1/16/2021, 4:40 PM
I literally just finished watching The Clone Wars for the first time the other day. I'm not gonna pretend I watched every single episode, I used a fan-made list of "essential" episodes for seasons 1-5 which covered all the most important plot details, and then watched seasons 6 and 7 in their entirety, and... Holy shit it was so much better than I thought it would be!

Like, this show is pretty much the Prequels for me now. I literally don't need to watch the Prequel Trilogy anymore because the show handles the characters and the subject matter so much better than the movies did. It's incredible how Dave Filoni is able to understand Star Wars so deeply that he can boil down all the best ideas from such a messy trilogy and create such a good show out of it! And the last couple of episodes in particular had me utterly engrossed, which is pretty rare; like I was genuinely so absorbed in it that I kinda forgot the outside world was even a thing. I'm so surprised at how much I liked it.
MrDandy
MrDandy - 1/16/2021, 11:46 PM
@AC1 - literally in my opinion, the last four episodes of Clone Wars is the REAL episode 3
AC1
AC1 - 1/17/2021, 11:31 AM
@MrDandy - Episode III is the Prequel I'm most ok with out of the trilogy but I completely agree, the final episode of TCW in particular was so tense and that ending gave me literal chills.
MrDandy
MrDandy - 1/16/2021, 5:27 PM
In my opinion, Padme was the one character even the clone wars failed to make compelling or interesting. With an exception to a few, her centric episodes were some of the worst of the series.

Voice actress did a great job though approximating Portman and building off it.
Amuro
Amuro - 1/16/2021, 5:49 PM
I've been a fan of her ever since she was Mission Vao ("Hey, don't treat me like I'm a little girl. I ain't no kid, I'm fourteen years old."), everyone's favorite teenage twi'lek from the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

I like her interpretation of Padme better than Natalie Portman's. Still, I regret that the series didn't make a better use of her despite a few episodes revolving around her and the senate.
Amuro
Amuro - 1/16/2021, 5:55 PM
@Amuro -



I just so love that teenage twi'lek Han Solo-archetype character ! Too bad she was not a love interest and far too underaged to be one.

Still, I've heard that Vette from The Old Republic, also voiced by Taber, is basically a grown up version of Mission AND a love interest this time. I'm planning to play the game one day, though I'm more of a gamepad gamer than a mouse and keyboard gamer.
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