Missing Breaking Bad and Aaron Paul? Head to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art today (Dec. 18) and book tickets for the live-read performance of The Empire Strikes Back. Instead of meths, Paul, who is known as Jesse Pinkman among millions of 'Bad' fans, will be dealing with lightsabers. In an interview with the Entertainment Weekly, director Jason Reitman revealed that the 35-year old actor will fill the role of Luke Skywalker.
"The first thing I had to figure out was who is going to be the voice of Luke," Reitman says. "My first instinct was, 'Who is the actor most like Mark Hamill today?' But five minutes into that, I'm thinking we already have that, we already have Star Wars as it is. What is the opposite of that?"
Reitman even described the award-winning Breaking Bad alum as "the sweet, innocent farmboy on Tatooine."
"Jesse from Breaking Bad questions authority in a much different way than Luke Skywalker does. He growls at it, and his annoyance at his journey will be unique from the traditional boy-to-man transition."
Also in the The Empire Strikes Back live-read are J.K. Simmons as Darth Vader, Stephen Merchant as C-3PO, Dennis Haysbert as Lando Calrissian, and ?Kevin Pollak as Yoda. Reitman described Pollak as someone who can perfectly imitate the original.
"Kevin makes interesting choices, though. Half the time he will do a perfect imitation of the original, and half the time he does something knew. I don't know what to expect. He could sound exactly like Frank Oz, or I could end up with Alan Arkin as Yoda."
The live-read will follow the story of the original film Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back that was released in 1980. Aaro Paul's role was played by Mark Hamill.
With Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
