If Not for This One Weird Little Detail, Ian McDiarmid Would Never Have Been Cast as the Emperor in ‘Return of the Jedi’

It's impossible to imagine anyone other than Ian McDiarmid playing the Emperor in Star Wars. His cackling voice and piercing looks made Darth Sidious one of the best villains in cinema history, with the latter playing an even larger role in creating his terrifying figure. Even though half of his face is often under his robe, his yellow eyes are enough to intimidate anyone who sees them—that's the power of the Dark Side of the Force for you, baby. And makeup, too. It was precisely the Emperor's yellow eyes that granted McDiarmid the role, in fact, making for an interesting behind-the-scenes story that feels as if Sidious had chosen his actor himself.