Forest Whitaker connected with his 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' character as soon as he donned his armour for the first time.
Forest Whitaker
The 55-year-old actor portrays Saw Gerrara in the new sci-fi saga spin off and was amazed by the work the design team had done on his distinctive costume.
He said:" The designers were amazing. The first time I put it on, I was like, 'OK, this is who he is.'
"The costume is quite unusual - it's like armour but also like a living apparatus."
Saw has previously been seen in the 'Clone Wars' TV series, but Forest thinks his movie incantation of the character is more "hardened" and seen as an "extremist".
He told Total Film magazine: "In 'The Clone Wars' you see him when he's younger and kind of a self-appointed leader.
"As the war goes on he becomes more hardened. You saw him training with Anakin and Obi-Wan as part of a sanctioned force.
"In 'Rogue One' he's like, not even accepted by the other Rebels, he's cordoned off with his own fighters, doing whatever's necessary to win the war.
"He's a freedom fighter who, in a way, is considered by the other Rebels to be an extremist because of the way he starts to conduct his campaign.
"I think he's recognised that in order to stop what he considers to be inevitable - the creation of a machine that will destroy the universe - he has to make certain compromises."
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