Ben Mendelsohn adds to villainous resume with ‘Rogue One’ baddie Krennic
Lucasfilm
Ben Mendelsohn understands the aesthetic benefits of having an evil entourage.
His villainous character Director Orson Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (which is closing in on $525 million worldwide at the box office) is a steely caped individual who’s decently intimidating by himself — if a bit white collar — but is made cooler by the black-armored Imperial Death Troopers always by his side.
“They’re incredibly imposing and the (stunt) guys were pretty extraordinary,” says the Australian actor. “They were very overqualified, which I think is actually the vibe of the Death Troopers themselves.”
An Emmy Award winner for his ne’er-do-well Danny Rayburn on the Netflix series Bloodline, Mendelsohn, 47, breaks bad again as the ambitious Imperial officer who’s in charge of getting the Death Star operating to its destructive potential, which puts him at odds with higher-ups and lands him a tense meeting with Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones). His professional life gets even trickier when the Rebel Alliance attempts to steal the Death Star plans.
Mendelsohn talks about his Star Wars role and his penchant for antagonists:
Q. What role helped you most in finding Krennic’s…