BREAKING Bob Cole, veteran CBC broadcaster and former voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' dead at 90
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
James Earl Jones, who for decades has provided Darth Vader's iconic, menacing voice, will not record new lines for new "Star Wars" projects.
Instead, Jones' voice will live on artificially through an AI program that can recreate his voice, so Vader can deliver new lines of dialogue and maintain the commanding bass sound that made him a widely feared villain, Vanity Fair reported.
Ukrainian startup Respeecher was tasked with creating a version of Jones' voice as it sounded in the original trilogy for the recent Disney+ miniseries "Obi-Wan Kenobi," which takes place several years after Anakin Skywalker becomes a Sith lord.
Jones, 91, last recorded a Vader voice cameo for the 2019 sequel "The Rise of Skywalker," sound editor Matthew Wood told Vanity Fair. The actor signed off on Lucasfilm's plans to continue to use his voice for Vader in the years to come through archival recordings and new dialogue created through AI, the outlet reported.
"He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character," Wood told Vanity Fair. "So how do we move forward?"
Jones was involved throughout the process of perfecting Vader's voice for "Obi-Wan Kenobi," Wood said, helping guide the teams involved with recreating his sound and staying updated on Lucasfilm's plans for Vader in the future.
Lucasfilm has revived certain characters' voices through AI before -- the younger voice of Luke Skywalker in "The Book of Boba Fett," on Disney+, was also fine-tuned by Respeecher. In 2016, Lucasfilm used CGI to recreate the visage of the late Peter Cushing's villainous Grand Moff Tarkin for the prequel film "Rogue One," though the character's voice was provided by actor Guy Henry and not an AI program.
Jones, an EGOT-winning actor, has voiced Vader since 1977's "A New Hope," though his role was uncredited for that project. Since then, he's provided Vader's voice in every project in which the character appears, from the original trilogy to the animated series "Star Wars Rebels." He's also credited as Vader in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," though he didn't record any new dialogue for the part.
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.