James Earl Jones Had One Regret About Playing the First Black American President 35 Years Before Barack Obama Became One in Reality

The social, cultural, and historical relevance of James Earl Jones simply cannot be overstated. The actor’s voice has permeated every vessel and bone of modern society, shaping and informing entire generations since the advent of Star Wars in 1977. By lending a mouthpiece to Darth Vader, the menacing villain with the samurai helmet became infinitely more terrifying, influencing popular culture forever and becoming a forebearer of all evil to come.

Now, nearly half a century later, no other voice has been so instantly recognizable and integrally iconic to our pop culture history. Capable of sending literal chills down the spine of his audience, James Earl Jones’s legacy will continue to live on through Darth Vader, with his voice becoming forever immortalized after his heartbreaking death.

However, James Earl Jones had more to his life and identity than one Star Wars character.

James Earl Jones’s Legacy Beyond Darth Vader

James Earl Jones‘s 1972 film The Man was a radical and revolutionary work of art made in an era that could still feel the residual echoes of the Jim Crow laws (abolished in 1965). In a society that was barely beginning to accept a new world order, the movie adaptation of Irving Wallace’s 768-page novel about the first African-American President of the United States failed to stick its landing.

The famed film critic Vincent Canby of The New York Times explained it best when he wittily provided a thorough shakedown of The Man via his elaborate review in the July 20 1972 issue of the paper, writing:

About halfway through The Man, one comes to realize that, in its own unwitting way, the film is much more interested in contemplating incompetence than in presenting any ideas about politics, race relations, international diplomacy, personal ambition, courage, or what-have-you. […] If The Man were a better movie, it might possibly be offensive. It isn’t. It’s silly and innocent.

Understandably, the film that would one day dictate the future of a country and its evolution to more progressive times needed to be presented in a more competent light. The patchwork script that barely retained the structural identity of the original novel and its tonal intentions disappointed the viewers as well as the film’s titular President portrayed by James Earl Jones.

James Earl Jones Harbored a Serious Regret

In the years since the premiere of The Man, the socio-political and cultural atmosphere has changed to accommodate an era that no longer needed a movie adaptation of a long-winded novel about the fictional implications of having a Black President in America. 35 years before the first African-American man took over the mantle of the Oval Office, James Earl Jones attempted to make that dream come true via the lens of a film camera.

However, the late actor failed to nail the story where it counted the most – the message about the virtues and pitfalls of an inclusive society. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in a January 2009 interview, the actor said:

I have misgivings about [The Man]. It was done as a TV special. Had we known it was to be released as a motion picture, we would have asked for more time and more production money. I regret that.

The interview was published a mere 4 days before Barack Obama was officially inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. His ascension to office made fiction come true, turning James Earl Jones’s project about a distant future into a reality but without all the roadblocks and oppositions that The Man faced in his time.

The Man is available for streaming on YouTube and the Internet Archive.