The Sunday Mirror

Courtesy of the London Sunday Mirror

I JUMPED AT CHANCE TO BE DARTH MAUL

HE plays the most hated man in the universe, with piercing yellow eyes that can send a chill down the hardest of spines and a voice that strikes terror into all who hear it. As Darth Maul in the latest Star Wars film, muscle-bound stuntman Ray Park is pure evil as he sets out to destroy the likes of Jedi Knights Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor in one fell swoop.

Off-screen, however, Glasgow-born Ray is an altogether different person.

Despite the fact that he could probably break someone's arm with his eyebrow, Ray's disciplined ways - he brought a packed lunch in to work every day while filming the George Lucas epic and doesn't touch alcohol or cigarettes - came in for much on-set ribbing.

A brave move, it would seem, from his more feebly-endowed colleagues, but Hollywood's latest discovery took it all in his stride.

"Everyone thought it was really funny that I brought my own food in every day. They'd ask what mummy had packed me for lunch," says Ray, 24.

"But I refused to eat the canteen food because I'm on a strict diet.

"I can't think of a time when I've gone wild. I've never been into raving or anything. I'm single and I'm happier going down the gym or hanging out with my mates training."

And his martial arts training - which has had him competing in world championships since he was 16 - looks set to come in handy for a variety of reasons.

Ray is already having to fight off the attentions of female fans who've fallen for the dubious charms of Darth Maul.

Although it's only his first acting job - he landed the role through his friend Nick Gillard, who was the film's stunt co-ordinator - a new website devoted entirely to Maul worship shows just what an impact he's already had.
Women have begged him to let them eat fried chicken off his devil's horns, clean his teeth, take his make-up off, shave his head or give him a massage. Then there are the declarations of undying love.

For Ray, who as a seven-year-old used to pretend he was Han Solo alongside his younger brother's Luke Skywalker while playing in the back yard, it's a dream come true.

"People are starting to notice me now the film's opened in America but I'm trying to keep calm and enjoy it all," he says.

"I'm ready to be a sex symbol, though. If that's the way it turns out, who am I to argue?"

With his mindblowing mid-air gymnastics and perfect physique, it shouldn't be long before Ray is challenging Brad Pitt in the sexiest man stakes.

"I try to be normal about everything but people keep saying, 'Wow, you're in Star Wars man!'" he says.

"I'm from a big family and all my cousins and nephews are freaking out. Star Wars was the first movie I saw when we moved to London from Glasgow when I was six and I had all the plastic figures and my own Millennium Falcon.

"When I was on the set I tried not to think about all that or get excited but whenever I talked to my parents they'd remind me how I used to be as a kid and it was difficult not to be overawed by it all.

"I always wanted to be in the movies so this is just incredible."

Ray has tasted the showbiz razzmatazz at American premieres already but it's the film's royal opening in London next month he's really looking forward to.

Not least because it gives him a chance to catch up with his old sparring partners Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson, with whom he is involved in a 15-minute fight scene in the film.

"Apparently it just pips one of John Wayne's films for the longest fight scene in any movie," Ray says.

But he won't be joining them for any hell-raising after the London premiere. He doesn't drink or smoke, won't touch drugs and rarely goes out on the town.

"That doesn't mean Ewan and Liam didn't rip it up off set by themselves," he laughs. "But they did their thing and I did mine. And the best thing about those guys was they respected the way I live my life. They didn't try to corrupt me.

"Maybe I gave them something to think about. I've had the odd glass of celebratory champagne but I can even live without that."

And if you think Ray must have smoked 60 cigarettes a day to master Darth Maul's hideous voice, you'd be wrong.

In fact, Ray's Cockney accent wasn't heard at all.

"George Lucas decided Maul's voice had to be the most terrifying thing people had ever heard so they had a voice-over guy do it instead of me," he says.

While he can't manage the evil voice, his on-screen appearance was enough to send onlookers running for cover.
"People couldn't look at me on set," he says. "I'd be walking along and girls would turn away or look at the floor. It was as if I was Hannibal Lecter."

You get the feeling that won't happen once the film opens here on July 16.