An original Darth Vader helmet made in 1980 is currently on display in Lyon

The dark side of the force has taken over Old Lyon. One of Darth Vader’s original helmets is the new resident of the Cinema & Miniatures Museum. Since its acquisition, many “Star Wars” enthusiasts have already come on pilgrimage to see it.

Symbol of one of the most famous cinema villains, the object is a mixture of Samurai helmet and German helmet from WWII. It would have been worn by actor David Prowse in the first scene of the film where the dark lord appears.

To accompany the arrival of this rare piece in its permanent collection, the museum invited one of its creators, the British sculptor and designer Brian Muir. He was 23 the first time he worked on Star Wars. Some enthusiasts call him “Darth Vader’s father”: “At the very beginning, I started with a simple sketch made by the film’s graphic designer John Mollo. It couldn’t have been more than 10 cm high. It was just a few hand-drawn pencil strokes. The problem with being a sculptor is that you have to work on an object in 360 degrees. So we had to ask ourselves lots of questions. This is my first meeting with Vader,” he explains.

At the time of its manufacture, there was no 3D printer. Its creation thus required different fiberglass molding and drawing techniques: “It’s extraordinary because very few helmets were made for the film. What particularly touches me is that Brian Muir sculpted it by hand. You really have the artist’s touch, you can see all the little details, everything is not completely symmetrical, there are flaws and that’s what makes it interesting”explains Julien Dumont, director of the Musée Cinéma & Miniatures du Vieux-Lyon.

Today, purchased from a collector, this helmet should allow the museum, whose vocation is to celebrate the work of cinema artisans, to cross the threshold of 300,000 visitors again this year.