STARS WARS 05 DAYS TO GO
He is a loyal friend and a trusted aide. He can be annoying and lovable, often at the same time. And he has been a constant companion to Star Wars fans through all six films that came before Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Meet Anthony Daniels, the man behind much-loved protocol droid C-3P0.
Tell us about your history as C-3PO...
It’s odd for me to realise that 40 years of my life have been spent playing C-3PO. I’m the only person to be involved in all seven movies, which is really strange. One of the reasons that is possible is because C-3PO isn’t human. He’s very human inside: he gets old inside and he gets more tired and cranky inside, but on the outside he’s just who you first met back in 1977. For a lot of people, that’s a very strong connection.
Many people will know, who are into the saga, that way back in 1975 when my agent said there’s this American named George Lucas making this sci-fi movie, and he wants to see you for the part of a robot, I said no, since I wasn’t interested in sci-fi. She was strong enough to say, don’t be so stupid. So I did go and meet George and he was very nice. But the thing that changed my mind, absolutely definitively, was Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept painting of C-3PO, set in another world, a strange moonlit planet. For some reason, that is what captured my imagination. He had a companion, a strange sort of Swiss Army knife kit next to him, who knew what that was going to be? I had no idea what was going on at the time. So that moment,with the Ralph McQuarrie piece of art, brings me here today all these years later.
From the concept art, they created a face that has spoken to millions of people around the world. When I look at him, I still have that feeling. For people who don’t know C-3PO, his principal role is protocol and etiquette. Now, if there are two things that never exist in the Star Wars galaxy it’s protocol and etiquette. He was programmed to make people feel comfortable and for them to make other people feel comfortable. So for the most part, he’s horrified by what he sees going on around him. He abhors space travel; he hates battles and he hates drama. He just wants to be serving the canapes and the cocktails. I think people relate to C-3PO because they recognise themselves in him. He can be overt about something he doesn’t like and can say he wants to go home.
Star Wars is a lot about destiny. Because of the character that I was given to play and because of George’s concept of continuing storyteller, C-3PO was a rope on a life raft that you could cling to in all the films; the idea that if C-3PO is here, it must be a Star Wars film. For me it’s a real time trip. But, amazingly, my destiny is to be picked for a character that can time travel. And, of course, we’re back.
How was it to be in character with Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher again?
I was thinking the other day, that way back in 1977 I’d take Mark (Hamill), Carrie and Harrison to the local Indian restaurant in London. The other night, there we were bowling, in a bowling alley, with Carrie. Tonight I’m off with Mark and his family to a fish and chip shop in London where we live. That’s the normalcy: you can do wacky stuff in the day, then do fish and chips. Being in scenes with these characters just feels right. Doing a scene with Carrie the other day, particularly when we’re in rehearsal, I can just look straight into her eyes, her beautiful eyes, and she can look straight back to my bloodshot ones, and we have total understanding of what we’re talking about. The thing for me, and it must be difficult for her and the others, is that when I put the face on they’re looking at this gold mask. They have to look straight into that and hopefully remember the emotion that they’d seen on my face. To see Carrie looking with great sincerity, and talking with great sincerity to C-3PO is a joy. I think she’s very fond of him too. They’ve been together a long time.
Character name: C-3PO
Nickname: Threepio
Created by: Anakin Skywalker
Class: Protocol droid
Backstory: C-3PO was built from spare parts by Anakin Skywalker and later was assigned to Senator Bail Organa, along with R2-D2. The pair was inseparable and they helped Princess Leia smuggle plans of a Death Star to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Along with R2, C-3PO helped Han Solo and Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia and became attached to the three humans. He played an important role in helping the Rebellion defeat the Empire.
Do you have the same costume? Have there been any tweaks?
In Episode VII, C-3PO is pretty much back to how you would remember him. There are tiny nuances that are different. Some of them are technical on the inside, and that’s for me to know. But there are other little editions, and fans will enjoy that. The big one, which is a deep, deep secretive element, I’m going to share with you.
In the first film A New Hope, C-3PO’s left leg was silver and nobody ever noticed because it was light silver, which would merely reflect the gold or the desert or the sand. George Lucas’s original idea was that C-3PO had a history. The idea that Star Wars didn’t just happen out of nowhere; it wasn’t page one of a story. It was page a million of an age-old story of good and evil. One of George’s concepts is that characters should be broken down, used, scratched. This makes you think, something has happened in the past. He has a history.
Move forward and J.J. Abrams takes that idea several notches higher. C-3PO — I don’t know how he feels about it but I don’t think he’s happy about it because he is a purist — has a red arm. His left arm is a fairly brutal, red, rusty, sanguine thing. Something has happened to him in the last 30 years. The Rebels have had all sorts of dramas and one of his was clearly losing a limb. In Episode VIII or by Episode IX, it would be nice to be back in one piece. So, that is one piece that people will think about. That’s one of the things that make the Star Wars saga so telling and so approachable and so belonging to people.
When was the last time you were on a Star Wars set?
The last time C-3PO was in a film was Revenge of the Sith, 10 years ago as I speak. For C-3PO to walk onto this set, he felt totally at home, although it’s probably a little messy for his taste.
The relationship with R2-D2 is still the same, isn’t it?
When I began working with R2-D2, I had to improvise a relationship with a silent box. You could almost do this as a drama school exercise to make the audience believe that this box has a personality. I think I achieved it and Ben Burtt’s sounds made such a difference. Suddenly I was seeing a two-way conversation and it was magical.
How is it with real effects and real creatures?
One of the reasons Star Wars has maintained its role in popular culture, and grown, is because of the growth of the digital age. The Star Wars saga grew up with the technical age. George Lucas was one of the top people in that search for technology and its use.
J.J. has done something extraordinary. He’s absorbed the original technology and the new technology. As far as I can see, J.J. has done the most extraordinary job of weaving blue, green, real, digital whatever into a completely, I would say, perfect blend. There are real sets where it needs to be real. There are characters that are being operated by somebody and there are those actors in full costume, keeping it real and organic on the set.
Tell us about Daisy Ridley.
Daisy is taking on the mantle from the past films. I’m surprised she can breathe. And she does more than breathe. I’ve seen her on set. She has taken to it. I envy that skill and the ease that she appears to have. The effort that goes on behind it is something else, but you don’t see that effort. I’m so admiring of her and John Boyega.
Will this film be special? Why?
Star Wars has come to be as much a part of our culture as Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The original audience in 1977 created itself. People drifted in to see this sci-fi movie, and then they ran out and got their friends. It was self-generating. They built a fan base for people who just got this story, and it took them away on a fantasy. People believed so strongly that it continued to the next generation and the next. Quite genuinely, J.J. has taken on this world that fans own a bit of now. The audience, it’s their thing. They don’t like if you mess too much. They’ve taken ownership of this. You have a team of people who were there at the beginning who want it like it was, and who will make it like it was. Yes, we’re back, and it doesn’t stop there.
Why do you love C-3PO? Tell t2@abp.in
