C-3PO will outlive me .. his story is not over
IS ANTHONY Daniels the biggest movie star you would not recognise if you passed him in the street?
The director JJ Abrams certainly thinks so and said as much in the foreword to Daniels’s recent book I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.
The British actor has played the smart-talking gold droid since 1977, making him the only person to have appeared in every Stars Wars film, as well as many of its spin-offs, TV shows and video games.
Now, this includes the new Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, which reunites Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, Rose and the droids for a joyous feast on Life Day – a holiday first introduced in the ill-fated 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.
“One of the most amusing chapters (in the book) refers to the original holiday special in 1978, which was remarkable in so many ways,” said Daniels over Zoom from his home in London.
“First of all, filming it on the set in LA was a dismal experience. And, bear in mind, this is meant to be the happiest day in the life of the Wookies.
“There we were, meant to be celebrating this event and there’s Mark (Hamill) and Carrie (Fisher) and Harrison (Ford) and me in these very dark, basically black drapes. It was like a funeral.
“And then you watched it and you thought, ‘I didn’t realise it was as dreadful as that’. Well, it was.
“So when the producers came to me and said, ‘We’re going to make a holiday special’, I laughed.
“But, as you will find out, it’s very, very different and it’s charming and it’s Lego that I adore.”
Daniels’s journey through a galaxy far, far away has not always been an easy one.
He said: “When I decided to write the book, I decided it should be as honest as possible, without hurting people, without making stupid claims.
“And I thought it was important, certainly to me, to say it was very, very difficult at the beginning – when Lucasfilm tried to pretend I had nothing to do with the film; that I wasn’t that character.
“Oh right, I had got a little credit on the roll up at the end. That was a very, very hurtful experience.”
But Daniels is sure the future is still bright for the beloved droid.
He said: “I am delighted to say the new Star Wars Holiday Special is the latest iteration, not the last.
“3PO is too important a character to disappear and I don’t believe fans will allow him to disappear. Like the robot in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and the wonderful Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, those characters stay alive forever and ever and ever.”
The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special is out now on Disney+.