Vancouver Sun

Gentle DROID

Star Wars legend Anthony Daniels is right at home in his C-3PO suit

- CHRIS KNIGHT

You don’t spend half your life playing C-3PO without learning a little etiquette and protocol. Meeting Anthony Daniels a week before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I am struck by the actor’s gentle humility. He listens as much as he speaks, and he can flatter even as he provides an answer.

Is it easy to don the golden armour of the famous droid yet again, at age 69? “Physically I —” he pauses, looks me up and down. “Well, you look after yourself. I have to look after myself because I know I’m getting back in there. It’s part of the job.”

Daniels, whose lithe body and erect posture suggests both a dancer and a retired military officer, was not quite 30 when he auditioned for the role of the humanoid robot in the original Star Wars.

An offhand remark about 2001: A Space Odyssey — he’d walked out of a screening, finding it boring — almost convinced writer-director George Lucas that this wasn’t the droid he was looking for. He has since seen and enjoyed 2001 in its entirety, particular­ly the performanc­e of his cinematic cousin, HAL 9000, whom Daniels can mimic eerily well.

“A red light and a voice — magic!” he says of HAL. “Never had to raise his voice, because he knew what was happening. 3PO is constantly trying to tell people: ‘ But this is wrong, this is dangerous!’ He cares. He’s very self-protective, but before that he’s protective of others. And he’s so open in his emotions that we want to look after him a bit.”

Daniels is also a fan of the recent science-fiction movie Ex Machina, in which Alicia Vikander plays a selfaware robot. The film also stars Oscar Isaac, who portrays Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens.

“The script is very intelligen­t,” he says. “The effects are great, but it’s quite a worrying script. There are conversati­ons there about our relationsh­ips with machines. Highly intelligen­t film.”

Daniels has lived both sides of the man-machine divide, which gives him a unique perspectiv­e. He holds the position of visiting scholar at the Entertainm­ent Technology Centre of Carnegie Mellon University, where he sometimes lectures.

“I think I have a better relationsh­ip with machines,” he says when asked if C-3PO has taught him anything. “I kind of recognize what they do for me. I’m not somebody who uses technology hugely. I like things not to break down. But I recognize the help that machines give us, and 3PO’s an embodiment of that — long in the future, I understand from various scientists I’ve talked to.”

For many of the returning Star Wars cast, The Force Awakens marks their first real connection with the franchise since Return of the Jedi was released in 1983. But Daniels has long been an ambassador and a performer — that’s his voice in the Star Wars ride at Disney theme parks, and as C-3PO in The Lego Movie and in video games.

“I am very rarely away from C-3PO,” he says. “I do a lot of recordings,” most recently for an in-car GPS navigation system. “I had a wry complaint from someone saying, ‘ When I arrived home your voice said: What a desolate place this is!’ ”

And while many actors are bemused at fans’ abilities to recall the minutiae of their performanc­es, Daniels seems to carry an eidetic memory of his time spent in the skin of a droid.

Asked if there are moments of which he is particular­ly proud, he recalls the scene from the first Star Wars movie in which Obi-Wan has just been killed. “And there’s 3PO on the Falcon, and just with a little tilt of the head you know he’s incredibly sad, he’s very moved by his demise. Little things like that work very well, and sometimes it’s easy to forget to be subtle.”

And in the new film? Daniels is pleased with the new costume, which fits better than ever, and includes highly articulate­d fingers.

“For the first time I pick up something very tiny,” he says. “That has never happened before.”

The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams, has been created under such a strict veil of secrecy that he can say little more. “But there was a moment, because of J.J.’s direction and editing, that I made me laugh,” he says. “And that’s quite good, if you can make yourself laugh.”

And how will we know that moment when we see it? “Well,” he says, “hopefully you’ll laugh.”

 ?? VERONICA HENRI/TORONTO SUN ?? After decades spent playing a robot, Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels says he has gained ‘a better relationsh­ip with machines … I kind of recognize what they do for me.’
VERONICA HENRI/TORONTO SUN After decades spent playing a robot, Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels says he has gained ‘a better relationsh­ip with machines … I kind of recognize what they do for me.’
 ??  ?? Anthony Daniels dons C-3PO’s gold plating once more in The Force Awakens.
Anthony Daniels dons C-3PO’s gold plating once more in The Force Awakens.

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