Movies - TV
C-3PO’s Actor Was ‘Insulted’ By The Offer To Audition For Star Wars
By JENNA BUSCH
Anthony Daniels has played C-3P0 since the first “Star Wars” film in 1977. However, he didn’t quite understand the role and was insulted when his agent told him about the audition.
The call came a mere 18 months after Daniels began acting. His agent said, “A man called George Lucas is making this film and he’d like to see you.”
According to Daniels in the book “The Making of Return of the Jedi,” his agent explained that it was a sci-fi film and that George Lucas “wants to see you for the part of a robot.”
Daniels shared, “I remember being a little insulted at the time. I was doing quite well as a human being. And science fiction was just above cowboy movies in my ratings.”
Luckily, Daniels decided to meet with Lucas and got the shy director talking about the film after seeing Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art for the movie on the walls around him.
Daniels saw the C-3PO concept art. He shared, “Here was a tin figure, a sort of gaunt, metal man; the overwhelming quality of the picture was one of sadness.”
The actor continued, “He was the sort of creature you could feel for. C-3PO was standing with this little box nearby and nothing but rocks and moons in the distance.”
He may have been insulted at first, but Daniels explained, “The reason I took the job was because Threepio, even in that early draft, was the most perfectly formed character.”