Here are some of the highlights from his Q&A session:
Would he be interested in doing a C-3PO show for Disney+?
I think Disney have had an effect on, uh, Star Wars. They’ve got enough… enough… (Audience nervously laughs and cheers) Some things are sacred. It occurs to me there has been a whole raft of Disney, Disney, Disney things, and I’ve been very lucky. I was in “Ahsoka” the other day. Anybody see “Ahsoka”? (Audience cheers) Thank you very much. Pinnacle of my career – just saying. I mean, three years at drama school, you know, and I end up… anyway… Um, no, uh, Disney have got plans for all sorts of places where 3PO doesn’t appear. Certainly, a TV series would be interesting, but only if I was doing it in motion capture. The idea of doing it day after day in that suit: absolute nightmare.
When asked about his opinion of Luke Skywalker in “The Last Jedi”:
My opinion on Luke? Um, what do you want me to say? (Audience laughs) Kind of one of the most difficult characters to play. There is Mark Hamill, back in the day, and, you know, he’s the blonde kid, he’s the hero, and who’s he acting with? (Mimics C-3PO’s body language) A gold robot, a little blue box, a Wookiee, what else? A man with a breathing problem who says he’s his dad. It’s incredibly difficult to act with these things, and Mark did extremely well, talking blithering dialogue – nobody understood what was going on. Mark did it with great sincerity. I used to say to him, “When I’m in the scene, you don’t need to act because I’ve only got to move a bit, and the audience’s eye is just attracted to things that glitter, and I could screw up your performance just like that. So, my opinion of Luke is that he is an immensely important character because he is the person that carries you through the story, the hero – we all know about that – so he’s the most important person, apart from C-3PO, of course.
Which was his favorite film in the series?
Curiously, my favorite was actually Episode IV, the very first film. The reason for that is that it was a very simple story: you had Luke, who was the hero, who comes from nothing. He’s a farm boy, becomes a hero, and he meets people on the way – the classic journey and all that kind of thing. Then you have a bad person called Darth Vader. At that time, we don’t know it’s his daddy… Yes, (imitates Darth Vader voice) “I am your f…” Oh, anyway… I understood it. My favorite film to make was the last one, “The Rise of Skywalker.” I had such fun with the new past, particularly Oscar Isaac, who had the similar… (Audience cheers) Yeah, Oscar Isaac, truly one of the best actors to be in a “Star Wars” movie. He had such a good relationship – or bad relationship – with 3PO that he persecuted him on an hourly basis, even worse than Han Solo. I just was giggling inside the costume as Oscar annoyed me. It was huge fun. The film didn’t kind of work out like I thought it might, but nevertheless it’s part of the saga, so you’re stuck with it.
On what he loves about being part of the “Star Wars” universe:
When “Star Wars” [Episode IV] opened, there was no budget for publicity. Normally, it’s a huge budget – there wasn’t any. “Star Wars” was a very low-budget film, but people went to see it, then they came out and they ran to their friends and dragged them back, and the friends dragged [their friends] back, and so it went on, and it went, as we would say now, “viral” – and you are part of that virality. The great thing, to me, is that film didn’t have a number at the beginning. It was “Star Wars.” Then, it became “Number Four,” and we made “V” and we made “VI,” “VII,” “VIII,” “IX” – you know the numbers – and that is all because of people like yourselves. One of the things I love is that you make friends in the “Star Wars” world. You get together, you talk. Some like the Dark Side, some like (gestures to a cosplayer) Jar Jar Binks. (He humorously does a facepalm gesture and winks to the fan.) Teasing you! There’s something in it for everybody, whether it’s the scenery, the music, the thoughts, the emotions, the morals of it all, there’s something for everybody, and I’m amazed to have been a part of it. I didn’t want the interview for the job, and here I am, nearly 50 years later, standing at the height of my career in Salt Lake City with you, and right now, I’m going to leave you – I’m going to take one last look… at my friends. Thank you.
*****
Also, if you didn't know, Mr. Daniels had recently written a book called "I Am C-3PO: The Inside Storhy" - a fact that he comedically brought up several times throughout the panel. You can check it out on Amazon or Audible, if you haven't done so already.
FanX 2025 is this week! Hit the comments section below to let us know what you'll be cosplaying as, your favorite "Star Wars" movie, and whether you think C-3PO could beat Jar Jar Binks in a street fight. While you're at it, follow us on Twitter (here and here) or open the Facebook app on your phone for 30 minutes until you've forgotten why you pulled it up in the first place.
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