Anthony Daniels is a legend in the Star Wars Universe. As C3P0, he’s a part of pop culture history, and has been there for every step in the evolution of the world. THe Guardian sat down with him and got some pretty interesting info on his life as a droid and some feelings involving JJ Abrams and the secrecy surrounding the The Force Awakens. There’s one bit where he talked about his eyes glazing over that several news outlets are trying to take out of context. He has always said that he never really gets into the film’s plot lines beyond his role in it,but some sites are saying it means that he’s saying the movie is going to be crap. What I like best is his admission that the prequels were garbage at the end of the first quote.
First, on the differences between working with JJ Abram and George Lucas:
On the differences between George Lucas and J.J. Abrams.
“George has changed a lot over the years but I think he finds it slightly hard to collaborate,” Daniels observes. “He made decisions that I believe might have been better discussed with other people. JJ is more collaborative. He likes to listen.” Then there is the reunion of key original cast members including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. The fantasy is that the new movie will somehow be good enough to override memories of the three previous installments.
On some of the challenges he’s had with the secrecy surrounding The Force Awakens.
“The secrecy has been beyond ludicrous,” he sighs. “For heaven’s sake, it’s a movie. When I got the script, it was typed in black on paper of the deepest red so you couldn’t photocopy it. I got a hangover just reading it. The screenplay was very good as far as C-3PO was concerned, but I had no idea what was going on in the rest of it. Still don’t. When JJ told me the story of the new one, my eyes sort of glazed over.”
“I said that I’d met so-and-so. An actor who plays a … thing in the film. A character. Immediately I received a message from Disney: ‘Remove the tweet! You’re not allowed to say that!’ Honestly. It’s a kind of Kremlin attitude. Look, I know perfectly well not to tell you now what I’m giving you for a Christmas present because it would spoil the surprise. And these films are all about opening the box on Christmas Day.” (In regards to Simon Pegg)