Has anyone ever considered how much and effort went into getting C-3PO up and running and what Anthony Daniels had to go through every time he suited up? A lot of f0lks might guess as to what happened and how difficult this really was, but hearing him tell it in his own words is enough to make person say ‘nope, I’m out’. The process of being put into an entire body mold is enough to make any claustrophobic freak right the hell out since with straws up your nose being the only way to breath during the process a lot of folks wouldn’t even think of allowing such a thing to happen. Then the continual forming and shaping of the final product likely looks a lot different before it’s given any color. But thankfully Daniels fell in love with the character after reading it so he was hooked and was bound to go through whatever he had to in order to make it work. That obviously meant a type of torture that a lot of people wouldn’t stand for since even throughout the movies the continued modifications could only do so much, but thankfully they did make it possible for him to grip things after a while since initially his hands had to be held in a locked position that he couldn’t move them from. Plus, moving around in the suit appeared to be something of a trial all on its own since just trying to move one way or another looked like it required a gymnast’s balance and almost sent Anthony plummeting to the ground.
C-3PO has been one of the most well-liked characters of the Star Wars trilogy for a long time however and along with R2-D2 has helped to shape the story in a big way since they’re the two individuals we got to see the most of initially in the first movie and the ones that the story centered around for a while until other characters joined the cast. Even then, the two characters were vital for their own purposes and became fan favorites after a while since they’d established such a presence in the movie. Even in the prequels the golden droid has been a favorite character, and in the most recent trilogy he’s even been someone that a lot of people expressed concern over when it was thought that he might be on his way out. But thinking of how torturous the costume has been over the years, even with the many upgrades it’s received, is kind of hard to imagine since the many different pieces that have to be fitted together just perfectly in order to make it all work are pretty much form-fitting and don’t have a lot of give to them, or didn’t at least until later on in the saga as the design team continued to work with the whole concept of the outfit. To say that Daniels is happy to be out of the outfit when the filming is done though does sound like an understatement considering all he has to go through in order to get into it.
When you think about it there were a few people in Star Wars that had it kind of rough when it came to wearing costumes since Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and even David Prowse had to be fitted with their own outfits, and Mayhew’s was likely a bit hot after a while thanks to all that hair, while Baker’s had to be a little confining as he played R2-D2. Despite Baker’s short stature it still feels as though it was kind of a challenge. From the effects to the story to the outfits, Star Wars is an epic tale that has something for just about everyone, but to this point it’s come at the expense of a lot of comfort to the actors in a lot of ways since the stuff they’ve had to wear and endure has been rather difficult at times. People might want to grouse about Princess Leia not wearing underwear or being told to wear a ‘slave girl’ costume, but at the very least Carrie Fisher was fully-clothed up until the slave girl routine and she was fully-clothed after as well, whereas those wearing an entire costume had to be covered at all times in something that was like a second skin without the flexibility. Daniel’s probably had it worse than a lot of people since he had to learn how to walk in his outfit and for the most part how to basically just wobble a bit here and there until he got the hang of it. Bretton Jardell of The FW has more on the Star Wars outfits that might be interesting.
The hard work and discomfort is appreciated by a lot of fans however since there’s no one else that people would want to see for the golden droid at this time, especially considering that Daniels is just perfect for the role.
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