During an appearance on 'The View', Anthony Daniels gets candid about the director's reaction to his suggestion to put his iconic humanoid robot to sleep for good.
- March 11, 2020
AceShowbiz - Director J.J. Abrams refused to listen to "Star Wars" actor Anthony Daniels when he suggested it was time to kill off his robot character C-3PO in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker".
The veteran Brit is the only "Star Wars" actor to have appeared in all nine of the main films in the sci-fi franchise, and, as Abrams was preparing to wrap up the third and final installment in the Skywalker saga last year (19), Daniels proposed having his humanoid robot put "to sleep" - for good.
But Abrams wasn't having any of it.
"I said to J.J. when we were filming, 'Maybe it's time to put C-3PO to sleep, to give him an end,' " Daniels shared on U.S. talk show "The View", "and he said, 'Not on my watch!'"
The 74-year-old is famed for his work as the gold droid, but Daniels admits he came close to missing out on the iconic role when he was first approached back in the 1970s, because he thought it would be disastrous for his acting career.
"I wasn't apprehensive - I just didn't want it! I was insulted!" he confessed.
"I was a serious actor. The thought of being in a robot suit, disguised, in science fiction? Back in the day, that wasn't very popular."
However, he was soon convinced to give the movie a shot after being presented with artist renderings of George Lucas' creation, and the rest is history.
"What I did see was... a production still of how the character might look...," Daniels said. "I stared at that picture and it's totally changed my life."
