Daniels climbs out from behind C-3PO to lead ‘Star Wars: In Concert’

When you think of “Star Wars,” Anthony Daniels might not be the first name that comes to mind.

But Daniels is the only actor from the galaxy far, far away with speaking parts in all six movies. As C-3PO, the well mannered droid programmed for human-cyborg relations, he has the opening line in the first movie and the closing line of the last movie.

While many of his peers have been replaced by younger actors, killed off or completely digitized, for Daniels, the saga continues.

He voices “Star Wars” cartoons and video games, and appears – donning the original costume – in promotional events.

Fans will get to see the man behind the gold-plated mask when Daniels narrates “Star Wars: In Concert,” a sort of musical CliffsNotes to “Star Wars,” on Saturday at the Spokane Arena.

Accompanied by an 83-piece symphony orchestra and a 30-piece choir performing excerpts from the John Williams score, reorganized movie footage will be shown on a three-story tall, high-definition LED super-screen along with a dazzling light display.

After spending the morning climbing pyramids in Mexico City, the 64-year-old British actor took time out to chat about the concert, the costume and how CGI is taking the fun out of fantasy filmmaking.

Q: When you describe “Star Wars: In Concert,” you say that, as much as it is a symphony experience, it also mirrors the experience of an arena rock concert?

A: I made that comparison because, so often, people think you have to be clever to go to a symphony concert and understand it. I want this to be the live symphony concert that quite a few children and adults want to go to.

You don’t have to dress up – unless you want to dress up as Leia or Darth Vader – but feel the emotional pull of the music and feel that tug as much as you would listening to Beethoven. I want to take away that elitist quality.

Q: For anyone who hasn’t seen the “Star Wars” movies, the re-cut material in “Star Wars: In Concert” is a narrative, and the music serves as mnemonic jolts for anyone who knows the story?

A: I couldn’t have said it better myself. George (Lucas) wanted to have a score that would be equal to the majestic sweeps of the story and John (Williams) is very good at writing that sort of iconic music, like the Darth Vader theme and the Star Wars theme or Luke’s theme. Sadly, they never did a theme for Threepio.

But you know what I mean, it’s the kind of music that moves you and it’s now its own thing. As much as George and John Williams, it’s owned by the public because it’s a part of the public’s heritage.

If you haven’t seen “Star Wars” and wondered what all the fuss was about, when you see “Star Wars: In Concert,” you get it. I tell the story as story as Anthony Daniels, not as Threepio. There are moments when the spirit of Threepio pops up, but when I tell the story, I do it from beginning to end. George starts in the middle.

Q: Talk about how the music for “Star Wars” has helped keep classical music relatable to young people as well as adults who don’t typically go to the symphony.

A: During one show I was standing on the side of the stage conducting where no one could see me, and I looked out into the audience and I saw all these children conducting with their light sabers.

“Star Wars: In Concert” is a great key to letting people come in through the door and experience a live symphony experience. It’s an 86-piece symphony and a 100- foot LED screen and lasers and huge lights. … That’s something not many people get the chance to feel.

Q: Of all six movies, what was the most challenging scene for you? Was it something physical with the costume, or something conceptual with having to use your imagination to talk to CGI characters that were going to be added in post-production?

A: Six months of preparation went into being Threepio and the first day of shooting is still most memorable for being awful. I had never worn the costume for more than 10 minutes, and there we were, out in the middle of the desert and it didn’t work.

There were all sorts of wardrobe malfunctions. There were wires sticking out where they shouldn’t be. When I had the body on backwards, while Chewbacca was carrying Threepio, you can see my nose sticking out of the costume.

We’re 102 performances into “Star Wars: In Concert,” and I’ve studied it every night. Some of the scenes were fairly agonizing.

Q: You’ve talked about the agelessness of Star Wars. What were the most significant differences between the making of “Episode IV” and “Episode III” (the first and last films) – was it the expectations, the budget, the technology, the cast?

A: The digital techniques. The special effects were pretty good but in CGI, whether it’s George Lucas or anybody else, you’re always slightly aware when it’s a computerized image. That’s the biggest aspect that comes to mind.

In some of the later movies we had no scenery at all and that makes it less fun to do. In the early days, you’d walk onto Stage 5 and you’d be inside the Death Star and it was huge. … You were actually in the Millennium Falcon. That was pretty exciting.

When you have nothing but blue screen backgrounds it’s not the same. When I was in a spaceship with Padme Amidala it was just a chair and a joystick. There’s a difference in the totality of reality and the apparent reality of what you see on the screen.

Q: How has the impact of Star Wars on popular culture impacted you personally?

A: I don’t share in the licensing fees, if that’s what you mean. I do own a light saber, it was given to me a by a fan, but it’s not on display in my living room or anything like that. If you walked inside my house you wouldn’t know I had anything to do with “Star Wars.’

It has certainly impacted my financial security and my sense of pride for having been a part of something that has had such a huge impact on people going into the arts and sciences. I know from talking to people who became designers or musicians or scientists in robotics, or people who have gone on to work in the film industry, because they were inspired by those films.

Q: After 33 years, you’ve worn the same costume in all six “Star Wars” films and beyond, even in the prequels it was just painted a different color. One of the positive side effects of that is the incentive to stay fit. Lots of people would love to say they can still wear the same costume they wore 30 years ago. What’s your health and fitness lifestyle like?

A: I just came back from hiking up pyramids in Mexico City. What a workout that is on the thighs and ankles. The steps are immensely steep. I climbed the Pyramid of the Sun and all the way down, and then the Pyramid of the Moon. After that I went to work out in the gym for an hour.

I don’t wear the costume during “Star Wars: In Concert,” although I did have to get back into it a few months ago for Star Tours. But it’s not only about getting back into the costume. I have to be able to bounce around on stage and it takes a lot of diaphragm strength to project. It’s like being a musician, I guess, except that I’m playing my body.

Q: You’ve talked about how at first you didn’t want to play a robot in a back-then low-budget sci-fi flick, that your agent talked you into auditioning. How do you imagine life without “Star Wars” would have been for you?

A: I slightly suspect that it would have been an ordinary actor’s life that most actors suffer. I kind of imagine I would be doing something else by now.

I was hugely lucky.

Most actors don’t have that luck. Actors are working at all the restaurants in L.A. and I know they’d rather be acting, but there’s too many actors and not enough luck.

I have been doubly lucky, as if there were some major force, if you will, pulling me along for the ride.