Re: Alec Guiness's Thoughts on Appearing in STAR WARS

On 2025-03-19 9:36 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

On 3/19/25 6:14 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
 

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
>

Prior to accepting the role of Obi-wan (Ben) Kenobi, Sir Alec Guinness wrote
the following to a friend:

>

     I have been offered a movie (20th Cent. Fox) which
     I may accept, if they come up with proper money.
     London and N. Africa, starting in mid-March. Science
     fiction - which gives me pause - but is to be directed
     by Paul [sic] Lucas who did AMERICAN GRAFFITI,
     which makes me feel I should. Big part. Fairy-tale
     rubbish but could be interesting perhaps.

>

After he arrived on set, he did not change his opinion that the movie was
"rubbish":

>

     ...new rubbish dialogue reaches me every
     other day on wadges of pink paper - and none of
     it makes my character clear or even bearable. I
     just think, thankfully, of the lovely bread, which
     will help me keep going until next April even if
     YAHOO [a play in which Guinness played satirist
     Jonathan Swift] collapses in a week ... I must off
     to studio and work with a dwarf (very sweet - and
     he has to wash in a bidet) and your fellow countrymen
     Mark Hamill and Tennyson (that can't be
     right) Ford. Ellison (? - No!) - well, a rangy, languid
     young man who is probably intelligent and amusing.
     But oh, God, they make me feel ninety - and treat
     me as if I was 106. - Oh, Harrison Ford - ever
     heard of him?

>
Dude! You saw American Graffiti directed by Paul Lucas! Ellison Ford had
a small role in the movie!
>

Later on in the filming, Guinness wrote:

>

     "Apart from the money, I regret having embarked
     on the film. I like them well enough, but it's not an
     acting job, the dialogue - which is lamentable - keeps
     being changed and only slightly improved, and I find
     myself old and out of touch with the young"

>
To be fair, everybody hates that the script is never finished.
>

He did have some nice things to say about the completed film:

>

     "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle, and
     technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy and warm-
     hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for
     five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue
     is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but
     it remains a vivid experience"

>

However, it was not an experience he liked to talk about afterwards:

>

     "I shrivel up every time someone mentions
     STAR WARS to me."

>
Clark Gable despised making Gone With the Wind, and thought It Happened
One Night was utter shite.

 I saw the latter, in the 1990s(?), and did not care for it.
 

I finally saw it a year or so back and didn't much care for it either.

Uh, raise your hand if you want to hear an actor's opinion on what makes
a movie entertaining. Anybody? Don't all get up at once.

 Yeah, a lot of actors get their own stuff wrong. Musicians too! (There's a doc on Yes where the bandmembers clearly didn't understand how great an album "Relayer" was!!)
 

Savages! Relayer is a fine album!!
I had no idea you were a Yes fan. Have you ever listened to Rick Wakeman being interviewed? He is a legendary keyboardist (and yes, I know he didn't play on Relayer) but also a truly entertaining speaker, full of stories of his life as a musician, both with Yes and playing with other people. He's also written two books full of anecdotes about his career. I haven't laughed so hard in YEARS!
--
Rhino