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

On 2025-03-19 10:53 PM, shawn wrote:

On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 21:58:18 -0400, Rhino
<no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

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!

 
You mean like this:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zppfjeculUs
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4CCMeTlDXI
 
This one shows some of his skill at the keyboard.

>
The second of those is an excerpt from the first - or at least the same
interview. Beato may have removed some bits of the longer interview from
his main channel and put it on the second channel. (I've only watched
the full interview once and certainly haven't memorized it.)
>
It's a fine interview but the books contain a lot of stories from a
colourful life; some of them aren't even music-related. He tells a great
story about meeting some submariners while drinking after a gig and then
being smuggled aboard their (top secret) sub to have a look around,
which had a hilarious sequel. His adventures with home repair are
surprising too. He was a notorious boozer and smoker who went cold
turkey with zero effort after he had some health scares. He seems like a
remarkably down-to-earth and approachable individual despite his fame.
I'd love to spend an afternoon talking to him.