Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
This one’s fun, from a hardcore geek who’s been hiding in a “real” job.
Hey guys! Love the site ... I've submitted an item a time or two before, but hopefully this will make the grade.
I'm a reporter for a newspaper in East Tennessee, and Anthony Daniels will be in this area next weekend, June 5-6, for the annual Adventure Con. I had the extreme pleasure of interviewing him to promote the convention, and he let slip with a few things regarding Episode III that I hadn't seen anywhere else.
To understand the context, know that I'm a rabid, HUGE "Star Wars" fanboy, and professional decorum went out the window as I basically slobbered into the phone about what a huge fan I am. We got to talking a bit about Episode III, and here's what he had to say ...
"Hayden [Christensen] is the nicest, sweetest, most huggable person on the set, and it's hilarious the way he turns into Darth Vader before your very eyes in the next film. One thing I will tell you is how this film dovetails so neatly and locks into Episode IV. You watch Anakin Skywalker, who's this really nice guy, and he gets worse and worse over the course of Episode III. It's really, in a Greek sense of the word, tragic to see this hero figure turn to the Dark Side. I read the script three or four times, and there were pieces that gave me goosebumps every time I read them, and they had to do with the human drama more so than big beasties."
He also said that Threepio's "great claim to fame is that he's pure gold in this one. In all the other prequels, he had something missing, some pieces, but in this one, he gets the solid gold, which fits into where he lives at the time."
And then the big one ... we talked about how the opening of "A New Hope" changed the cinematic consciousness forever, and how the image of Tatooine against a cold star field panning up to the Blockade Runner was one of the defining moments of my generation's movie-going experience. And then I asked, "Will Episode III explain how R2-D2 and Threepio came to be on the blockade runner at the beginning of Episode IV?"
He chuckled, and this is what he said:
"I'm not going to tell you that! But's that's amazing! Why do you ask that?"
ME: "Because of how monumental that scene is, and how Threepio's dialogue was the first lines spoken in all of the films!"
Then he goes off on a riff - THREEPIO WAS FUCKING TALKING TO ME ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE, reciting the lines from the opening of "Star Wars": "Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness! We're doomed! There'll be no escape for the Princess this time."
Off the top of his head. Needless to say, I had to sop the cream out of my boxers after the conversation. But that's not even the best part. THEN he said:
"I'm amazed that you bring that up. Let's just say you may recognize an old piece of scenery, and that's all I'm going to say about that."
Could it be that we flash-forward, at the end of Episode III, to the moments before Darth Vader's Star Destroyer overtakes the blockade runner?!!????? Sounds like it.
Next May can't get here fast enough.
What a great conversation. Anthony Daniels truly is the "Grand Old Man" of "Star Wars," as he jokingly said his castmates referred to him on the set.
Thanks - and keep up the ass-kicking work!
If you use this, just call me ...
Leo Badass
Nice work, Leo, and thanks for sharing.
"Moriarty" out.
