Alec G(Obi Wan) on Star Wars

Reading some of his quotes from IMDB on his Star Wars roles,I can see he was just an actor doing his job,and not making it to be his life story.I respect that.Interesting enough,the fame it brought him did not sway him much if any.

Heres a few quotes by him from the site...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000027/bio


Reportedly answered one "Star Wars" fan's boast that he'd seen the first movie over a hundred times, with a nod and the words "Promise me you'll never watch it again." The boy was stunned, but his mother thanked Guinness.

[on how much he disliked working on Star Wars (1977) and his attempts to encourage George Lucas to kill off Obi-Wan Kenobi] And he agreed with me. What I didn't tell him was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo.

I shrivel up every time someone mentions Star Wars (1977) to me


Once I've done a film, it's finished. I never look at it again.


[Asked if Star Wars (1977) had made him a fortune]: Yes, blessed be "Star Wars". But two-thirds of that went to the Inland Revenue and a sizable sum on VAT. No complaints. Let me leave it by saying I can live for the rest of my life in the reasonably modest way I am now used to, that I have no debts and I can afford to refuse work that doesn't appeal to me.


[during filming of Star Wars (1977)]: 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.

[on media reports of his income from the "Star Wars" films]: The Times reports I've made £4.5 million in the past year. Where do they get such nonsense?

[on the performances in Star Wars (1977)]: The only really disappointing performance was Anthony Daniels as the robot - fidgety and over-elaborately spoken. Not that any of the cast can stand up to the mechanical things around them.

These are some of the interesting quotes I copied and pasted from the site.How do you fans feel about some of that?

 

For starters, it's worth noting that Sir Alec Guiness had been a star at least since the 1940s, working in the British filmmaking industry in mainly comedic roles, and then in more dramatic fare with acclaimed director David Lean throughout his career, most notably perhaps as the main protagonist of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), which is to this day held as one of the finest films of all time. Star Wars may have made him a global household name, but he was already a film star.

Secondly, he's entitled to his opinion, and it's difficult to fault a man for claiming he disliked something that is unabashedly aimed at young people, when he was in his 60s at the time of production.

Third, Lucas, unsurprisingly, tells a completely different story about the "killing off" of the Kenobi character in the original film. Lucas asserts that he realized the character had nothing to do for the last act of the film, and that it made more dramatic sense to kill him -- to which idea Guiness heartily objected. Guiness, according to Lucas, was married to the whole concept of Star Wars from the very beginning, and liked his character very much.

That Guiness outlines a different tale can perhaps be explained by the unwanted attention the phenomenal global success of the movie brought him.

 

I've read most of those before, & none really bother me. A couple, particularly the one regarding Anthony Daniels, were, no doubt, made before he actually saw the completed film. You have to remember, virtually everyone who worked on the film thought it was going to be rubbish.

It's also worth mentioning that Alec Guinness did not - there's a good few quotes from him praising GL's talents & what appealed to him from the start. When SW became a blockbuster & you had people seeing it 100 times, Guinness was somewhat flabbergasted at such an insane reaction. His attitude, was, no doubt, "Well it's a good film - but it's not THAT good, nothing could be."

 

I've seen most of these before, and they don't really bother me, either. First of all, when he made negative comments during his work on the film, Guiness was looking at an unfinished product. Most of the OT actors who were involved in ANH had no idea how the film was going to turn out. They were confronted with what looked like, for all intents and purposes, cardboard dialogue, cheesy props, and a very odd storyline. They had every right to believe it was going to turn out horribly.

Second of all, the individuals who worked with Guiness during the filming of ANH said that he was nothing short of utterly professional: polite, cooperative, and helpful. It was only after the release of ANH and the other Star Wars films began to reflect upon his career in a way that he wasn't used to that he began to issue these negative comments.

 

So, this Academy Award-winning actor was happy when he thought he was doing a stupid B movie during the has-been phase of his career but became bitter when it brought him fame and admiration? Look, chief, you became one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century. What the hell are you complaining about?

 

He'll always be Prince Faisal to me.

 

Prince Faisal was ridiculous.

 

Well...yeah! While the movie brought him fame and admiration, he might not have seen it that way. He may have considered it a personal insult to be remembered for this, when he'd worked on so many other, more high-quality films.

That's not the way I'd see it, but he might've seen it that way.

 

What I didn't tell him was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo.
I dont get it. Whats so bloody awful, banal or mumbo jumbo about his lines ???


BEN: Hello there! Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid.
BEN: Oh, don't worry, he'll be all right. Rest easy, son, you've had
a busy day. You're fortunate to be all in one piece.
BEN: The Jundland wastes are not to be traveled lightly. Tell me young
Luke, what brings you out this far?
BEN: Obi-Wan Kenobi...Obi-Wan? Now thats a name I haven't heard in a
long time...a long time.
BEN: Oh, he's not dead, or...not yet.
BEN: Well of course, of course I know him. He's me! I haven't gone by
the name Obi-Wan since oh, before you were born.
BEN: Don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting...
BEN: I think we better get indoors. The Sandpeople are easily startled
but they will soon be back and in greater numbers.
BEN: Quickly. They're on the move.
BEN: That's what your uncle told you. He didn't hold with your
father's ideals. Thought he should have stayed here and not gotten
involved.
BEN: Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father.
BEN: He was the best star-pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior.
I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself. And he was a
good friend. Which reminds me...
BEN: I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have
this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He
feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damned-fool idealistic
crusade like your father did.
BEN: Your fathers lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not
as clumsy or as random as a blaster.
BEN: An elegant weapon for a more civilized day. For over a thousand
generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justiceBEN: I seem to have found it.
in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire.
BEN: A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he
turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi
Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all
but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.
BEN: Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy
field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us.
It binds the galaxy together.
BEN: Now, let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little
friend. And where you come from.
BEN: I seem to have found it.
BEN: You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to
Alderaan.
BEN: I need your help, Luke. She needs your help. I'm getting too old
for this sort of thing.
BEN: That's your uncle talking.
BEN: Learn about the Force, Luke.
BEN: You must do what you feel is right, of course.
BEN: They didn't. But we are meant to think they did. These tracks are
side by side. Sandpeople always ride single file to hide there numbers.
BEN: And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only
Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.
BEN: Wait, Luke! It's too dangerous.
BEN: There's nothing you could have done, Luke, had you been there.
You'd have been killed, too, and the droids would be in the hands of
the Empire.
BEN: Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of
scum and villainy. We must be cautious.
BEN: They're for sale if you want them.
BEN: You don't need to see his identification.
BEN: These are not the droids your looking for.
BEN: He can go about his business.
BEN: (to Luke) Move along.
BEN: The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.
BEN: Well, most of the best freighter pilots can be found here. Only
watch your step. This place can be a little rough.
BEN: This one's not worth the effort. Come let me get you
something...
BEN: Chewbacca here is first-mate on a ship that might suit us.
BEN: Yes, indeed. If it's a fast ship.
BEN: Should I have?
BEN: Only passengers. Myself, the boy, two droids, and no questions
asked.
BEN: Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements.
BEN: We haven't that much with us. But we could

 

It may not have been his lines that he was specifically referring to. I'm pretty sure that Harrison Ford told GL that "You can write these lines, but you can't say them". It was the movie as a whole that he was putting down.

 

This. I think more than anything, he resented that most people saw him as Obi-Wan and not as his more critically praised/Shakespearean roles (although he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 1978 Oscars). He probably thought his other roles were being completely marginalized, and he'd be stuck with the Obi-Wan moniker.

But personally, none of this matters to me; the fact that he delivered such an awesome performance as Obi-Wan makes me ignore any misgivings he might have had about the role.

 

Yeah,

But you don't see Michael Caine badmouthing his "crappy" movies from the 80's ...

And now that Caine and guys like Jack Nicholson make mostly "Hey Look At Me, I'm An Old Guy" movies ... they do their work and don't seem to get mad.

Caine is probably going to remembered as Batman's butler - so what? He rolls with it.

"I WAS IN ZULU! Forget Secondhand Lions"

"I WAS IN CHINATOWN! Forget Bucket List"


They don't get salty or immature about their questionable choices ...

 

Not surprised. Search the web, and you'd find many variations of the above complaints from the OT and PT casts.

If you're looking for a break from the apprehension and antagonism, read up on Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, and Christopher Lee--all of whom seemed to thoroughly enjoy their respective Star Wars sojourns.

 

Excellent suggestion. It's easy to second-guess or even criticize Alec Guinness's position without
taking into account the celebrity of the actor and non-existence of the franchise at the time he
made his STAR WARS comments; much more fun to read the quoted actors perspectives on an
already established genre.

As you wrote, enough with the apprehension and antagonism.

 

Go easy .....

Remember some of Sir Alec's saltiness was in the early 80's ... when Star Wars was already heralded as a phenomenon and blockbuster, whathaveyou ...

His lamentations certainly are one of a kind - and smack of irritability towards being usurped by a role bigger than him.

 

Yep. Christopher Lee even said that George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and Tim Burton are the three directors he is most proud to have worked with.

 

That's one of my favorite things about them. They really enjoyed being a part of it.
As for Alec, I wasn't aware that he felt like that.