 Hey everybody, welcome back to my Star Wars channel. My name is David and this is Star Wars Day. This is May the 4th, 2021. And today we're talking about C3PO. Here are the possibilities of successfully navigating the household field as approximately 3,720 to 1. Never tell me the odds. Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel. It is Star Wars Day. Star Wars Day May the 4th, right? May the 4th be with you. Thanks so much for sharing your Star Wars Day with me. And of course, having a platform like this, the question is asked how am I gonna celebrate Star Wars Day? How am I gonna celebrate Star Wars Day with you? Because in trying to find a topic to talk about today or a subject matter, I wanted to find something that I felt for me encompasses Star Wars. Something that's kind of like universal, something that taps in to every single Star Wars fan. And of course, that's gotta be C3PO. But not just C3PO, the man behind C3PO. It is not fair to talk about C3PO without mentioning Anthony Daniels. Anthony Daniels was born February 21st, 1946. He's an English actor. He's a mine. And he's best known for playing C3PO in all 10 Star Wars films. In fact, since 1977, Star Wars, A New Hope, Anthony Daniels has portrayed C3PO in every single installment, save one. So that means yes, for a brief moment, he was in Rogue One and he was even in Solo, but he wasn't in Solo as C3PO. He was in Solo as Dak. And plus he's also appeared in a Star Wars film as himself in one other installment. So yeah, C3PO has been in every single one of the original trilogy films. He's been in the prequel films. He's done The Voice for C3PO in Clone Wars and Lego shows. And like I said, he's been in Rogue One. He's been in Solo. Anthony Daniels has been acting and portraying C3PO for us since the beginning. So I would make the argument that C3PO is actually the most beloved Star Wars character of all time, which makes him the perfect subject for us today on Star Wars Day. So today we're gonna talk about Anthony Daniels book. I Am C3PO, The Inside Story. Now, this was his recent memoir that was just released. It was on my Christmas 2020 wish list. Got it for Christmas. So I got this for Christmas. This is a Christmas gift and loved it, read it. It's a wonderful memoir that takes the reader through every aspect of the filmmaking. So he'll talk about how he got the initial call for every single one of the films. He'll talk about costume fittings. He'll go into scripts, shooting various scenes and of course his difficulty walking in the costume. Plus he's gonna cover all the press, all the appearances that he's made, like The Muppet Show, The Holiday Special and his appearance at Grumman's Chinese Theater. The book is a really easy read. It's only 256 pages. And I would say that Anthony Daniels' writing style is very familiar, very conversational, very friendly. It feels like you're just sitting with him in his living room and you're just having, you know, a cup of tea and listening to him tell stories. And Anthony Daniels has one of those voices, right, that's instantly recognizable. You know his voice. You know C-3PO's voice. So it was very hard to not read this book hearing Anthony Daniels speak to you as he writes. Plus, as you read, you can really hear Anthony Daniels' dry British wit come out. I mean, it's so, he's very funny at times. And the book itself is written kind of like a screenplay. So that makes it fun to read as well. And this is the story that really nobody else but he could have told because it's all done from his perspective. And throughout the book, I'm gonna say he's very honest. He's very direct about his interactions, the relationships he's had with other actors, just how the entire process has made him feel. And he doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't soften any blows here. And I think that's one of the things that drew me in the most. And I kind of wanted to use one of his examples as one of my examples. The Muppet Show, there was a Star Wars episode of the Muppet Show. I think we all remember it. 1980, Mark Hamill was on. And C-3PO and Archditu made guest appearances alongside him. Now Anthony Daniels talks about that. And I think that one episode kind of encapsulates a lot of the feelings that he talks about in the book. And that is Mark Hamill was the guest on the Muppet Show. C-3PO and Archditu were also there. Now, it wasn't an actor playing C-3PO. It really was Anthony Daniels. He really was there. But nobody ever said and Anthony Daniels portraying C-3PO. So the actor inside the costume never gets recognized. Mark Hamill got to be recognized. He got to play Luke, but he also got to play himself. And he got to do funny bits as himself. And notably, Mark Hamill is a very funny actor and he's a very good actor as well. But the man behind the mask never gets to come out. I mean, we talk about Grumman's Chinese Theater. Same thing, right? Anthony Daniels got to go to Grumman's Chinese Theater and put his feet in the cement and write his signature. No, it's C-3PO's feet that are in the cement and it's C-3PO's signature. Now, Anthony Daniels was there, but again, the actor who played that iconic character isn't recognized. And for me, hearing that in the story really broke my heart. And it didn't just break my heart as a 53-year-old Star Wars nerd. It broke my heart as a child. Because like I said, I've been with this franchise since the very beginning. I've been with the Star Wars since it all began. And I'm fortunate enough to be one of those people that still has all of my original action figures. I don't have one of those stories where I had a shoebox of action figures and my mom sold it at a garage sale or I got damaged in a flood. Like, I kept every single one of my original action figures and I still have my C-3PO right here. This is my original C-3PO action figure that I first had when I was a child. And not only that is, C-3PO was one of the very first action figures I had. I think I had two. My first two figures were Luke and 3PO and my brother's first two figures were Han and R2-D2. Now, I didn't buy C-3PO because Chewbacca wasn't available. I didn't buy a C-3PO because Darth Vader wasn't available. I didn't buy a C-3PO because he was the only one left on the peg hook. My parents bought me C-3PO because I wanted C-3PO. I wanted him because I liked him as a character on the screen and for him, even in that very first movie, before I had seen any other film, I had already attached myself to this character and I wanted to play this character and he did get a lot of playtime. If you look at him, his joints are very loose. He saw a lot of action. This C-3PO had a lot of adventures and I remember that even as a child growing up, even back in the 1970s, early 80s, I knew the names of every single actor in the Star Wars films and that was something that I took pride on. I had a behind the scenes book, like a magazine, and it showed the actors and talked about their names and I memorized them. I memorized Peter Mayhew's name. I memorized David Prouth's name. I memorized Kenny Baker's name and I memorized Anthony Daniels' name. So for me to hear his story and to talk about how he felt wearing the mask, portraying C-3PO on shows like The Muppet Show or going to Grumman's Chinese Theater and not being recognized. In me, my little child was screaming and yelling and raising his hand and saying, I knew your name. I knew your name. And if I could talk to Anthony Daniels myself, that would be the message I would tell him. Through tears, I would say I knew your name. And it wasn't just C-3PO that meant a lot to me. It was you. You made my Star Wars and you make my Star Wars day. Of course, my original C-3PO stays at home with me up on the shelf. He's got a special place with all the other original action figures but here in my office, I have other variations of C-3PO from different films and I've even repurchased the original vintage action figure so that he could sit right next to Luke Skywalker in The Land Speeder. So happy Star Wars day and thank you so much to Anthony Daniels for allowing us all to see through the eyes of C-3PO and the wonderful work that you did to bring that character to life. That's everything I can say about Anthony Daniels' wonderful book. I would highly recommend, if you are a Star Wars fan, that you go out, pick it up, buy it because it's gonna bring you that much closer to the series that we all love. Thanks guys. Have a wonderful day. It made the fourth be with you. I'll see you guys next time. Bye.