Star Wars Actors Who Have Dissed The Franchise
As huge as the Star Wars franchise is, they're clearly not the infallible cinematic treasures we all once thought they were. That's been made pretty clear by some of the actors from the past movies who just didn't have a good time making the films. At all.
Alec Guinness
Even before Alec Guinness began filming the original Star Wars, he was down on the entire idea of it. Letters reprinted in his biography recount him referring to the film as "fairytale rubbish" to friends and debating whether or not he'd even bother taking the film. Once he had started the film, he continued his correspondence and love of the word "rubbish" by detailing how "new rubbish dialogue" reaches him every other day. A later journal entry stated the money was nice but the dialogue, which changed frequently, was always terrible. And he felt very old.
In a memoir, Guinness later recounted the story of his regret when he met a child in San Francisco who told the actor he'd seen Star Wars over a hundred times. Guinness asked him a favor: to never watch the movie again, something the boy and his mother found offensive. Guinness, for his part, went on to wish that the child, now grown up, had managed to outgrow secondhand, childish banalities.
Jake Lloyd
No actor has seemed more disappointed with their involvement in the Star Wars franchise than Jake Lloyd, the little boy who, back in the day, seemed to have won the Golden Ticket when he was cast as young Anakin Skywalker. Lloyd has described his time in a galaxy far, far away as a living hell that led to bullying in school and his retirement from acting altogether. Lloyd was teased mercilessly in school and couldn't go anywhere without someone making a lightsaber noise. This wasn't just second grade—this was his entire school career until he graduated high school. And then it continued in college.
Lloyd became so frustrated that he destroyed all the memorabilia he had from the franchise and stayed true to his word—the word of a bullied eight-year-old—to never act again. Over time he attended cons as a way to make money but clearly never took any joy in meeting fans. He's said that part of the problem with the prequel trilogy was that they were made for children and George Lucas didn't try to make them live up to the expectations of adult fans.
Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels, the man behind the golden, eternally surprised face of C-3PO, has played the droid in all seven Star Wars films, one of very few actors to cover the entire franchise so far. And though we get to see little of the real Daniels, when speaking about the franchise and its evolution, he hasn't been afraid to point out that George Lucas was never really the kind of director to do things the right way. He did things his way, sure, but not necessarily the right way. Daniels says Abrams is much more collaborative a director, a man who will listen to his cast and crew, while Lucas would simply do what he wanted, whether it was a good idea or not.
Daniels, like many others, also has some choice words for the prequel trilogy, pointing out that while digital effects are clever, they were also pointless, cold, and bleak.
Terence Stamp
Cinema's original General Zod, Terence Stamp appeared in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as Chancellor Valorum. Maybe it's because he's been around a while, has been nominated for awards, and has experienced many different actors and directors, but Stamp was more than candid in an interview with Empire Magazine when he expressed his utter disgust with director George Lucas, pointing out that Lucas was clearly more interested in the elements of the film besides acting, like special effects and such, and really was a poor director when it came to working with humans.
Stamp said he took the job for only two reasons; because his agent pressured him into it (since Star Wars is something you can't say no to), and because he really wanted to work with Natalie Portman after falling in love with her performance in Luc Besson's The Professional. The final kick in the pants, of course, was when he was to shoot his scene with Portman, the actress he'd travelled across the world to meet, and George Lucas had replaced her with a paper cutout stand-in for the scene.
Ewan McGregor
While it probably seemed like a brilliant idea to sign on as young Obi-Wan Kenobi at the time, Ewan Mcgregor went on to regret his decision and the experience of filming the prequel trilogy. He's stated that he felt the movies were the worst he's done in his career and that he only saw them at the premieres. At other times he's also stated he really dislikes the fan base, specifically autograph hounds, whom he refers to as "parasites." Actually he used a lot of other words to describe them, but "parasites" is the only one that doesn't include swearing.
Peter Serafinowicz
You might be wondering why Peter Serafinowicz, the British comedic actor possibly most well known to US audiences as Pete in Shaun of the Dead would have ill will towards the Star Wars franchise. After all, you probably don't even remember seeing him in any the movies. And it's true, you didn't see him, since his face wasn't ever on screen. He was, however, hired to be the voice of Darth Maul for The Phantom Menace, an experience that Serafinowicz clearly didn't enjoy.
According to the man himself, George Lucas gave him the direction "sound evil" and nothing more to go on with Maul. Then, nearly every single line he recorded was cut anyway. If you recall, the character gets maybe three lines, none of which add much to the story at all. To add insult to injury, Serafinowicz wasn't even invited to the film's premiere, he had to just buy a ticket like everyone else and then, like everyone else, he discovered it was just kind of a bad movie.
David Prowse
David Prowse was one third of what was to become the on-screen version of the Sith Lord. His problem was that he was under the impression he would be a lot more. Obviously the actor was replaced during fight scenes by a skilled swordmaster who could do the stunt work for him, but Prowse maintains he was never told that James Earl Jones was taking over voice duty for him. According to Prowse, it was done behind his back and he didn't find out until basically all the rest of us did that Vader's iconic voice simply wasn't his.
Harrison Ford
This one is harder to wrap your head around considering Han Solo is back for the new trilogy. But if you're familiar with Harrison Ford's gruff interview style and history, you'll be well aware he's never much of a Star Wars fan. Even now with the new trilogy, when asked by Jimmy Fallon if he got excited by putting on the uniform again, Ford shot him down by explaining that no, what he got was paid.
In the past Ford has been very reluctant to discuss the movies, clearly not thinking as much of them as their fans. He would deflect questions and sometimes outright mock the movies, referring to his character as "Ham Yoyo." Rumor has it he asked Lucas to kill him off in Return of the Jedi and publicly stated that three movies were enough for him and he had no intention of reprising the role. However, it seems that the mix of time, a new director, and probably that aforementioned payday changed his mind.