Robin Williams And George Lucas Sat Down To Discuss 'Star Wars' Fans, This Is What They Had To Say
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Oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear the entire conversation shared between legendary filmmaker, George Lucas, and renowned comedian/actor Robin Williams as they discuss the Jar Jar Binks backlash at his inception BEFORE Episode I: The Phantom Menace even hit theaters. Lucas remains unapologetic for this character choice and drew numerous examples of other characters from the beloved franchise that while popular now, was hated by fans initially.
In Episode IV: A New Hope C3PO was the despised character on the screen. Lucas told Williams in their interview that fans found him to be the most repulsive of the characters whereas Robin likened his flare to a classic Laurel and Hardy vibe. It may come as a surprise to some, but the haters spoke out against Yoda when he arrived on the scene in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas discussed how the fans at first didn’t like the way he talked. This is discussed via voiceover as Yoda explained to Luke “syntax have none.” Lucas shared in the video that fans really hated the Ewoks as well. He quoted the fanbase by saying “they are too cute, too furry.” Williams went into one of his trademark character impression bits and managed to elicit laughter from the screenwriter/director/producer while imitating how all the characters could be like Darth Maul.
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Lucas made it a point to discuss the level of care that was taken to create a non-generic feel to the world building. He pointed out that the galaxy is made up of many planets with unique and different beings and how unnatural, and unrelatable it would be if everyone spoke, behaved, and appeared the same. It certainly would not have had an authentic feel to it if everyone spoke in perfect English. This led to a gripping discussion about the various accents across the franchise. Ewan McGregor for instance has an exceptionally thick Scottish accent yet for his role as the younger self of Obi-Wan Kenobi he utilized his talent to emulate Sir Alec Guinness’ proper English accent. Lucas remembered how his goal at the time was to mush dialects, accents, and languages across the board to create more authenticity in the character base. Enter in C3PO, Yoda, Ewoks, Wookies, and like him or hate him – Jar Jar.
In short George Lucas says the issue is always the same – “fans hate sidekicks, and the smallest, goofiest characters tend to get despised.” To hear this interesting conversation and enjoy the hilarity that is Robin Williams as he rifts away with character impressions and accents check out this YouTube video.
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Source: YouTube