Anthony Daniels, voice of C-3PO, on his hurtful 'Star Wars' experience

Anthony Daniels has attained the position of being a Star Wars legend, voicing the lovable iconic golden droid C-3PO in all the films. But there was a time when playing the character turned a very hurtful experience for him.

Over the years, the actor has moved on, and says while the experience is imprinted in his memories, thinking about it has stopped being painful. He even wrote a book on his experiences, titled I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story.

"When I decided to write the book, I decided it should be as honest as possible without hurting people, without making stupid fantastic claims, whatever. Just the way it was. And I thought it was important, certainly to me, to say that it was very, very difficult at the beginning, when Lucasfilm tried to pretend that I had nothing to do with the film," Daniels said while looking back at his journey in the Star Wars universe.

"That I wasn't that character, I had no input. That I wasn't the puppeteer. Oh right, I had got a little credit on the roll up at the end. That was a very, very hurtful experience. And it's interesting that I had never actually put together what you just said, that 3PO gets pushed around, dumped on, ignored, everything, bullied, through all of these stories," he added.

The actor continued: "But what I do do, in the book, is to come towards the end and say -- and I'm not reading it, I'm remembering -- that I realised that for several years I'd harboured resentment. And why wouldn't I? There were very serious miscalculations about how to treat a person. That changed over the years, but those resentments did stay very front of the line."

Since then, he has let go of the feeling and moved on.

"I move on to say that then time changed, that I changed, that I realised that things had moved on. That those hurts would always stay there as hurts, but they weren't going to hurt anymore, unless people brought them up and then they will revive. But now there are better things to talk about. There are lovely things that happened, working with (director) JJ (Abrams), adorable. Having the enjoyment, and affection, and respect of the fans I realise was an amazing event to happen towards me," he shared.

"Eventually, as time went on, my stupidity, my hurts, my naiveness, my initial feelings changed, so that I can now happily talk to you about my joy of being part of this program, about other 'Star Wars' events, being part of the whole fan world. But there will always be memories, it would be stupid to deny them. But now I have moved very, very far away from that initial process," added the actor, who repressed the character in recent The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special.

The Mandalorian, the recent series coming out of the Star Wars universe, has won many fans. Asked about C-3PO appearing in the show, Daniels said: "I would love to see C-3PO in 'The Mandalorian'."

" 'The Mandalorian' takes a new look and I think a new style approach. There have been discussions, and how nicely now you put that, about the sequel trilogy that we just finished with the 'Rise Of Skywalker'," he said, adding: "There are elements that certainly are debatable and the thing about 'Star Wars' is it has always being chock-full of things to think about, concepts, ideas, views, morals, if you will. And people, fans, have debated for a long time. Certainly, the sequels advanced that."

The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special also stars Kelly Marie Tran, Billy Dee Williams, Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker, Tom Kane, James Arnold Taylor and Dee Bradley Baker. It is available on Disney+ Hotstar in India.

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

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