Collection of Alec Guinness Quotes on Star Wars

[Borsk]

Some of these I hadn't read before...

"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." - Guinness talking about encouraging Lucas to kill off Kenobi

"I shrivel up every time someone mentions Star Wars to me."

"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" - during filming of Star Wars

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

"The only really disappointing performance was Tony Daniels as the robot - fidgety and over-elaborately spoken. Not that any of the cast can stand up to the mechanical things around them" - on the performances in Star Wars

"It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle, and technically brillant. Exciting, very noisy and warm hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for 5 minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise, but it remains a vivid experience" - having seen the completed Star Wars for the first time

"Science fiction - which gives me pause - but it is to be directed by Paul Lucas, who did American Graffiti, which makes me think I should. Big part. Fairytale rubbish, but could be interesting" - while considering doing Star Wars

"I liked him. The conversation was divided culturally by 8,000 miles and 30 years; but I think we might understand each other if I can get past his intensity" - on his first lunch meeting with George Lucas

Other info:

Harrison Ford said that Guinness helped him find an apartment to stay at when he arrived in England to film the first Star Wars film.

George Lucas said Guinness was very patient and helpful to him during the filming of the first Star Wars, even to the point of getting the other actors to work more seriously.

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.

Though he often spoke critically of Star Wars, the three leads, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, have always spoken very fondly of him, praising him as being a very professional actor who was always respectful to the people he worked with.

Ewan McGregor was not the only actor in the Star Wars prequels to study his performances. The voice for the character Watto was modeled after Guinness's performance as Fagin in Oliver Twist.

Despite popular belief he NEVER uttered the line 'May the force be with you' in ANY of the Star Wars films (the closest he came was 'the force will be with you').

Guinness claimed to throw away all Star Wars related fan mail without even opening it.

 

[Barada]

Where did you get those from Borsk?

Very insightful, but my recollection is that he almost quit when he found out Obi-Wan was to die. Apparently he only stayed because Lucas told him he'd still be around in spirit form. The quote where he encouraged Lucas to kill Obi-Wan off contradicts this...

Nice collection though.

Barada

 

[Borsk]

I found them on this page:

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

I was looking up "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and ended up reading it.

Buzz is probably going to complain about IMDB being inaccurate, but oh well.

If you listen to the DVD commentary for ANH, Lucas talks about killing off Obi-Wan and definately contradicts the Guinness quote.

I can see Guinness being bitter and saying it even though it might not be exactly true. However, I can also see Guinness being truthful about it and Lucas revising history to make himself look better. I dunno.

 

[darthskellington]

Interesting. I wouldn't really doubt the quotes much......he wasn't a huge SW fan and lamented being remembered only for it. However....he did sign me an autograph through the mail, though. I was extremely polite...asked about his other work...and explained it was my first autograph request ever.

 

[wookiee_cookiee]

I have heard the quote about Guninness wanting Kenobi to be killed off as well. I *think* it was on a documentary someplace, so I wouldn't be quick to dismiss it. But of course I don't know the source off the top of my head.

 

[Borsk]

If you watch the "A New Hope" DVD with the commentary track on, Lucas spends quite a bit of time explaining how he wanted to kill off Kenobi so that Luke could face the challenge at the end of the movie alone.

Maybe they just mutually agreed for different reasons. Lucas spins it that Guinness wasn't thrilled with the idea though.

 

[Darth Boru]

Whichever way you take the quote, apparently Sir Alec was the only one clever enough to do it for a percentage! A wise old Jedi, was he

 

[Borsk]

Whichever way you take the quote, apparently Sir Alec was the only one clever enough to do it for a percentage! A wise old Jedi, was he

I *think* he got $150,000 plus 2%.

 

[Darth Boru]

2% of...em, well, tons is .....

(gets socks off)

em....tons!! Definitely a wise old Jedi!

I wonder if he used a mind trick on GL to get that??

 

[Darth Aussie]

Didn't Harrison want his Han Solo character killed off too?

 

[Borsk]

Didn't Harrison want his Han Solo character killed off too?

Yeah, he didn't want to come back for ROTJ.

 

[Darth Aussie]

Must have been a decent paycheck to make him come back.....