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Anthony Daniels Q&A Panel | C-3PO Talks Star Wars, Memories & Behind-the-Scenes Stories!
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Jun 16, 2025
Step into the Star Wars universe with Anthony Daniels, the iconic actor behind C-3PO, in this exclusive Fan Expo Dallas Q&A panel! Anthony shares unforgettable behind-the-scenes stories, insights into working with George Lucas, and his experiences filming across the original and sequel trilogies. Whether you're a lifelong Star Wars fan or new to the galaxy, you won't want to miss this hilarious, heartfelt, and informative session with one of the saga’s most enduring stars. 📍 Recorded live at Fan Expo Dallas 2025 🔔 Subscribe for more convention panels, celebrity interviews, and fan experiences: @talesfromthecollection 📲 Follow for daily updates: Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | YouTube – @talesfromthecollection 🌐 talesfromthecollection.com
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Applause]
0:04
what did you think i thought it was
0:05
amazing i thought you said that
0:10
and and for others there are pictures
0:12
inside okay
0:16
i I know that would appeal to you there
0:18
we are you don't have to read the word
0:20
have we done with the makeup oh yeah
0:22
it's not working for me well it's not
0:24
working
0:27
what was I talking about um
0:31
oh yeah so there I am uh took two hours
0:35
to put the costume on bit by bit first
0:38
of all starting with a sort of uh like a
0:40
corset of the zipper up here and then
0:43
putting on the pants there and then kind
0:47
of
0:48
a leg and then a foot and then
0:52
and so now I'm kind of complete from
0:55
here down and then comes the back and
1:00
the chest
1:02
so now I'm kind of locked in with my
1:04
arms sticking out and already there's a
1:06
kind of nasty bridge under here which is
1:08
now uh hitting my own nerve and that's
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pretty painful after a while but now an
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arm comes on and hand the hands were
1:19
dreadful they were clumps of metal but
1:22
we had an hand here so now I'm
1:25
pretty much ready except for three
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pieces the neck
1:35
Google
1:37
and now comes the final indignity the
1:40
head imagine a kind of Easter egg with a
1:43
front and a back come together to join
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together that was easy except the horror
1:49
the horror
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uh
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cuz now I have no ability to use my arms
1:56
my arms can only go there
1:59
they can't come any closer to my body
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think about this think of your natural
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movements how we express ourselves how
2:05
we use our gestures and the facial area
2:08
to express emotion and feeling so now
2:12
I'm there
2:14
and now comes the map this has taken an
2:16
hour and a half
2:18
five six people now they all get
2:21
together to push the kind of earring
2:24
effect through the hole in the front
2:26
through the hole in the back which lined
2:28
up and then a hole in the neck and the
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clever thing was that had a bare net
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fitting the screw and as they pushed
2:36
through hole number one and hole number
2:38
two no problem no problem but when they
2:42
came to hole number three in the neck
2:45
guess what then they pushed away and the
2:48
more they pushed the more the neck went
2:50
away and the more they pushed and the
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neck went away and the more they pushed
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and then and I had no control over my
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body
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oh sorry
3:01
that's so deep in the moments there um
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they they couldn't get it in to do that
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to close and lock
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finally after half an hour after two
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hours total 3PO was complete
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and then they did a magical thing and
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this was probably the best one of the
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best moments of filming that
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I was in a tent i mean forget Hollywood
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glamour i was in like a a cop scout tent
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with you know tables with all the stuff
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on it but now they were all on me and
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the crew were exhausted i was exhausted
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we hadn't even begun filming yet uh and
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as they pulled the 10 flaps back I at
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3PO kind of walled into because there
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was no rehearsal at the studios this was
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the first time apart from a 10 15 minute
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try out in a studio in L Street London
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this was the first time I've really worn
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the costume so I kind of look like that
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and then as I came into the sun of the
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desert
4:07
Yeah
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but not what you think because what I
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could see through the kind of through
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the eyes of three people like looking in
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one of those World War II movies where
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people look through binoculars and this
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will kind of be I saw the world in a
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completely different way i was locked in
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my own space but what I could see over
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here was the American crew because we
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were in Tunia's area there was American
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British and the local helpers the
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Americans across were like "Oh my god
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look at all this incredible." Wow look
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at that fantastic
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fantastic
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[Applause]
4:53
awesome
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and the British were going "That's
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rather good isn't it?"
5:01
And the gymniz
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they adored me they'd never seen
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anything we were in the middle of
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nowhere and uh
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why am I telling you this i can't
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remember anyway this is the first time
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I've worn the suit and we get to the set
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and already uh it had broken the leg had
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broken so in that first scene with Uncle
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Lar I'm not even wearing a foot but
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that's the power of editing if the
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camera doesn't see doesn't show you what
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to look at you don't see it and there's
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all sorts of stuff going on that you
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will never know but I'll tell you about
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it and then I realized I didn't really
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know what I looked like six months
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making this costume and we hadn't
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actually got around to allowing me to
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rehearse with uh cameras and mirrors so
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that I could actually see how to work
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this extraordinary piece of equipment
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they said "No it has to go off to two
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years ago." So there I was for the first
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time and I said to the continuity lady
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and she's going "Pardon
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oh sharp." So she would and then she
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held it up as
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well where I could obviously held it
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higher and I this imagine I had no
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bodily function i had no vision i
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couldn't hold I could uh every move I
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made made noises so that I couldn't hear
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myself anyway she held up this polar
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void and I looked at 3PO's face
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and became 3PO it's a really weird thing
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that happened oh and I don't rehearsse
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for six nights with the script but I
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didn't really know what I was going to
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do with it until that moment
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and it's a bit of space magic for which
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I am truly grateful cuz the you know we
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hadn't even got to the force by then but
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it it was a moment that I am hugely
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grateful for and then we started
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shooting and of course my first line was
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something like And it's it's
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in a book what I wrote
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just that my first line was um to
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unbelieving you know he says do you
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speak language of moers
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it's like a second language for me um
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um my my first job was programming I
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really love very simply for many respect
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and this is garbage I was used to like
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Shakespeare and stuff like that
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george doesn't write Shakespeare stuff
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um
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so take a bit of passion so my first job
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was
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cut
8:03
let's go
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cut
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action
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cut george came up and he said
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"Don't worry about the voice we can fix
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it later say anything you want."
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[Applause]
8:28
Shakespeare never said that to
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characters
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shakespeare wrote stuff that the actors
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said because it made sense anybody in
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the room ever had to talk about binary
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load lifters i thought not um cuz this
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is true and then he said you can say
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anything you want
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action
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so my first job was
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terrific cut
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i
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I'd never been in a film before i was I
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was used to uh television where you can
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you know do things differently and on
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stage where you have had time to learn
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the words and rehearse with other people
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who are in the same production as you
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you know all right i did drive to work
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with Mark Hamill in the car and we would
9:19
go through each other's lines on the way
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out into the desert one day I How can
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you say this stuff uh and he said "Well
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look you look at your I said "Yes but
9:32
nobody knows I'm in this movie so I can
9:34
just get away." Uh and of course um I
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had a a microphone here and a
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transmitter here and a wire connecting
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to the two this was very old days
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everything was wired and you know
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hardwired
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and we carried on and um of course
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um So they got me at the end of the day
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to take the head off and record the
10:00
lines wild as we say so the editor had
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something to do um 6 months later
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uh I get called to go to Hollywood
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literally and went into the studio to
10:13
put my voice back on the movie and when
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I went in the the engineer said "Oh hi
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you're Anthony." I mean Americans do
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mispronounce my name all the time but I
10:23
forgive you it's all right
10:25
anthony you know it's incredible you got
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here because you know we spent a couple
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of months trying to find a voice in your
10:32
character cuz you know George really
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hates your performance
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[Laughter]
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george came in at that moment i looked
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at him i said "You hated my perform?"
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Well no never thought of him as being a
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British public
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[Applause]
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just saying but of course it's important
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to remember
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that the transmitter was here through
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all the way through that movie i'm
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talking to you out of my butt
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has anybody got a question yeah yeah now
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you had your dough
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you said something remarkable and I want
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to remember what was it you said your
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book is amazing
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you can buy the book you can buy the
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book there are about 10 copies left here
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today on the other on the other hand a
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really classy thing you could do even
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better and I spent five days of my life
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uh talking about myself uh which is
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always a good thing I think um because
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there is also an audio version which um
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of the book what I wrote oh somebody has
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it on camera put your camera away we are
11:45
doing Yeah it's
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Oh it's on audible yes you can either
11:50
have this here or on Audible in and you
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have the voice of JJ Abrahams abraham
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sorry who you will know Hank uh was the
12:00
director of the film you really hate
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so I'm not going to tell him that you
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hate this movie is that
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Don't apologize no you are Dead Bman and
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you go
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[Music]
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Now you made me feel guilty for
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humiliating
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[Applause]
12:25
humili
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um yeah so you can have this what was
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lovely on the set one day um JJ said you
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know you should write a book are you yes
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actually um would you write the
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introduction it would be an honor so he
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did in the book uh and then when it came
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to recording well there's only one
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person who could do JJ's voice that is
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KJ uh so he in post-prouction in uh the
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film that you made um because I was
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writing it on the set partly um that you
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so his is the voice you hear at the
13:01
beginning yes would you stand up because
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you have a question we're we're entering
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the makeup so
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just just turn this way uh can I ask
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question well that's the general purpose
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i you guys don't get out very much do
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you it's ridiculous
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okay now be very brave on action you
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just say your question ready
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i said action
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right
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if you could write one see how how much
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better that
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there's no like whatever it's just
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straight in with the question that was
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very good and let's try again action if
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you could write one scene and and put it
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in any of the movies what would the
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scene be and where would you put it it
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would be a scene of 3 uh having his very
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own blaster
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[Applause]
14:04
and I have a list i have a little list
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vengeance is not a quality of a Jedi but
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three 3P is about as far away from a
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Jedi as
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so vengeance is mine
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yes in the short time we have together
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cuz you got to go off and get people's
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autographs and stop people from Star
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Trek and everything who's got a really
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brilliant question i rather like your
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your makeup yes um I don't think you're
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in a Star Wars thing but you look cute
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so So what what's your name my name's
14:41
Elsie elsie
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what is you ready for this i'm going to
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ask you a question and then you could
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What is your question Elsie my question
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was you see you don't have to say my
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question
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time is very expensive
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when you were rolling film you know that
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would be this much cellular totally
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wasted because you said my question is
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you want to try again ready sure
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action which of the movies was your most
15:14
fun like shooting with like the cast and
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the production team that's a very good
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question uh because having been in all
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nine movies
15:27
just saying
15:29
again um nine nine
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yeah
15:37
question if the answer is nine W what is
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the if the answer is 9 W what is the
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question
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if the answer is 9 W what is the
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question
15:58
it is not the question
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if the question is 9 W
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the question if the answer is 9 W the
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question is tell me Dr vagner do you
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spell your name with a V
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i knew I should have seen it this is
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Fagner spelled with a W pronounced with
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a V work on it
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oh you just got it
16:34
wow okay
16:37
well there this is a lovely convention
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because uh you know many people have
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come in costume and so on i think
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there's even been visiting later a 3PO
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why anybody would make their own C3PO
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costume for fun it's really weird
16:56
anyway on the other hand we have
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Deadpool Hank
17:03
deadpool Hank are you going to go and
17:04
watch a movie
17:07
he's thinking about it in answer to your
17:09
question curiously
17:12
episode nine
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was the film I had most fun on because
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um 3PO had some great moments he had
17:20
spent the whole nine movies and I know
17:24
because I was there i was there spent
17:27
the whole nine movies uh boasted that he
17:31
was fluent in over six million forms of
17:33
communication and finally in episode 9
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he's asked to translate words on a dire
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it is forbidden for me to translate from
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the Sith and all the other ah it was a
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very nice piece of of uh writing so
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there we are that was episode nine i had
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the best fun my favorite is to watch is
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episode four because it was so simple i
18:00
got it there were hardly any politics
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there was only two lightsabers I think
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and like two Jedi i mean now go
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everybody's a Jedi everybody's got the
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Force what is that a lightsaber and I
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don't care what color your lightsaber is
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just
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But it is important to note that when we
18:25
were shooting A New Hope in the desert
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in 1976
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it didn't have a number it was just a
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film a new home and then something magic
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happened in spite of the cast Harry
18:38
Fisher Mark Hamill myself Harrison all
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despising the script we all did it
18:43
properly because we were real actors um
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in spite of us it became a huge success
18:50
and people like yourselves went to the
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theater and then you went and got your
18:54
friends and they came back and they saw
18:55
it and they went and it went viral
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didn't exist the word viral in that
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sense now we'd say yes it went viral
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because of you and you you went viral so
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we made what became episode 5 episode 6
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episode 1 two three and the episodes we
19:10
don't talk about
19:14
i'll never work again
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but actually literally seriously it is
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yourselves yourselves who have made this
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happen
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work for really 50 years extraordinary i
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I started off as a young man no look at
19:31
me
19:32
um and so I I do say uh really a big
19:37
thank you to you and you for
19:39
appreciating you know on a film set
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everybody busy with the next scene the
19:44
real appreciation comes from you and it
19:46
it feels really nice it's lovely and
19:48
particularly today
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you've been lovely and Hank probably
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doesn't remember one of the seinal lines
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from the last
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i wonder if you remember because right
20:01
now I'm going to paraphrase and say
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thank you and I'm taking one last look
20:08
let my friends Thank you
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