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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Alec Guiness's Thoughts on Appearing in STAR WARS
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2025 08:51:56 -0400
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On 2025-03-20 1:35 AM, shawn wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 23:43:22 -0400, Rhino
> <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 2025-03-19 10:53 PM, shawn wrote:
>>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 21:58:18 -0400, Rhino
>>> <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2025-03-19 9:36 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
>>>>> On 3/19/25 6:14 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Prior to accepting the role of Obi-wan (Ben) Kenobi, Sir Alec
>>>>>>> Guinness wrote
>>>>>>> the following to a friend:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        I have been offered a movie (20th Cent. Fox) which
>>>>>>>        I may accept, if they come up with proper money.
>>>>>>>        London and N. Africa, starting in mid-March. Science
>>>>>>>        fiction - which gives me pause - but is to be directed
>>>>>>>        by Paul [sic] Lucas who did AMERICAN GRAFFITI,
>>>>>>>        which makes me feel I should. Big part. Fairy-tale
>>>>>>>        rubbish but could be interesting perhaps.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> After he arrived on set, he did not change his opinion that the movie
>>>>>>> was
>>>>>>> "rubbish":
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        ...new rubbish dialogue reaches me every
>>>>>>>        other day on wadges of pink paper - and none of
>>>>>>>        it makes my character clear or even bearable. I
>>>>>>>        just think, thankfully, of the lovely bread, which
>>>>>>>        will help me keep going until next April even if
>>>>>>>        YAHOO [a play in which Guinness played satirist
>>>>>>>        Jonathan Swift] collapses in a week ... I must off
>>>>>>>        to studio and work with a dwarf (very sweet - and
>>>>>>>        he has to wash in a bidet) and your fellow countrymen
>>>>>>>        Mark Hamill and Tennyson (that can't be
>>>>>>>        right) Ford. Ellison (? - No!) - well, a rangy, languid
>>>>>>>        young man who is probably intelligent and amusing.
>>>>>>>        But oh, God, they make me feel ninety - and treat
>>>>>>>        me as if I was 106. - Oh, Harrison Ford - ever
>>>>>>>        heard of him?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dude! You saw American Graffiti directed by Paul Lucas! Ellison Ford had
>>>>>> a small role in the movie!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Later on in the filming, Guinness wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        "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"
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To be fair, everybody hates that the script is never finished.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> He did have some nice things to say about the completed film:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle, and
>>>>>>>        technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy and warm-
>>>>>>>        hearted. The battle scenes at the end go on for
>>>>>>>        five 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"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> However, it was not an experience he liked to talk about afterwards:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>        "I shrivel up every time someone mentions
>>>>>>>        STAR WARS to me."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Clark Gable despised making Gone With the Wind, and thought It Happened
>>>>>> One Night was utter shite.
>>>>>
>>>>> I saw the latter, in the 1990s(?), and did not care for it.
>>>>>
>>>> I finally saw it a year or so back and didn't much care for it either.
>>>>
>>>>>> Uh, raise your hand if you want to hear an actor's opinion on what makes
>>>>>> a movie entertaining. Anybody? Don't all get up at once.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yeah, a lot of actors get their own stuff wrong. Musicians too! (There's
>>>>> a doc on Yes where the bandmembers clearly didn't understand how great
>>>>> an album "Relayer" was!!)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Savages! Relayer is a fine album!!
>>>>
>>>> I had no idea you were a Yes fan. Have you ever listened to Rick Wakeman
>>>> being interviewed? He is a legendary keyboardist (and yes, I know he
>>>> didn't play on Relayer) but also a truly entertaining speaker, full of
>>>> stories of his life as a musician, both with Yes and playing with other
>>>> people. He's also written two books full of anecdotes about his career.
>>>> I haven't laughed so hard in YEARS!
>>>
>>> You mean like this:
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zppfjeculUs
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4CCMeTlDXI
>>>
>>> This one shows some of his skill at the keyboard.
>>
>> The second of those is an excerpt from the first - or at least the same
>> interview. Beato may have removed some bits of the longer interview from
>> his main channel and put it on the second channel. (I've only watched
>> the full interview once and certainly haven't memorized it.)
>>
>> It's a fine interview but the books contain a lot of stories from a
>> colourful life; some of them aren't even music-related. He tells a great
>> story about meeting some submariners while drinking after a gig and then
>> being smuggled aboard their (top secret) sub to have a look around,
>> which had a hilarious sequel. His adventures with home repair are
>> surprising too. He was a notorious boozer and smoker who went cold
>> turkey with zero effort after he had some health scares. He seems like a
>> remarkably down-to-earth and approachable individual despite his fame.
>> I'd love to spend an afternoon talking to him.
> 
> 
> Ah, you mean his sense of humor like this:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i34kuOqEXRc

That speech is actually the first time I ever heard him speak and where 
I first realized how witty he was.


-- 
Rhino