A Harmless Omission Made C-3PO’s Star Wars Casting A Bit Awkward – /Film

Daniels remembered the little linguistic error when talking to production secretary Patricia Carr and producer Robert Watts. They wanted to cast him in a body mold, not in the role of C-3PO. He said: 

“When I went back for the second interview, Pat Carr, the production secretary, asked when could I go to the studios to be cast. […] She meant ‘cast in plaster,’ so I said I hadn’t been cast in the part yet. She seemed slightly embarrassed and so did Robert Watts. I thought that was a bit strange.” 

Of course, as it so happened, there was a double confusion. It seems that Daniels, when he learned he didn’t have the role yet, went to the director to plead his case. It wouldn’t be until later that Daniels would learn that Lucas had indeed already cast him as C-3PO sometime earlier. The secondary confusion, however, can be blamed on Daniels’ secretive talent agent. He said: 

“… I went in and talked to George again for about an hour, and I asked him, ‘Can’t I play it, because I’d really like to.’ And he said yes. It was just a gas. It was like winning a prize. But I later found out that Lucas had cast me the first time — and my agent hadn’t wanted to tell me about it in case I hated the whole idea! So I was excited about the whole thing and started going to the studios to have the costume made.”

One will do well to recall that “Star Wars” was looked upon with a lot of skepticism by the Hollywood system back when it was still in production. As such, it makes sense that Daniels’ agent would offer their client an “out,” just in case he changed his mind.

He didn’t.