Over the years, it hasn’t been uncommon for “Star Wars” actors to share their love for the franchise publicly. However, Sir Alec Guinness was in another category entirely. Throughout his post-“Star Wars” life, he made it abundantly clear on multiple occasions that he wasn’t a big fan, famously telling his friend Anne Kaufman about his uncertainty and frustration toward George Lucas’ passion project. “Fairy-tale rubbish but could be interesting perhaps,” he wrote of the original film in one letter (via Business Insider)
Once Guinness signed his lavish contract and filming on “Star Wars” began, he once again wrote to Kaufman to complain about the production. “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,” he said. Still, Guinness’ feelings on “Star Wars” weren’t all bad. Even though he seemed to find making the film miserable, he commended the feature on the Parkinson talk show. “A marvelous healthy innocence. Great pace, wonderful to look at, full of guts, nothing unpleasant.”
Regardless of his feelings about the franchise, the facts remain that Alec Guinness is a “Star Wars” legend, and his initial contract resulted in one of the most remarkable paydays in Hollywood history up to that point.
