If it wasn't for Star Wars, it's likely a whole generation of movie-goers would today have no idea who or what an Alec Guinness was. After turns on the stage, on television, in acclaimed Ealing comedies and six David Lean epics, the work that most cinema-goers know Guinness for is the original Star Wars trilogy - and that didn't sit well with him. A letter written by Guinness prior to him making Star Wars reads, "Fairytale rubbish, but could be interesting perhaps", which suggests an optimism Guinness did not possess once filming was over. Though the film would bring him fortune and new fans (sci-fi nerds, a crowd he probably despised), Guinness rarely had anything but bad things to say about George Lucas's saga. He called the dialogue of the film "excruciating", even as he admitted, "It's a pretty staggering film as spectacle". One story told by Guinness in his 1997 memoir goes that the actor was asked for an autograph by a young Star Wars super-fan, which prompted this response from Guinness: "Well, do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?" The fan then began to cry, because he was a child, and also because Obi-Wan Kenobi had just openly trashed his own franchise.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
