The “Star Wars” saga features some of the greatest battle scenes in movie history, but the real war is between the actors playing those lovable droids — they’ve been feuding for nearly 40 years!
Offscreen, Anthony Daniels, who plays obsessively polite C-3PO, and Kenny Baker, the alter ego of feisty R2-D2, have a relationship colder than ice planet Hoth, The National ENQUIRER has learned in an out-of-this-world exclusive!
Anthony and Kenny have been sniping since the 1977 release of “Star Wars,” and they’re not done yet!
“Once when I said hello to [Anthony], he just turned his back on me and said, ‘Can’t you see I’m having a conversation!’” said 3-foot-8 Kenny, who claims Anthony also once referred to him as “little man.”
“It was the rudest thing anyone had ever done to me. I was furious,” said Kenny.
That snub dates back to 1977, but the pair’s friction has stretched into the 21st century.
In 2008, when a TV personality tried to reunite the cast of the original trilogy, Kenny famously growled that if “Golden Balls” was in, he was out!
[CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE “STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS” SPOILERS!]
Anthony, however, seems to revel in acting exactly the opposite of his courteous robot.
He once said R2-D2 “might as well be a bucket,” and even squashed 81-year-old Kenny’s opportunity to take pleasure in playing R2-D2 for the seventh film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
“I haven’t seen him for years,” Anthony, 69, said. “His name is on the credits as a sort of … I don’t know … a good-luck charm, a courtesy. He’s a talisman.”
Kenny was forced to admit he didn’t actually don the costume on-screen for the new film, but only visited the set as a “consultant.”
What’s more, Anthony’s gripes aren’t just targeted at Kenny.
In September, he took a swipe at Mark Hamill, 64, who plays Luke Skywalker.
“What is funny is C-3PO looks the same — Harrison, Carrie and Mark, not so much. Poor Mark,” Anthony sneered. “He was a young, lovely-looking lad when he was first Luke Skywalker and now … well …”
Mark’s face was reconstructed and heavily scarred after a car crash before filming “The Empire Strikes Back.”
As for the metal duo, don’t expect them to bury the lightsaber anytime soon.
“He never wants to have a drink with any of us,” Kenny said of Anthony.
“In 30 years of making the movies, he’s never once come over with a cup of tea!”
