R2-D2 Actor Kenny Baker's Other Star Wars Role Was Just As Uncomfortable
For many years, dear readers, I was unsure if R2-D2, the trashcan-shaped droid from George Lucas' 1977 film "Star Wars," could be considered a character or a prop. It only made a series of squeaks and beeps, and it possessed no humanoid features, but other characters reacted to it as if it were speaking English. It was also referred to as "he," implying that it was part of a gendered android culture. It also seemed to possess some sort of rudimentary intelligence, although R2-D2's actual cognizance might be a matter of debate. For years, however, "Star Wars" fans have pretty much accepted that R2-D2 is indeed a character with a soul and a personality.
The dome on top of R2's abdomen would swivel and the droid has a little pokey, nostril-like protrusion next to one of its lens-like eyes that moves around as if sniffing the environment. Those movements were controlled by actor Kenny Baker ("Time Bandits," "The Elephant Man"), who would crouch down inside R2's can-like body and move them manually. Baker would serve as R2-D2's puppeteer for all the "Star Wars" movies through to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in 2015. He would also operate R2 for an episode of "The Muppet Show" and for the "Star Tours" ride at Disneyland.
For Richard Marquand's "Return of the Jedi" in 1983, Baker played a teddy bear-like Ewok named Paploo, another role where his face wasn't visible.
You know Kenny as R2D2, but he was also Paploo, the Ewok who stole the Imperial Speeder Bike. pic.twitter.com/85mMEvO0Of
— Peter Mayhew Foundation (@TheWookieeRoars) January 10, 2014
Baker's Ewok costume covered his entire face, head, and body, and he was very uncomfortable in it. Baker reflected on the harrowing physical experiences playing his various "Star Wars" characters in John Phillip Peecher's 1983 book "The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi."
Fogged-up Ewok eyeballs
As one can imagine, staying crouched down inside the R2-D2 can for extended periods was a pretty physically exhausting experience for Baker. He noted that stagehands had to lift open the R2-D2 head from time to time just so he could breathe more comfortably. He also noted that he was poked a lot by the interior machinery:
"At first [I] used to operate the lights from inside and I had a hard time hearing what was going on. I only had this opaque window, which made everything seem farther away than it was. And the inside of the head was full of screws and nuts and bolts. [It] was all cuts and bruises for the first film because I kept banging my head around on the roof. Eventually they cut them all off or covered them with foam, and cleaned up all the wires connecting the lights and wrapped them in a tube."
For the role of Paploo, one might assume that Baker would have been more comfortable, given that he had greater freedom of movement while playing an Ewok. The Ewok masks, however, were not always the most comfortable ... or breathable. The insides of the Ewok eyeballs frequently fogged up and people fell over. Baker recalled:
"For 'Jedi,' they said there was another part for me. I play an Ewok. Nice little character, but it's a very uncomfortable costume. We let the other little people playing Ewoks know what they were letting themselves in for — it was hot, hard work. The tighter you wear your mask, the better it is, because the air flow is more direct. You breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, otherwise your own air circulates inside the head."
Baker passed away in 2016 at the age of 81. Rest in peace.