Lucas, who was in the room and had dozed off while working on the script for Star Wars, momentarily woke when he heard the request and, after asking for clarification, stated that it was a "great name" before going back to writing his script. Murch asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, in the abbreviated form "R-2-D-2". Sound editor Walter Murch states that he is responsible for the utterance which sparked the name for the droid. The name derives from when Lucas was making one of his earlier films, American Graffiti. Lucas and artist Ralph McQuarrie also drew inspiration from the robots Huey, Dewey, and Louie from Douglas Trumbull's 1972 film Silent Running. George Lucas's creation of R2-D2 was influenced by the peasant Matashichi from Akira Kurosawa's 1958 feature film The Hidden Fortress (released in the United States in 1962), although his personality is completely the opposite. The revised Empire Strikes Back droids had fibreglass shells built by Tony Dyson and his White Horse Toy Company. R2-D2 was designed in artwork by Ralph McQuarrie, co-developed by John Stears and built by Peteric Engineering. His sounds and vocal effects were created by sound designer Ben Burtt. In The Rise of Skywalker, puppeteers Hassan Taj and Lee Towersey perform the role of R2-D2, replacing Jimmy Vee, who had played the role in the previous two films. Vee later took over the role beginning in The Last Jedi. In the sequel trilogy, Baker was credited as consultant for The Force Awakens however, Jimmy Vee also co-performed the character in some scenes.
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R2-D2 and his companion C-3PO are the only characters to appear in every theatrical Star Wars film, with the exception of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).Įnglish actor Kenny Baker played R2-D2 in all three original Star Wars films and received billing credit for the character in the prequel trilogy, where Baker's role was reduced as R2-D2 was portrayed mainly by radio controlled props and CGI models.
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At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, an astromech droid, is a friend to C-3PO, Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, BB-8, Rey and D-O. He has appeared in eleven of the twelve theatrical Star Wars films to date. t uː ˈ d iː t uː/) or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas.