Ralph McQuarrie I still get fan mail — people wondering if I worked on "Episode I" or just wanting to have my autograph." McQuarrie's production painting of R2-D2 and C-3PO wandering in the desert on the planet Tatooine was the first to be completed. His early concept for C-3PO was visibly inspired by the Art Deco "Maschinenmensch" robot from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film "Metropolis". The painting had a particular impact on actor Anthony Daniels, who was about to turn down the part of C-3PO; ""He had painted a face and a figure that had a very wistful, rather yearning, rather bereft quality,
C-3PO C-3PO C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character from the "Star Wars" franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, C-3PO was designed as a protocol droid intended to assist in etiquette, customs, and translation, boasting that he is "fluent in over six million forms of communication". Along with his astromech droid counterpart and friend R2-D2, C-3PO provides comic relief within the narrative structure of the films, and serves as a foil. Anthony Daniels has portrayed the character in ten of eleven "Star Wars" cinematic films released to