Seth Green Is Not Going To Steal Your Girlfriend

“We've got a good case to say that C3PO is gay, but I don't know if there's as strong a case for R2,” says Seth Green. “I feel like R2 was more the begrudging suitor, sort of politely resisting the unwanted advances of his partner.”

When you're talking to Green, it's no surprise that the conversation turns to Star Wars. The 39-year-old veteran of screens big and small grew up as both a child actor and a self-professed Star Wars nerd. Years later, as one of the key creative forces behind the anarchic stop-motion sketch-comedy cacophony, Robot Chicken, Green got to air out that nerdery for all to see. The series has mounted three separate Star Wars specials steeped in Lucasfilm lore and geeky in-jokery, with Green serving as writer, director and producer thereof.

“I've loved Star Wars for as long as I can remember,” beams Green. “As an adult, now, I love it for being non-idealised science-fiction. It takes place in a future in which people have clothes as opposed to metallic jumpsuits. The ships they're piloting aren't these gleaming beacons paying testament to human ingenuity and success, they're these beaters and junkers, falling apart because the people who pilot them can't afford it. So, even though it's a very fantastic universe, it feels very relatable.

“But the thing I most remember from watching it the first time, when the movie came out, when I was a little kid, was C3PO and R2D2. There was something about the colour, and the shine, and the robots, and the purpose they served in the story; that's always stuck with me, always remained for me. It's served me throughout my life as a great point of inspiration.”

Shooting the shit with Green, whether about gay robots or not, is a pleasure; there's a reason he's long had a reputation as one of the nice guys of the biz. That holds with fans — be they of Robot Chicken, Austin Powers, Family Guy, Greg The Bunny or Buffy; those shows headlining a career filled with intersections to cult institutions — who view Green with a friendliness and an affection.

“I'm not all that threatening. I'm not a big dude. I'm not so handsome that their girl's going to leave them. I'm not gonna beat them in arm-wrestling. I'm glad that I can be non-threatening to so many of [my] fans. I'm not Brad Pitt. Nobody wants my underwear or to rifle through my garbage. To be honest, the thing most fans seem to want from me is to get high with them. People want me to come hang out at their house and eat pizza whilst we watch TV whilst we're stoned. I get the most basic, non-elaborate friend requests.”

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