STAR WARS: BB-8 "Voice Consultant" Bill Hader Reveals Why He Stopped Signing Merch Featuring The Droid

STAR WARS: BB-8 "Voice Consultant" Bill Hader Reveals Why He Stopped Signing Merch Featuring The Droid

Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz were named as BB-8's "voice consultants" in The Force Awakens, but the former has explained why he gets too much credit for the role and will no longer sign Star Wars merchandise.

By JoshWilding - May 02, 2023 10:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Happy Sad Confused (via SFFGazette.com)

A lot of you probably won't know (or will have forgotten) this, but Barry and IT: Chapter Two star Bill Hader has a key role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As the "voice consultant" for BB-8 alongside Ben Schwartz, the actor has found himself embraced by a passionate fandom...and opportunistic autograph hunters. 

Unsurprisingly, the actor is frequently asked to sign merchandise featuring the loveable droid but has now explained why he no longer does so. 

"I do not sign them," Hader stated in an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via SFFGazette.com). "Autograph people don’t like me. I won’t sign things. You know what it was? I used to sign stuff, and then one time I saw somebody and they had their kid come up to me to sign a BB-8 thing and it was three in the morning."

"I was leaving the Inside Out premiere and then we went to an after-party thing and it was super late and this guy kept his kid up all night," the actor continues. "[He] was like, 'Go over there so he’ll sign it so I can sell it online.'"

"I was like, 'That’s f***ed up.’'So now, I just kind of blanket, like, I’m not signing any of this s**t."

That's perfectly understandable, and there are many YouTube videos out there of actors being besieged by large boards covered in Funko Pop or action figure packaging, all with the aim of those later being used to turn a quick (and usually significant) profit on eBay. 

In the same interview, Hader would go on to point out that he thinks the credit he receives for supposedly voicing BB-8 is undeserved.

"It’s very sweet that J.J. Abrams put my name on it, but I came in and did voice stuff for it that didn’t work," he recalls. "Then, he brought me in later and said, ‘Hey, do you want to do this.’"

"It was like a...talk box thing and then I did that. And the reason he hasn’t had me come back is because anybody can do that. It’s like a machine that you can operate." In other words, that wasn't Hader or Schwartz bringing BB-8 to life in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker!

There's a good chance we'll see the droid again now that Daisy Ridley is returning as Rey in a new Star Wars movie, but here's hoping Hader is given a shot at playing a real character from this Galaxy Far, Far Away in the not-too-distant future. 

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Midnaslament
Midnaslament - 5/2/2023, 10:05 AM
he stopped because i asked him too
its okay coochie koo
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/2/2023, 10:16 AM
I had no idea they were connected to BB8 in any way whatsoever and can't even think of why they would need voice consultants for bleeps
StSteven
StSteven - 5/2/2023, 5:23 PM
@bkmeijer1 - Yeah, same here. Huh. Well, I guess you learn something every day.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 5/2/2023, 10:55 AM
I used to work as a security guard during summer breaks in college.

I saw so many autograph hounds outside waiting for the players by the team busses.
Some had completely uncut sheets of baseball cards that they wanted signatures for so they could simply sell them.

Some athletes even recognized some of these hounds and called them out. I remember the great Tony Gwynn saying to one guy, "I see you everywhere. I'm not signing for you."

The sad part is that for children this may be a thrill. I don't get autographs as an adult. I like to say, "The only autograph I want is on a check."
But I did once meet Larry Holmes at a hotel he owned in Aston, PA. That was thrilling as a young boy.

So for the actual young fans it's a shame that they may no longer get autographs from some of these actors and stars, sometimes for money and the stars want to make money on every signature. But the worst is parents pimping out their kids to get signatures so THEY can sell them.

Don't whore your kids to do something that YOU want. Get the autograph for your kid and let your child enjoy the experience and the moment.
I
SauronthePower
SauronthePower - 5/2/2023, 11:43 AM
@TyrantBossMedia - autographs, much like sports merchandise/memorabilia, mean absolutely nothing to me. Complete waste of what years I have left here on this blue rock. If a pic can be had quickly, comfortably, and without intrusion, inconvenience, or self-abasement, then I actually DO like to have those as a more personal keepsake. As a >40’s year old, the culture of the signature is just pointless, to my mind
HopediahPlanter
HopediahPlanter - 5/2/2023, 12:33 PM
@TyrantBossMedia - https://twitter.com/aphilliplogan/status/1617675079181275136/photo/1

Only autograph I got that I cared about.
StSteven
StSteven - 5/2/2023, 5:25 PM
@HopediahPlanter - Nice!!!
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 5/2/2023, 11:41 AM
Honestly unless you are at an event ment for meetings and signings, anyone who asks for an autograph in public is a weirdo in my book.

Classless, inconsiderate, gooney, completely void of self awareness, stalkery, filthy weirdo vermin are the types who wait for famous people in public and ask them to sign things, even as a fan. That's not fandom, that's unhealthy idol worship. You don't track them down in regular everyday life like that.

How paparazzi are even a legal thing still blows my mind. People are gross. Period.
dragon316
dragon316 - 5/2/2023, 4:43 PM
I don’t blame him that’s disrespectful say that before he may want to sign stand over there so I can sell it., I was at comic con meeting celebrity you can defiantly know what people will be selling stuff with autograph I was in line meet ken lashely his fans where convention is about to close his fans have over 20 plus books for him sign and do custome covers really expect me believe your not plannwing sell any of those books.,

And standing in line meet Trish stratus and Lita some guy have big box of merchandise for her sign you know dam well he’s plan on selling some of stuff she’s sign
StSteven
StSteven - 5/2/2023, 5:38 PM
The only stuff that I have signed by anyone of significance is by artists on their own work. And as far as I can recall, it's all Transformers comics artists and other professional TF artists. So I have a signed graphic novel from a "Bot-Con" I attended, some signed original prints, and then some signed and numbered TF prints from a gallery. All framed and hanging on my walls. Never even considered selling them, as they're for my own enjoyment as I look upon my TF kingdom and rejoice for behold, it is glorious. 😊
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