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Alternative Casting
It's hard
to picture anyone else playing the characters we've all
come to know so well, but just imagine for a moment what
would have happened if Harrison Ford hadn't been around
the autitions area working as a carpenter and was noticed
by Lucas. Or what if Carrie Fisher hadn't received a copy
of the script, and gotten hooked on the idea of a space
opera?
This page deals with all those "what if"s. We're going to
take a good look at what the cast of Star Wars could have
looked like, if the other people considered for the roles
of our favorite heroes been cast instead.
(The first rule to photo-manipulation is to have
good images to start with and good software. I had neither
when I made this page back in '97, but maybe that makes
it even funnier. You be the judge.)
Jump to: Christopher
Walken, Burt Reynolds, Nick
Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss, Jodie
Foster, Sissy Spacek, Bruce
Boxleitner, John Travolta.
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First up
is Christopher Walken, you may remember him as the villain
Zorin in the Bond movie: "View to a kill" or from "The Deer
Hunter" and other fine films.
Around the time of the casting for Star Wars, he'd made
a couple of movies where he played hard-cooked characters,
and these movies were probably the reason why his name came
up for a role in Star Wars. The following is my impression
of what it would have looked like if he'd been cast as Han
Solo. |
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Many of Burt
Reynolds roles around this time were wise-cracking, mischievous
rebels-types which would have made him an ideal Han Solo.
He was apparently offered the part, but turned it down.
It is said that he considered it too be too much of a gamble
(which it was, being a low budget-pioneer movie). |
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Nick Nolte,
known from a.o. "48 Hours" with Eddie Murphy, was a struggling
actor back in the 70's and was usually typecast as a hellrasing
action-oriented character, and was thus considered for the
role of Han Solo. |
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Richard Dreyfuss
had worked with Lucas before on "American Graffiti", and
started reading for the part of Han Solo. He had to pass
up on Star Wars because he was too busy, but later went
on to participate in such blockbusters as "Close encounders
of the 3:d kind", "Jaws" and "Stakeout".
Obviously there's no replacing Harrison Ford as Han Solo,
but among the would-be Han Solos I'd have to say that Rick's
my favorite. He would have made a great Han. |
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Jodie Foster,
known for her performances in such movies as "Maverick"
with Mel Gibson and "Nell" with Liam Neeson, was considered
for the role as princess Leia. A then 19 year old Carrie
Fisher got the part in the end as she was every bit as feisty
as the character, but imagine a Leia speaking with the strong
southern accent used by Foster in " Silence
of the Lambs "! (She's also my favorite would-be Leia
candidate.) |
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Sissy Spacek
- perhaps best known as "Carrie", in the movie based on
Stephen King's book by the same name, was given a script
to read, and was intended to read for the part as Leia.
At the time Carrie Fisher was reading for the part of Carrie,
but ultimately had a problem with the nude scenes in "Carrie"
and declined. Sissy and Carrie then swapped scripts, and
the rest is history. |
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In a recent
interview, Babylon 5's Captain Sheridan, Bruce Boxleitner,
admitted he auditioned for the part as the young Luke Skywalker.
He had become famous for his role in the western: "How the
West Was Won", and later starred in another brake-through
Sci-Fi movie by Disney called "Tron", which was released
about the same time as ESB. |
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And last
but not least... There is a wild, and highly questionable
rumor circulating, which claims that John Travolta was asked
if he'd take on the role of Luke Skywalker. Personally I,
among many others, feel that this rumor is false and that
the King of Disco never crossed the casting directors mind
while looking for our boyish hero, Luke.
In '77 John was still in the middle of the worst "Saturday
Night Fever" craze, so my guess is also that he would not
have had time to make the movie. But it was fun making this
Skywalker/Travolta picture all the same. |
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That's it
for now... I had a blast making this page, and if you had
even half the fun reading it - that'd be the icing that
made the cake complete. :-)
Also if you're interested in seeing who else auditioned
for the parts of Leia, Luke and Han; Check
this site
out!
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Back to Images
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A pod from the Discovery in 2001:A Space Odyssey can be
seen behind Qui-Gon in Watto's junkyard.
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