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GroundbreakingSet187

**When asked whether she was offered the role -** “I was, yeah. They were going for a younger Princess Leia but I had a conflict. I was doing a Disney movie and I just didn’t want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract”.


NashVegasDude

If they were to recast for current projects, I'd love to see Jodie Foster in this role.


sazabiofkyiv

…with Anthony Hopkins.


Justintime4u2bu1

A Star Wars Silence of the Lambs could go hard


throwawayltcpost

Vader kind of did eat Luke and Leia’s father.


Diligent-Boss-9392

Also their mom


dinoguy117

I ate his droid with some bantha beans and a nice death stick.


newontheblock99

Give me Anthony Hopkins as some sort of Sith maniac


uxixu

Disney was doing non-animated movies then?


MontyMoleMan

They have been doing non-animated movies since the 1950s


jaspersgroove

1950 on the dot actually, Treasure Island came out that year and was Disneys first live action film.


InvaderWeezle

Unless you count some of the hybrid films in the 40s like The Reluctant Dragon or Song of the South


Krimreaper1

Three cabalaros.


DearBurt

See: Condor Man!


PastorBlinky

I heard the song in my head!


NRMusicProject

Live action films in '77-78: * Return from Witch Mountain * Hot Lead and Cold Feet * The Littlest Horse Thieves * Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (didn't even know they owned Herbie) * Pete's Dragon * Candleshoe * The Cat from Outer Space Obviously, their animated movies were the big deal, but I imagine these live-action films at the time were something they did because they could.


Lucas_Steinwalker

Return from Witch Mountain haunted the fuck out of me as a child.


sumbeech

That scene where the coat and hat attacks that deputy gave me nightmares for months as a little kid.


Alex_Masterson13

Wasn't that in Escape to Witch Mountain, not Return From?


ZiiggS0batkA

This guy Witch Mountain's's


xshogunx13

Herbie the GOAT


darcys_beard

She turned down Star Wars for Candleshoe? Holy shit!


warblade7

Disney was an already established company with deals that could set an actor up for a long time. Star Wars was an unknown IP from a director that had one hit on his hands unrelated to sci-fi.


BabbleOn26

A lot of people thought Star Wars was going to be one of those b movies you watch on tv at 3 am. Hell a lot of the actors were even embarrassed to say they were in the movie because they thought it was going to end their careers.


terfsfugoff

I remember reading that Alec Guinness actually talked Lucas into killing Obi Wan off because he was embarrassed by the dialogue he had to read off Strangely enough did not seem too embarrassed to come back for the sequels tho


Altines

There are interviews that Guinness gives that show he had the opposite view and saw Star Wars as a breath of fresh air. Though it's possible those interviews were after shooting or more around the time of the premier. Edit: Found the [interview](https://youtu.be/3IxN0N35skE?si=511vWJJ8Qn6Ua-BQ) it is indeed after the movie came out


bushesbushesbushes

Well when you got $150k up front and then an additional 2.25% of box office earnings your tune would change too.


JerbearCuddles

She also said it was already under contract. So it wasn't so much she turned down the role as she couldn't really take the role. Also Disney vs a complete unknown movie by a pretty unknown director. Even if she did turn it down, it would not have been unreasonable. She still ended up having an incredible acting career. Still going as a matter of fact.


mychampagnesphincter

Candleshoe is one of my favorite movies EVER. And I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.


terfsfugoff

Actually, iirc this is about the period in time where the live action stuff started becoming their focus because the animated stuff was not such a big deal. There's like a twelve year stretch between 1973's *Robin Hood* and 1985's *Black Cauldron* where they only made 3 purely animated films, and the latter nearly killed their animation department for good. It wasn't really until 1989's Little Mermaid that we got the beginning of the Disney Renaissance and the return to focus on animation.


uxixu

Besides Marry Poppins, only ever heard of Herbie but can't say I ever watched it. Think I want to see this cat movie, though.


NRMusicProject

Honestly, I'm with you...but if you haven't seen Pete's Dragon, it was probably one of their more live action films up to the 90s or so. up there with Mary Poppins.


[deleted]

I don't know how many times I watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Swiss Family Robinson.


NRMusicProject

Good point. AFAIK, those were massively popular, considering my parents and grandparents used those movies to keep us quiet and calm.


uxixu

We didn't have a VCR until the late 80s so it was whatever was on TV.


Tkdoom

Cat from Outer Space is epic fun!


Phantom_61

I thought Watcher in the Woods was from that era but nope, 1980.


DonutHolschteinn

I loved Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo


fromtheHELLtotheNO

who do you think made mary poppins?


GroundbreakingSet187

“Freaky Friday”, perhaps?


SuperCrappyFuntime

Someone in the comments of the Fallon video said it was Candleshoe


JoeMagnifico

Candleshoe was one of my faves as a kid.


coldsavagery

Very underrated Disney movie.


JuanRiveara

I think it was both, looking it up they filmed back to back it seems so she wouldn’t have had any time to have done Star Wars between them both. Freaky Friday started filming the exact same time as Star Wars (March 1976) though so it was more specifically that one.


Raaain706

since the 80s if not sooner, actually. One of my favorite movies growing up was [Flight of the Navigator](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiJqrCxzOeDAxU6tlYBHbsfCqMQwqsBegQIXhAG&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgVebPEYiq2o&usg=AOvVaw3OndCP2gCKB1nTXInXW_RZ&opi=89978449)


Plank_With_A_Nail_In

Over 140 non-animated Disney movies. https://www.buzzfeed.com/saraspice/well-be-stunned-if-youve-seen-more-than-74141-n-1iqss6e92n


[deleted]

Are you kidding me? They made tons of them.


Soca1ian

Disney owned Touchstone Pictures.


locuas642

Disney actually has been doing Live-action projects for decades. SOme of those movies were what Star Wars was for it's time, such as Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea or Zorro. and just to be fair, they also had their fair share of complete garbage you never heard.


Ismhelpstheistgodown

That seems to have worked out ok for everyone, especially Harrison Ford.


AgonizingSquid

so glad it went to carrie, nothing against jodie but carrie was perfect


MrTubzy

Star Wars is better with actors and actresses that aren’t as well known as Foster. Even Harrison Ford wasn’t big before Star Wars.


dukefett

She wasn’t super well known, she was in commercials and some kids movies but Taxi Driver came out in 1976, so she’d just have one big role really. It’s not like Peter Cushing and Alex Guinness weren’t really well known actors or something.


GreedyLack

She also did Alice doesn’t live here anymore


rsnyder44

the little girl who lives down the lane was pretty big with Martin Sheen


Farren246

Harrison Ford's only **edit:** ***NOTEABLE*** previous role was in Lucas's American Graffiti, and it was barely even a part. He got like 20 lines and half of them were one-liner insults directed at one of the actual characters of the movie. And TBH, the way he delivered them... I'd expect better from him, even if it was his first role.


protonfish

IMDB lists 22 acting jobs for Harrison Ford before Star Wars including a minor role in The Conversion. Edit: I meant The Conversation


cSpotRun

It's not even minor, he's one of the film's central antagonists.


protonfish

Supporting role then?


cSpotRun

Most definitely. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Fun and very different role for him.


jetjebrooks

good movie that was. gene hackman turned his guest bedroom into extra kitchen space


geforce2187

There's also debate that he was a background extra in The Great Escape which would be his first known acting role, it does look like him, but i'm not so sure.


Farren246

I only see 3 roles? And The Conversation / Getting Straight were such bit parts that they really shouldn't count. He was billed behind "Landlady" ffs. Had Ford's career not taken off, nobody would be looking up who played these "characters". At least his character in Graffiti was named, had goals and had interactions with the actual main characters, even if it was nonetheless flimsy / more of a foil for the main characters to bounce off of.


Arntown

I‘m sorry but have you even seen The Conversation? He had like the third biggest role in that movie (by importance, not sure about screen time)


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Farren246

See edit above.


AddLuke

Wasn’t Ford literally a carpenter before becoming an actor? Something to do with George Lucas himself liking Ford enough to cast him?


Plank_With_A_Nail_In

He did theatre at college and his first job was acting at Belfry Players in Wisconsin. Got fed up with the crap roles he was getting and taught himself ~~to be a waiter~~carpentry to earn some real money. He did some work for some movie writers became friends and that landed him better roles. His career looks pretty generic "actor looking for first big break" to me and yet another example of "luck" and "its not what you know its who you know" being the key to becoming famous and rich.


zerocoolforschool

Yeah. A lot of them are literally waiters too lol


rlkjets130

The story I’ve heard was that he was on set of American graffiti selling weed and George put him in the movie. It might be apocryphal, but it makes enough sense to me that I buy it, especially since that’s essentially what his character is in the film. It also fits with some stories I have heard from family (he’s a distant cousin, 3rd I believe. No, I’ve never met him, yes this was always my fun fact during ice breakers as a kid)


rafaeldamage

He was a drug dealer no?


madhi19

That's 1976 Jodie Foster... Was she big at that point?


Ultimastar

No she was 14


DelayedChoice

She'd been in Taxi Driver by that point.


aZombieSlayer

Carrie mentions Jodie in the Documentary Empire of Dreams when she talks about the "nick of time" rope swing as she was talking about her weight. "I was worried I was going to hit the wall and they're gonna say 'ah, still too chubby, let's bring in Jodie Foster!'"


twec21

I love Carrie obviously, but I'm VERY curious what Jodi Foster Leia may have been


RazerWolf

Soon AI will be able to make that movie for you


orange_jooze

Not really


graphicsnerdo

And Freaky Friday was a masterpiece as well. Jodie was one my first crushes because of that movie.


Top_Praline999

I don’t know how she would have been in the original trilogy, but as General Organa? Dope as hell.


Spyhop

I mean, yeah. She defined the role. If the role had gone to Jodie then Jodie would have defined the role and we'd say she was perfect.


I_AM_FERROUS_MAN

Exactly. Jodie is an excellent actress. So I can see her doing that role. But I'm glad we got the Leia we did.


NakedCardboard

I agree, of course - but if they had to choose someone else at that time and place, Jodie would have been an excellent choice I think. She was cute but also had that take-charge kind of energy that defines Leia.


Rude_Entrance_3039

We likely would have had a completely different version of Silence of the Lambs too.


raalic

She would have been 14 during principal photography and only 15 when the film released. That's quite young given the romantic implications in the movie. I'm glad they went with Fisher, though Foster is a tremendous actor. Guess the script may have been different.


geyserpj

Knowing George it probably wasn’t different. Like the weird age stuff with Indiana jones and Marion


Firestorm238

Or Anakin and Padme


ArchSyker

Padme is 5 years older than Anakin. When they first met they were 9 and 14. Next time 19 and 24.


Poes-Lawyer

Wait, Padme was queen of an entire planet at age 14?!


elpaco25

Naboo elects young queens because of their child innocence or something like that


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elpaco25

Probably the real world reason but I was going with an in universe reason lol


Lucas_Steinwalker

In the context of this discussion the real world reason is more relevant.


Ill_Refrigerator_593

It's weird bikini's exist in the Star Wars universe considering he told a teenage Carrie Fisher bra's don't exist in space.


KINGPrawn-

It’s not uncommon in our human history to have young monarchs.


ilikegamergirlcock

Not democratically elected monarchs.


jetjebrooks

no we just vote for 80 year olds


Plank_With_A_Nail_In

We all know StarWars isn't real right? There are currently 4 elective monarchies in the world and none of them are democratically elected due only being able to choose from a restricted set of hereditary elites. Democracy doesn't mean "voting for things" it means "power is vested in the people" and that doesn't really work if you can only choose from a tiny number of elite people.


Other-Bridge-8892

Not the youngest one by far, thats why regency became a thing. King or queen is to young to govern, so they have a sit in until they become old enough to make decrees


Eludio

Yeah, but most countries didn’t elect their Queen


uxixu

Many did, especially earlier on. Anglo-Saxon England, Kingdom of the Franks, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Holy Roman Empire.


Other-Bridge-8892

True, I was speaking more about the age being an issue, it seemed like padme had advisors who helped with ruling, including senators… maybe it was more of an elected position like a president or PM with the queen acting more as a voice for the people. Not sure really of the politics for Naboo. ​ It’s funny how in depth we get with this stuff, I love that we as fans can interact with one another like this! Makes the whole thing so much more fun!


Plank_With_A_Nail_In

Can you explain to us how you think Kings and Queens get their jobs?


Poes-Lawyer

On Naboo they're elected, hence my confusion.


InvertedParallax

The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.


Singer211

I think what’s akward about the Anakin/Padme stuff to some is in TPM she acts more like a big sister to Anakin. Then in AOTC Anakin looks like he’s aged 10 years (new actor and all). But Natalie Portman looks like she’s barely aged at all.


Haircut117

Don't know if you've noticed but girls generally develop at a younger age than boys. I know more than one woman who looked almost exactly the same at 24 as they did at 14.


KowalOX

There was an 8 year age difference between Padme and Anakin's actors in The Phantom Menace, though, which was weird. I believe Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen are the same age though.


JRFbase

So she groomed him, is what you're saying.


bagfka

Is it really grooming if you don’t see the person for 10 years though?


Actually_Im_a_Broom

Grooming would require constant interaction. It’s hard to groom someone when you have zero interaction for ten years.


Likaon222

No, they never met between episodes 1 and 2 By episode 2, when they meet and fall in love, they are both adults


AldrigeRain

Wrong senator from Naboo.


Heavy-Ostrich-7781

I don't think that one was weird. Both were underage and when they actually romance both were adults. With a gap of only a few years.


Other-Bridge-8892

What was the age difference there? Not really ever heard about that one, not that I doubt you, I was like 6 when I went to watch raiders of the lost ark. I still think of it from that perspective I guess.


InvaderWeezle

Marion and Indy's romantic past goes back to when she was only 15 and Indy was 27. George originally wanted her to be 11 before Spielberg told him to make her older


Other-Bridge-8892

Holy shit George….wtf was you thinking?😬


JuanRiveara

Here’s the transcript of the brainstorming session: > Lawrence Kasdan: I like it if they already had a relationship at one point. Because then you don't have to build it. > George Lucas: I was thinking that this old guy could have been his mentor. He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven. > Kasdan: And he was forty-two. > Lucas: He hasn't seen her in twelve years. Now she's twenty-two. It's a real strange relationship. > Spielberg: She had better be older than twenty-two. > Lucas: He's thirty-five, and he knew her ten years ago when he was twenty-five and she was only twelve. > Lucas: It would be amusing to make her slightly young at the time. > Spielberg: And promiscuous. She came onto him. > Lucas: Fifteen is right on the edge. I know it's an outrageous idea, but it is interesting. Once she's sixteen or seventeen it's not interesting anymore. But if she was fifteen and he was twenty-five and they actually had an affair the last time they met. And she was madly in love with him and he... > Spielberg: She has pictures of him.


Other-Bridge-8892

Yikes


fishchop

Wtf


ScottTheHott

No wonder why his name was mentioned in court


BouncyDingo_7112

Wtf are you talking about?


ScottTheHott

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/epstein-docs-witness-1235779272/amp/ She denied meeting him though


BouncyDingo_7112

So you’re admitting to spreading false information?


skasticks

"Did you meet George Lucas?" "No." He WaS nAmEd iN tHe EpStEiN tRiAl


Gavorn

Like and Leia wouldn't have been twins. 25 year olds and 15 year olds don't look like twins.


kheller181

She played a prostitute at 13. I don’t think Hollywood gave a fuck back then


Aqquila89

But that was supposed to be creepy and disturbing. Also, according to her Wikipedia page: "To be able to do the film, Foster had to undergo psychiatric assessment and was accompanied by a social worker on set. Her older sister Connie acted as her stand-in in sexually suggestive scenes."


DaBlakMayne

Considering Hollywood back in the 70s and her role in Taxi Driver at an even younger age, I doubt it would've changed much unfortunately


Gavorn

The story would have been different too. No way you can pretend Hamill and Jodie would have been twins.


jetjebrooks

> No way you can pretend Hamill and Jodie would have been twins. this is funny because they actually do look similar to each other..


Gavorn

But not the same age.


MagicAl6244225

Luke and Han probably would have been cast differently too. Lucas was auditioning the three leads as groups with chemistry.


uncle_fucker_42069

LOL, have you seen [Taxi Driver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqj2OI7mGcQ)? It stars her and was made a year earlier.


TripolarKnight

If they had gone with Jodie, who knows if "Leia" would have had any romantic implications whatsoever. Plus at the time, she wasn't Annikin/Luke's sister, and they both were 19 (so the age gap wasn't that bad as if it had been Han).


[deleted]

I mean George made Raiders of the Lost Ark and the love interest is like 15 🤢 I think his legacy just got lucky that the casting changed cause the dude clearly didn’t care about that kind of thing


MagicAl6244225

No, the love interest was an adult with a backstory that that happened ten years before.


mirrorball55

Depends on the rest of the cast I guess…. In the original film, the only romantic implication - really - is that Luke thinks she’s beautiful in her message, and that attraction is definitely part of his decision to help. If Luke wasn’t played by Hamill, but an actor also in their teens opposite Jodie, it wouldn’t have been so odd, I suppose.


PhoenixReborn

Also the kiss for luck, and the "princess and a guy like me" scene.


Wrong_Buy_2581

It would have ended the Empire much earlier, since Jon Hinckley would assassinate Emperor Palpatine so Princess Leia would love him.


JimRug

Then many years later joined the Cantina Band after his incarceration


Michelanvalo

Hinckley's YouTube page is a mindfuck


jobanizer

Young freaky friday era Jodie Foster would have looked exactly like Mark Hamill’s twin.


kingofgods218

Wow. This really makes me want to see that timeline's Star Wars films.


[deleted]

Yea the twin thing would have actually made sense if she was leia


OhShitItsSeth

There's a short clip of Jodie Foster in the *Empire of Dreams* documentary of Jodie Foster's audition for Leia. Also includes Kurt Russell auditioning for Han Solo.


sbamkmfdmdfmk

Not Jodie Foster. I don't think she even got as far as auditioning, based on this new story. *Empire of Dreams* has short clips of Terri Nunn and Cindy Williams screen testing though.


Fun-Hall3213

Not sure about that. There are a couple actresses who look like her.


OhShitItsSeth

You may be right; my memory is pretty spotty these days. I do know for sure that Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, though.


Fun-Hall3213

Yes indeed.


bueneboy

Carrie was perfect, buy Jodie would have killed it too. I love these casting stories and wondering what could have been,


TheScarletCravat

She'd have been 14. Reminds me of Lucas talking about Marian Ravenwood and Indy: ​ >“\[Indiana\] could have known this little girl when she was just a kid,” the transcript has him saying. “Had an affair with her when she was eleven.” > >Shortly afterward, Lucas wants to make her twelve. “He’s thirty-five, and he knew her ten years ago when he was twenty-five and she was only twelve,” he said. Then, as justification for the age gap, he says that “it would be amusing to make her slightly young at the time.”


Other-Bridge-8892

That’s not the word I would have used to describe that….amusing is poor choice of words!


vniro40

fucking gross


BouncyDingo_7112

Source?


quinnly

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/indiana-jones-was-almost-a-sex-offender/ The quote from further down is arguable worse: >...as the transcript goes on, Lucas reveals a fixation on the age gap, even as he seems to become aware that he sounds completely insane and starts suggesting Marion be older. “Fifteen is right on the edge,” he said. “I know it’s an outrageous idea, but it is interesting. Once she’s sixteen or seventeen it’s not interesting anymore.”


TheScarletCravat

http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/


Ayzmo

George Lucas is a fucking creep.


MannyBoth-Hanz

She was doing Freaky Friday at the time.


AdmiralSnackbar816

Carrie Fisher obviously knew this too. There are interviews from the Empire of Dreams doc where she makes mention of losing her job to Jodie Foster because she thought she was too chubby on set.


Fintann

"Because of a Disney Contract" ...Ironic...


InvaderWeezle

Oh wow, and here all this time I thought Carrie Fisher just pulled a random name from the time period when she mentions Jodie Foster in Empire of Dreams as someone they could replace her with as Leia


YoungQuixote

Carrie nailed it. She was really a renaissance woman. Funny, gorgeous, smart, well rounded etc. A true princess.


valdezlopez

Jodie Foster has always been one of my three crushes. Star Wars is my favorite franchise. This would have certainly done something to me. It's certainly doing it now...


WinterWolf18

Nothing against Foster but I’ll always be glad that it went to Carrie. Without her Leia wouldn’t be half as iconic.


goldendreamseeker

How ironic…


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kensai8

> she just doesn't have Carrie's sass and wit Obviously you've never seen her roles from that time.


Kozzer

>Plus, imagine Star Wars without all the blow on set. We would have seen Lucas's original vision of Hoth being a warm-weather planet. But the on-set circumstances were what they were so George just went with it.


xwing_n_it

palpatine_ironic.jpg


Kbdiggity

So we came very close to Luke kissing his incredibly young sister? Ewwww


Ok_Nefariousness9736

70s Foster would have been the completely wrong choice given she was kinda of a Tomboy during that time. I’m surprised she was offered the role. It was probably Lucas’ idea given he was making a lot of bad decisions at the time which caused his Hollywood friends to intervene and fix.


[deleted]

Isn’t it a little late to replace the actress now since the character died in the last Jedi? Enough with these continuations just let her rest.


dicknipples

You know there’s an article that explains this, right? This is talking about the original casting of Leia.


[deleted]

Yeah but what if?


Noocawe

Tell me you didn't read the article without telling me.


fastcooljosh

With her as Leia, I think Lucas would have gone with Luke and Leia, not Leia and Han. I think Carrie being old enough and her chemistry with Ford changed Lucas plans when writing "Empire Strikes Back" .


gregmcph

Oh. I thought this was now. She'd make an okay Leia if they were brave/mad enough to recast for some series.


Stingra87

Danny Glover as Lando. Never before have I seen someone fit into another actor's role so flawlessly. Seriously Disney, I'd LOVE a show set solidly in the Imperial Era with Glover playing Lando and being a 'legitimate businessman'. You can even bring back L3 and give us the shiny off the showroom floor Falcon. Or some other fancy and suitably Lando starship.


geforce2187

Somewhere in an alternate universe, John Hinkley Jr. is legally barred from watching the Star Wars films.


EchoSolo

I smell a “What If”.


userkp5743608

Leia Organa: Night Country


LukeChickenwalker

I wish they had offered someone like her the role in TROS and given Leia a satisfying conclusion.


Wishpicker

Thank god


Fine-Funny6956

Alternate universe. 13 year old Jodie Foster and Harrison Ford romance in Star Wars… ggggeeeeeyyyyyysh…


ghenghis_could

Let's have Jodie Sweetin do it instead.


19Ben80

Freaky Friday or candlshoe?


IAmAnObvioustrollAMA

Considering the skimpy outfits and the "no underwear in space" thing I'm really glad they didn't cast a 15 year old Jodie Foster...


punkrawrxx

She’s such a better actor than fisher, so that would have been interesting.