Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From The Star Wars Universe

A “Fairy Tale”

Despite the millions of dollars he made, Alec Guinness was not thrilled about appearing in Star Wars. He was notoriously grouchy about being associated with the film, although those millions of dollars probably went a long way to appeasing him. He considered Star Wars to be a childish gimmick, dismissing it as “fairy tale rubbish.”

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Despite his feelings for the premise of the film, Alec Guinness still agreed to star as the iconic character Obi-Wan in a deal that would turn out to be one of the best of his life. Of course, when you are the universe’s only hope, it makes sense that you get paid the big bucks!

Orson Welles Was to Be Lord Vader

Harrison Ford was not supposed to be Han Solo and Alec Guinness did not want to be Obi-Wan, but that is surely the end of the drama over casting in Star Wars, right? Wrong. George Lucas originally wanted the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles to voice the character of Darth Vader. While Lucas had wanted famous actors to play the roles of Han Solo and Obi-Wan, however, he did not want someone too famous to play Darth Vader, and the role ended up going to James Earl Jones.

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It seems crazy to think that there was a time when James Earl Jones was not the megastar that he is today, but his voice was not as recognizable when A New Hope was filmed as it is today. The Star Wars franchise is what helped him to become as iconic as he is today.