How did George Lucas land Alec Guiness for the first "Star Wars"?

I was at a WorldCon a few years back (the one in San Jose) and Stewart gave a talk. He was enthusiastic about the latest film and gave a heartfelt thanks to the fans for letting him have so much fun over the years. Yeah, he’s a good actor, and yeah, he could have been bs’ing but I got the feeling that he knew how lucky he was.

In other appearances he has stated how great it was to work on the show, and how it had opened up so many opportunities for him. So Stewart, at least, seems to understand that having a wider audience is a good thing for an actor.

Obi-Wan’s death seems too integral to the story to have been cooked up at the last minute. It introduces the concept of Jedi immortality with a single line “If you strike me down…” and the idea that dead Jedi can lend a hand once in a while “run, Luke, run”.

Why would Luke turn of the battle computer if not for Obi-Wan’s suggestion from beyond the grave? This allows Luke to demonstrate that he really is becoming a jedi and not just “good against remotes”, Luke’s key character development for the entire film! Furthermore, the line “Use the force, Luke” is perhaps the peak moment in the entire climax of the film. It is the one that sends shivers down your spine. It is indispensable.

Plus there is the fact that movies are shot out of sequence. It is harder to cut out a character if you haven’t planned to do it. I can see the editor now: “Damn, Guiness is in this angle too! I’m sorry George, I just can’t cut this scene the way you shot it. There isn’t one master shot without Alec. You’ll have to bring everyone back for pick-ups. What do you mean they already destroyed the set?”

Remember, Star Wars was a damn cheap movie, even for it’s day, and was incredibly complex to make. That they pulled it off is a minor miracle. The saying goes, “Quick, cheap or good, pick any two.” In Lucas’ case he had to go for all three at once. That means everything HAD to be planned extensively.

Didn’t the Simpsons have a joke about that?

I am not Spock By Leonard Nemoy
I am Spock by Leonard Nemoy
I am also Scotty by Leonard Nemoy

I don’t know about that, but I do know that after I am not Spock came out, James Doohan said that he’d be writing a book entitled I Am Not Spock, Either.

He never did.

Just saw the 1976 comedy, Murder by Death, in which Guiness played the butler, Jamesir Bensonmum. The DVD includes a short interview with playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon. He said he noticed Guiness reading a screenplay during filming; its title was Star Wars. He asked Guiness what it was about, and the actor said, “The future. Could be good. We’ll see!”

The future? Boy was he ever off base!

BTW, what was the line in Hitler: The Last Ten Days that Letterman wanted to hear? Does anybody know?

To me, he’s more random. He’s the weatherman who names “The Perfect Storm.” And wasn’t he on that lawyer show with Julie Warner? I think I learned his name about then. Weirdly, I guess I saw him on North Shore, but had forgotten that.

Oh, I don’t know. After all, that Wiki section concludes:

:dubious:

I mean, you gotta read it to know it’s from a Star Wars fan… right? (Except for all those envelopes addressed to “Obi Wan”, of course. :wink: )

Wasn’t that the guy who played Zeus in Clash of the Titans? He was awesome! :smiley:

Actually, it cost $11,000,000. Other films made in that era include The Spy Who Loved Me, which cost $14m, Grease which cost $6m, The Omen @ 2.8m, and The Towering Inferno which cost $14 million and had star power (Newman and McQueen) + F/X.

So it wasn’t “cheap” by any measure.

Cite: The Numbers - Movie Budgets

Don’t you think this honor still belongs to Pink Flamingos? :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: