# Recast Luke and Leia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947 "2013-08-11T17:55:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/21 "2013-08-11T21:29:06Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Recast Luke and Leia? > > I will **cut** you!!!:mad::mad: I’m sorry but, at _best_, Mark Hamill has a good face…for voiceover work. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/22 "2013-08-12T00:45:59Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > …Your goal is to have actors who are just as capable in 1977… OK, so here’s the rub. Many well-known actresses auditioned for Princess Leia, many have aged much better than Carrie Fisher. If you’ve seen the audition tapes, however, it’s quite clear that only Fisher was able to speak lines filled with bizarre and made-up character and place names with any kind of understanding. Most of the girls just sound lost, or like a foreigner learning to speak phonetically. Fisher was able to deliver the lines like she knew what she was talking about while acting with the calm confidence a princess should have. Of the actresses I saw that were the right age and aged well, I figured Linda Hamilton would have the next best delivery. I’m not convinced overall that anybody else could really pull it off besides Fisher. For Luke Skywalker, you have to cast for a naive farmboy, so a chiseled face with a strong jaw, and an imposing physique is probably not the way you want to go. Those types of faces age well. Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, not Luke. Likewise, Reeve and Swayze would make better Hans than Lukes. The reason I picked Bruce Greenwood is that he had dreamboat looks without being overly masculine. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/23 "2013-08-12T00:54:56Z")
You’ll all probably hate me for this, but what about Arnold Schwarzenegger for Luke 😃 He hasn’t aged all that badly, hahaha. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/24 "2013-08-12T00:58:06Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Of the actresses I saw that were the right age and aged well, I figured Linda Hamilton would have the next best delivery. I’m not convinced overall that anybody else could really pull it off besides Fisher. Not even Sissy Spacek? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/25 "2013-08-12T01:08:25Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What about C. Thomas Howell? Too young. He was born in 1966, so he’d have been ten years old or so during filming. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/26 "2013-08-12T01:12:02Z")
James Spader. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/27 "2013-08-12T01:22:34Z")
Meryl Streep looked the right age, and was pretty unknown at the time. I think she’d done mostly stage productions at that point. Deer Hunter wasn’t until 78. I don’t love her for Leia, but clearly she can do anything. Ed Harris and Meryl Streep. Man, that’s a sophisticated Star Wars… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/28 "2013-08-12T01:44:22Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, not Luke. I didn’t know that. But it was probably a mistake for him to try for the Solo role. Russell was 26 at the time (Ford was 35) and was known for playing teenage characters. He probably couldn’t have sold himself as an older and roguish character like Han Solo. But I think he could have done a good job playing a somewhat younger character like Luke and would have had a chance to “grow up” in the role as the sequels were made. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/29 "2013-08-12T01:49:09Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > You’ll all probably hate me for this, but what about Arnold Schwarzenegger for Luke 😃 > > He hasn’t aged all that badly, hahaha. And he’s back in [movies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI4EjV_x_PQ). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/30 "2013-08-12T04:05:25Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > For Luke Skywalker, you have to cast for a naive farmboy, so a chiseled face with a strong jaw, and an imposing physique is probably not the way you want to go. … Reeve and Swayze would make better Hans than Lukes. Seems to me that Reeve did a great impression of a naive farmboy as Clark Kent. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/31 "2013-08-12T06:19:40Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Likewise, Reeve and Swayze would make better Hans than Lukes. Keep in mind we’re talking Patrick Swayze back in the [seventies](http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID23200/images/stusa62(1).jpg). ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/32 "2013-08-12T06:31:17Z")
Regardless, Swayze died in 09. Not the longevity we’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/33 "2013-08-12T06:32:17Z")
Reeve and Swayze have the disadvantage of being dead, which would have made it difficult for them to reprise the roles in any new SW movies. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/34 "2013-08-12T06:37:11Z")
> [@](#): > > For Luke Skywalker, you have to cast for a naive farm boy, so a chiseled face with a strong jaw, and an imposing physique is probably not the way you want to go. Apparently you didn’t grow up watching farm boys buck hay and haul irrigation pipes. You could always tell the farm kids in my high school because they were the ones with the grown up physique. Chiseled face and good shoulders sounds exactly right for a young man who has had to work his tail off day in and day out just to make ends meet. Christopher Reeve or Kurt Russel both sound like good picks to me. How old was Susan Sarandon in '77? She seems like someone who could have done a great Leia. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/35 "2013-08-12T07:02:00Z")
Luke didn’t work he just told the droids what to do ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/36 "2013-08-12T07:35:08Z")
Two characters who have aged gracefully: Miss Piggy and Bert. Though Miss Piggy might fear typecasting after Pigs in Space. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/37 "2013-08-12T08:35:31Z")
I say Bruce Willis. Yeah, that’s right. He’s the right age (born 1955), looked the part [at the time](http://www.kitchenproject.com/german/recipes/Spiessbraten/small_young%20bruce%20willis.jpg), and has certainly aged well. Sure, he would have played Luke as a smartass, but is that such a bad thing? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/38 "2013-08-12T11:01:05Z")
It’s a better thing for Han Solo than for Luke, is all. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/39 "2013-08-12T11:38:47Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Christopher Walken reportedly turned down the chance to play Han Solo. Holy fuck, if I ever get my hands on a time machine, I’m going back and making him take the role. “Han Solo. I’m _Captain_ of… the Millennium FALLcon. Chewie here… tells me you’re lookin’… for _passage_… to the Alderaan system?” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947/40 "2013-08-12T11:39:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Seems to me that Reeve did a great impression of a naive farmboy as Clark Kent. Except that the farmboy in that movie was played by Jeff East. [Here](http://www.jonhoyle.com/NiagaraArticle/east.JPG) is how _that_ farmboy looks today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recast-luke-and-leia/665947.md?page=3)