From the actors who regret not being able to swing a lightsaber to the ones who think they would have been miscast, let's take a look at some actors who refused huge Star Wars roles.
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00:00It may be hard to believe, but there have been quite a few actors who have turned down
00:04the chance to appear in Star Wars.
00:06It's only the biggest franchise in human history, so what's the big deal?
00:10Here are a few actors who, for whatever reason, refused to appear in Star Wars at one time
00:14or another.
00:15Benicio Del Toro
00:16Before Ray Park portrayed the virtually mute Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, Benicio
00:21Del Toro was expected to appear as the horn-headed bad guy.
00:25He reportedly walked away after most of his lines were cut from the script, whittling
00:29the part down to a few spoken words, doing double-ended lightsaber ballet, and getting
00:34unceremoniously cut in half and thrown into the space garbage.
00:37Perhaps his decision was wise.
00:39Maul has yet to return to the big screen, and Del Toro got a second chance at the franchise
00:44by way of 2017's Star Wars The Last Jedi, alongside Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley, in
00:50which he plays an intergalactic villain.
00:52Hopefully one with some actual dialogue.
00:54Burt Reynolds
00:5670s superstar and professional mustache Burt Reynolds didn't suffer a shortage of work
01:00due to his decision to skip out on 1977's Star Wars.
01:04In fact, one of his most memorable appearances, in Smokey and the Bandit, dropped just days
01:10after the first Star Wars hit theaters.
01:12Reynolds was originally offered the role of space smuggler Han Solo, which of course ultimately
01:17went to Harrison Ford.
01:18He explained on Good Morning America that he didn't really have a good reason.
01:22Yeah.
01:23You're busy.
01:24I was busy, but no, I wasn't so busy I couldn't have done it.
01:30At the time, Reynolds was only choosing films by where they were being shot, and whatever
01:35girls he might get to kiss during filming.
01:37Which, as far as choosing job opportunities goes, isn't the worst short-term strategy.
01:43But then again, Harrison Ford didn't have to appear in Delgo.
01:46Point Ford.
01:48Al Pacino
01:49Another big-timer who declined the chance to play space cowboy was Al Pacino, who'd
01:53already earned four Oscar nominations by the time 1977 rolled around.
01:58In 2014, he explained his decision to decline the opportunity to MTV News.
02:03So they offered me this movie, and I remember not understanding it when I read it, so another
02:13missed opportunity.
02:14He also said that it was really a matter of choosing between a wealth of opportunities,
02:18since he was being offered every possible role after starring in The Godfather.
02:22Still, there's no explaining why he turned down Star Wars, and still… did this.
02:28It's not Al anymore!
02:30It's Dunk!
02:31Dunk-a-chino?
02:32Don't mind if I do!
02:35What's my name?
02:36Dunk-a-chino!
02:37Kurt Russell
02:38Famously, Kurt Russell also had a shot at journeying to a galaxy far, far away as Han
02:44Solo before Harrison Ford landed the role.
02:46He even filmed an audition.
02:48You can't find Organa Major.
02:50I found it.
02:52It's just not there.
02:53Instead, he walked away after securing a part in his TV series The Quest, which lasted just
02:58a season.
02:59In 2015, he told Vanity Fair that he doesn't regret the decision, saying,
03:03"...as an actor, you can't dwell on those things or you'll go crazy.
03:07Things happen for a reason, and I'm happy how things turned out in my career.
03:11My life and career may have been different, maybe for better or for worse, if I did Star
03:15Wars, but you can't focus on it.
03:17You move on."
03:18Hey!
03:19It's always a sequel to circle back to like Benicio Del Toro did, right?
03:22Speaking of which...
03:24Christopher Lee
03:25Long before he became the unfortunately named Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, Christopher
03:31Lee was offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope.
03:34The part ultimately went to Peter Cushing, his frequent co-star, fellow Hammer horror
03:39legend, and close friend.
03:41Lee later said he joined the prequel trilogy because of his admiration for the imagination
03:45that went into the movies, telling TheForce.net,
03:48"...I naturally was amazed at the brilliance of George Lucas.
03:51What makes Star Wars so extraordinary is that all the stories, the special effects, the
03:55whole concept, comes from the mind of one man, George Lucas.
03:59The vision is quite amazing."
04:01Sounds like someone signed on before seeing The Phantom Menace.
04:05Gary Oldman
04:06Another actor who walked away from the Star Wars prequel trilogy was Gary Oldman, who
04:10was hired to voice the Jedi-hunting cyborg General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith.
04:16Initially, however, Oldman departed due to union conflicts.
04:19A rep for the actor explained,
04:20"...George Lucas and the gang agreed to hire Gary Oldman if he in fact would become a union
04:25buster and perform work illegally overseas.
04:28As a resident of America and also a member of SAG, out of respect and solidarity with
04:32the other members, he could not and would not consider violating his union's rules."
04:38We don't want to know what George Lucas' gang looks like, but it probably looks a lot like
04:42Bingo Night.
04:43The role ultimately went to Matthew Wood, who'd already voiced various Star Wars characters.
04:48Jim Henson
04:49Master puppeteer and gentle soul of Kermit the Frog, Jim Henson is owed some serious
04:54credit for the very existence of Yoda.
04:56The Muppet Show was being filmed across the street from Star Wars' London production location,
05:02and Lucas saw an opportunity to work with Henson on a character.
05:05Lucas reportedly consulted with Henson about Yoda's creation, and ended up utilizing some
05:09of the same tech which would later come in handy for Henson's own The Dark Crystal and
05:13Labyrinth.
05:14Lucas even offered Henson the role of Yoda, but Henson was already pressed for time with
05:19his own projects.
05:20Both turned to frequent collaborator and voice of Miss Piggy, Frank Oz, with the opportunity
05:25to star in The Empire Strikes Back instead.
05:28Oz said when he first saw the character, he just felt right, probably because they're
05:32basically twins.
05:34Toshiro Mifune
05:35It's no secret that Lucas was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's films, so it shouldn't be
05:40too surprising to learn that he originally tried to recruit one of the director's biggest
05:44alums to appear in A New Hope.
05:47Toshiro Mifune was offered not one, but two roles in the Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi
05:53and Darth Vader.
05:54His daughter revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he turned down the roles because,
05:58"...he was concerned about how the film would look and that it would cheapen the image of
06:01samurai,"
06:03On which George Lucas had based a lot of the character and fighting style.
06:06At the time, sci-fi movies still looked quite cheap as the effects were not advanced and
06:11he had a lot of samurai pride.
06:13As far as reasons for turning down Star Wars go, samurai pride sure beats Burt Reynolds'
06:19I Wanted to Lock Lips with Sally Field.
06:22Leonardo DiCaprio
06:23While Hayden Christensen would ultimately nab the role of Anakin Skywalker in Attack
06:27of the Clones, George Lucas had originally approached future Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio
06:32for the role.
06:35As DiCaprio later told Shortlist magazine,
06:37"...I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that.
06:40I just didn't feel ready to take that dive, at that point."
06:43DiCaprio has never been much of a franchise movie guy, but the prequels might have been
06:47very different if he'd made a different decision.
06:49"...I'll try spinning, that's a good trick."