Recasting a Classic - 'Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope'

9/10/2016

Written by Scott Edwards

Sometimes I get bored and right now is one of those times, so why not do something different that can get my mind moving again. I have never hidden my love for movies and with a lot of the reviews that I do on the B movies, I wonder what could have been done to make them better. You don’t tend to wonder what would have made a funded movie better, people just love to hammer the writer or director when a movie flops, but in reality, it comes down to the cast and the performance that they leave on the screen. With that being said, I started to wonder what would make Star Wars: Episode IV even better if I had a cast of thousands to choose from and this is what I came up with.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – Alec Guinness was a great find for this part, but this is the first person I thought of when coming up with this idea and it was the easiest decision I ever made with Sir Sean Connery. I just think that in his later years, the former James Bond star would be the perfect fit for this character, and even would have made many little quips to Luke about how to use the force and be a man, that, of course Luke would ignore since Obi-Wan is not his father. With a distinct voice the people love to listen to, there would be so many people quoting Obi-Wan rather than Han and Chewie's interactions.

Han Solo – Talk about one of the hardest people to have to replace in a movie, and although there might not be anyone better than Harrison Ford in the role, I really like Idris Elba. I loved his role in Prometheus and that is what puts him on the top of my list for so many movie roles. With so much swank and swagger, Idris is fun to watch and I am sure that nobody would be able to take their eyes off of him. My first thought about this pick was to put him as Vader, but you cannot hide his face from the screen, but maybe Vader could have a clear mask so they wouldn’t have to cover anyone up. But that is neither here nor there, it would be just flat out fun to see him take over the Millennium Falcon and complain about parsecs.

Princess Leia – The seriousness and fun that was brought to the screen by Carrie Fisher made us laugh and cry over the years and there are very few actresses that can pull this off all around, but I am always very high on Jessica Chastain. Still one of my favorite actresses of the past couple of years, I am sure that she would be able to put her hair in the side buns and shoot a blaster and never miss. One of the things that I like about her performances that I have seen is that she is never being held back by anyone, and I'm not sure anyone could hold her back from the good fight as it is. Taking control of every room that she walks into, I would guarantee that a quick love affair with her brother would not keep her down for too long.

Robert Maillet to wear the iconic suit...

...and Mark Strong to provide the voice of...

Darth Vader – Now this one gets a little more difficult since you have two actors that are Vader, David Prowse as the body and James Earl Jones as the voice. I would need someone that is at least six inches taller than everyone else in the movie and I think Robert Maillet would fit this role perfectly for the body. As a former wrestler, he has the moves that Vader would have to use in battle. I am not sure about his sword play, but I am sure that he could figure it out. As for the voice, I like a good British baddy like Mark Strong to take the role. With a distinctive voice that can strike fear into everyone’s heart, he would be the perfect fit to making sure that the relentless Vader is much more hated than loved in the universe.

Luke Skywalker – This choice has to be the hardest one for me to make as I need to find someone that is youthful like Mark Hamill was when he first took on the role and has a pretty solid presence on the screen. My first thought was a young Tobey Maguire since he was okay in the Spiderman movies, and while I still like him, I think I would rather go with a young James Franco instead. I need an actor that can use his full array of emotions for the role, especially when Luke eventually finds out who his father really is, yet can still have a little bit of fun when it comes to rescuing the princess from the Empire. Like I said, this was quite the difficult choice and after seeing some more of his work, even in comedies, I get the feeling that there is much more that James is capable of and when given the chance, can put a movie on this back and run with it.

I will leave it at that, since the other main stars of this movie are all in costume and I do not know enough names of people that make a living doing that. It is fun to think about how movies would have been different if there were different people in the roles, especially if they did a really good job in taking on some larger-than-life characters. I know there are so many good actors out there that you probably can think of some people who could do the roles better and feel free to let me know about them, since I am basing these decisions on a 30-50-20 spit of Action, Drama and Comedy. Until next time, may the force be with you.

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