Jodie Foster confirms she turned down the role of Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars’
While Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher are intrinsically linked to the three main roles in George Lucas’ Star Wars, Jodie Foster has revealed she would have been Princess Leia if it wasn’t for scheduling conflicts.
The exhaustive casting process undertaken in order to find the perfect actors for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa has become the stuff of Hollywood legend. For many years, rumours always abounded that Foster was Lucas’ number one candidate to take on the part of the female lead.
The late Fisher was fully aware of it, once acknowledging to The Daily Beast that “Jodie Foster was up for it”. Now, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the two-time Academy Award winner confirmed it was true.
Foster revealed to the host, “I had a conflict”. Expanding further, she “was doing a Disney movie, and I just didn’t want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract, so I didn’t do it.” Based on the Star Wars production timeline, the Mouse House project in question was 1977’s Candleshoe.
Foster wasn’t left devastated by the debacle and even managed to joke about Leia’s iconic hairstyle when stating that if she had landed the part, she “might have gone with a pineapple”.
In an alternative universe, if Foster been cast, then it could have significantly altered the story of the film, considering the Taxi Driver star was only 14-years-old when Star Wars hit cinemas in May 1977.
Meanwhile, Fisher was 20 when the movie was released, and having somebody six years younger as Leia would have drastically altered the dynamics between the princess and both Luke and Han.
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