The surprising ‘Star Wars’ role Alan Rickman auditioned for
Best known for being Snape, the snarling Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in the Harry Potter franchise, Alan Rickman was one of British cinema’s most beloved stars. Bringing a commanding presence to each and every one of his roles, few actors have been able to stand up to the stature of Rickman throughout his career, with the thespian having worked alongside the likes of Bruce Willis, Kate Winslet and Matt Damon.
Taking his first screen roles in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rickman burrowed a niche for himself in the world of British TV, appearing in Shakespearean dramas, period romances and even a slice of ecclesiastical politics in the form of The Barchester Chronicles. Yet, few people truthfully knew of Rickman until he took to Hollywood in 1988, playing the iconic villain Hans Gruber in the action flick Die Hard.
Close to turning down the role initially, Rickman admitted: “I didn’t know anything about LA. I didn’t know anything about the film business…I’d never made a film before, but I was extremely cheap,” before reading the script and thinking to himself, “What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie”. Thankfully, he was brought around to the concept and created a piece of iconic movie history in the process.
Yet, success could have come far earlier for Rickman if he hadn’t bottled a key audition back in the early 1980s. Hoping to be flung into a galaxy far, far away, Rickman auditioned to appear in the long-awaited Star Wars sequel, Return of the Jedi, hoping to appear alongside the likes of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, as detailed in J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
However, with the lead characters Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia already claimed, Rickman was instead eyeing up a far different role on the opposite side of the force. While relatively unknown to Star Wars casuals, die-hard fans of the franchise will know the character of Moff Jerjerrod, the lead commander of the Death Star, who converses with Darth Vader throughout much of Return of the Jedi.
While the part ultimately went to Michael Pennington, Rickman was in the running for quite some time but, according to Rinzler’s book, put off the casting team with a “big, slow, low voice”, presumably akin to the intonation that he gave to Hans Gruber.
There is, indeed, a long line of esteemed British actors who have taken villainous roles in the Star Wars series as Imperial generals, commanders and more who are ‘just taking orders’. In the original trilogy, Peter Cushing starred as the beloved Grand Moff Tarkin, while in the modern trilogy, the likes of Richard E. Grant, Domhnall Gleeson and Thomas Brodie-Sangster all revelled in their villainous roles.
If only Rickman had successfully earned the role of Moff Jerjerrod, Star Wars could have been even more iconic than it already is.
