Recasting Star Wars

This is how I occupy my time at work (or some of it). It started with me thinking about Billy Dee Williams being described as the black Clark Gable. Then it went from there back in time. One thing that became clear to me was African Americans were excluded from mainstream Hollywood films.

 Star Wars casting the Thirties

Luke Skywalker – Henry Fonda

Han Solo – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Obi Wan Kenobi – C. Aubrey Smith/Sam Jaffe

Princess Leia – Myrna Loy

Lando Calrissian – Clark Gable

General Tork – Raymond Massey

Darth Vader – Melvyn Douglas

Yoda – Edward Everett Horton

Star Wars casting the Forties -

Luke Skywalker – Robert Walker

Han Solo – Robert Mitchum

Obi Wan Kenobi – Claude Rains

Princess Leia – Maureen O’Hara

Lando Calrissian – Cary Grant

General Tork – Basil Rathbone

Darth Vader – Orson Welles

Yoda – Mel Blanc

Star Wars casting the Fifties -

Luke Skywalker – Anthony Perkins

Han Solo – James Dean

Obi Wan Kenobi – Ronald Colman

Princess Leia – Natalie Wood

Lando Calrissian – Frank Sinatra

General Tork – Boris Karloff

Darth Vader – Orson Welles

Yoda – Jerry Lewis

Star Wars casting the Sixties -

Luke Skywalker – Warren Beatty

Han Solo – Steve McQueen

Princess Leia – Diana Rigg

Obi Wan Kenobi – James Mason

Lando Calrissian – James Garner/James Coburn

General Tork – John Gielguid

Darth Vader – Richard Burton

Yoda – Charles Bronson

Star Wars cast by flipping the sexes:

Lucy Skywalker – Kim Darby

Hannah Solo – Halle Berry

Prince Lee – Ryan Gosling

Lando Calrissian – Susan Sarandon

Obi Wan Kenobi – Barbara Stanwyck

General Tork – Bette Davis

Darth Vader – Greta Garbo

Yoda - Katherine Hepburn

Star Wars as a blaxploitation movie -

Luke Skywalker – Denzel Washington

Han Solo – Eddie Murphy

Princess Leia – Pam Grier/Halle Berry

Obi Wan Kenobi – Idris Elba/Raymond St. Jacques

Lando Calrissian – Dennis Leary

General Tork – Richard Roundtree

Darth Vader – James Earl Jones

Yoda – Sidney Poitier 

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