Star Wars was, is, and will forever remain one of the greatest movie franchises of all time. The adventures of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are the stuff of legend, played by two men who would become Hollywood legends! Actors Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford both enjoyed enormous success after launching their careers in Star Wars. Ford starred in the India Jones Franchise and made quite a few other action blockbuster films. Meanwhile, Hamill enjoyed a fantastic career on Broadway and became one of the industry’s best voice actors. Hamill will forever be known to many fans as the voice of the “The Joker,” an infamous DC Comic Book character who’s Batmans biggest nemesis.
Recently a video editor, who goes by the handle 70sSciFiBoy, shared some incredible archival Star Wars footage from 1976 showing Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford performing a test read for the first Star Wars movie released in 1977, originally titled “Star Wars.” However, it turns out it was the fourth film in the Star Wars movie chronology and was later known as “Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope.” Then in 1980, “Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back” hit theaters to huge fanfare. Even today, Empire Strikes Back is considered perhaps the best of the entire franchise. The final film in the original trilogy, “Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi,” was released in 1983.
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You see, starting 1999 to 2005, Lucasfilm Ltd and 20th Century Fox released a prequel trilogy series consisting of “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” in 1999, “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” in 2002, and “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” in 2005.
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In 2015, the first film in a trilogy series set after the events Episode VI (Return of the Jedi) debuted in theaters. The first film, titled “Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens,” was followed by two other films in 2017 (Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi) and 2019 (Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker).
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In the archived footage, we see Ford and Hamill reading a very familiar scene from New Hope. Interestingly, this scene was never filmed.
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Also, Ford wasn’t director George Lucas’ first choice for the role of Han Solo. He actually first offered the role to Al Pachino. However, Pachino passed on the part. Later the actor revealed in a 2013 interview that he didn’t take the role because he “didn’t understand the script.”
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But, things worked out for the best, as most Star Wars fans can’t imagine anyone else other than Harrison Ford playing Han Solo!
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You can watch the historical footage of Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill auditioning for their roles in the original Star Wars film in the video below.
What did you think? Did you feel a spark of chemistry? And how about Ford’s Lou Ferrigno (Incredible Hulk) haircut back then? Please be sure to pass this along to your friends and family.