The Road to Episode Infinity: Recasting a Trilogy

Hey everyone and "May The Forth Be With You". Last May the 4th I took a crack at rewriting the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. This year I wanted to reimagine Star Wars in a different way. This year I thought it would be fun to imagine a world where George Lucas released the Star Wars films in order, starting with Episode I in 1977 and ending with Episode VI in 2005. Specifically I will focus on casting. So while Abrahams continues to cast episodes VII onward, I will recast the first two trilogies, starting with Episodes I – III.

First some ground rules. I won’t recast droids, puppets, or costumes. Therefore Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz, Peter Mayhew, James Earl Jones, Warwick Davis and everyone else is safe from recasting. Also I won’t recast Palpatine- there is no reason to.

Next rule: I’m dumping the CGI characters. They only exist in the prequel trilogy and Lucas would not have had the luxury of the technology needed to create a terrible being such as Jar Jar in the 70s. Therefore, I will only recast human characters, and the actors I choose need to be people who were actually acting at the time.

Let’s start with Young Anakin, shall we? I looked for a child actor who was on screens in the late 70s and who would be about nine in 1977. I needed a blonde kid who resembled Jake Lloyd, but who would have a bit more of an edge to him. Low and behold I stumbled across Jason Bateman. Bateman started acting when he was about 12. He played an orphan-boy on "Little House on the Prairie" who was adopted by the Ingles family. It’s not a stretch to think he could have been cast as young Anakin only a few years earlier. Bateman as an adult usually plays serious characters. Though I have not seen him as a child actor, I can extrapolate that he would have been easier to internalize than Jake Lloyd (Who I want to pulverize with a wooden baseball bat every time I see him act)

Casting Anakin was pretty easy. Padme proved a little more difficult, yet I did find a child star who could be right for the part. Ms. Jodie Foster was a very famous teen actor who would have been 14 or 15 during the filming of the 1977 version of Phantom Menace. She’s not exactly like Natalie Portman, but she’s stronger, edgier- more like Carrie Fisher than Portman. Hell, in 1976 she played a child prostitute in "Taxi Driver" and was nominated for an Oscar. Foster would only need to dump that southern drawl, then would be more than fit to play the queen of Naboo.

I have to say that casting the Jedi was way easier than casting the kids. Replacing Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn might sound tough at first, until you remember the man who was born to play a Jedi but never got the chance. Mr. Sean Connery himself. Connery proved his ability in working with Lucas during the third Indiana Jones Film and he proved his swordplay during the film highlander. The character of Qui-Gon would be a walk in the park for a younger, fitter Connery.

Casting Obi-Wan Kenobi was tougher, but let’s not forget about the rising Australian star of the late 70s, Mr. Mel Gibson. How could The Road Warrior not be the perfect choice to play a young eager padawan who would grow into a great Jedi Knight? Can you imagine Connery and Gibson trading lines?

Already the prequel trilogy is looking much stronger, but now we have to make the most important casting decision of the trilogy. Is there someone who could play Anakin Skywalker who would be as loved as Hayden Christianson is hated? Who could be evil and likable at the same time? I have to admit the task was daunting. Was there really a rising 70s teen star who everyone loved, yet could play a really dark character. Well, I have one word for you: Bacon.

Kevin Bacon’s first role was in Animal House in 1978, so it’s no stretch that he could have played Ankin Skywalker in 1980’s version of Attack of the Clones.

I will admit that there wasn't too much on the line when recasting the prequel trilogy. It’s not that the original actors were bad, it’s just that the script wasn’t very good. Tomorrow, I have a much more daunting task. Tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo I will recast Episodes IV – VI, imagining a world where the original trilogy was released after the prequels, with A New Hope coming out in 1999. Who will play Luke? Who will play Leia? Who will play Han? Who will play Lando? Check back in in 24 hours.

May the 4th Specials

The Road to Episode Infinity

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Recasting a Trilogy

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