Today marks Star Wars Day and also the date the late Carrie Fisher will be honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 60-year-old died in 2016 having wrapped on Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, before deleted scenes from The Force Awakens were used in The Rise of Skywalker.
The daughter of Hollywood royalty Debbie Reynolds, who tragically died a day after her daughter, was cast as Princess Leia at just 19 in George Lucas’ original 1977 classic.
Along with having an affair with Han Solo star Harrison Ford on set, her performance as Darth Vader’s daughter went on to become a feminist icon of cinema.
Yet did you know Fisher beat a number of leading ladies to the role?
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Over two dozen actresses reportedly auditioned for the role including Glenn Close, Farrah Fawcett, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sigourney Weaver, Lalla Ward, Cybill Shepherd, Anjelica Huston, Kim Basinger, Terri Nunn, Cindy Williams, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep almost bagged the part, with Fisher commenting in 2015: “I’ve never heard that one. But Jodie Foster was up for it… that one I knew the most. Amy Irving and Jodie. And I got it.”
In fact, following her death, fans petitioned for Streep to replace Fisher as Leia in The Rise of Skywalker, but director JJ Abrams went with the deleted scenes instead. Another famous actress who auditioned for Leia was one of Roger Moore’s most famous Bond girls.
Before being considered for Star Wars, Jane Seymour played Solitaire in Moore’s first James Bond movie, 1973’s Live and Let Die. In the end, she went on to play Princess Farah in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, which hit cinemas in 1977, the same year as Star Wars.
Meanwhile, Moore himself would take Bond into space in 1979’s Moonraker following the success of the sci-fi blockbuster. This paid off handsomely with the 007 film being the most successful of all its predecessors.
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