Han Solo was about as much of a mercenary as he could be back in those days, wasn’t he? Watching this first ever screen test for Star Wars is actually kind of amusing since the guys were told to just go with the one scene they were given and run with it. How’s that for being tossed off a cliff and told to fly? One thing about this though, you’ve got to hand it to both Mark and Harrison, they managed to get through the scene in its most raw form without really breaking character. That’s impressive enough given that they had no idea what the movie was about since Lucas hadn’t told them yet. But keeping going when they had to finish out the scene and simply act as though they knew what was going on is even better.
As anyone can find out at this point, or read Mathew Stevens’ article in CBR, how Star Wars kind of tanked a few careers since several actors couldn’t get much work once it was all said and done, but Harrison Ford was one of those that didn’t feel the pinch in the slightest since he went on to become a huge action star. Mark Hamill did his fair share of work though it never really reached the same level as Ford’s, and Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew didn’t do much after either. Alec Guinness didn’t really enjoy his time on Star Wars it sounds like and James Earl Jones, well, his fame was kind of assured after a while. It’s funny to think that Lucas had already used Ford in the past for American Graffiti, but that did little to nothing to really boost Harrison’s career. When Lucas brought them all together for the first Star Wars movie though there wasn’t a lot of hope ironically that it would be that well-received since the story that was being read at this point really wasn’t the polished epic that so many came to know and love.
My screen-test for @starwars w/ Harrison on the 1st day I ever met him. Neither 1 of us had read the script at this point, only this 1 scene. I asked George what kind of movie it was-"Let's just do it, we'll talk about that later" We never did talk about it later-we just did it. https://t.co/e7cHWoLmJk
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 28, 2019
For a long time now Star Wars has been a part of pop culture and it’s also been one of the many stories that has only improved with each new telling, no matter what anyone wants to say about The Last Jedi or Solo. Taking nothing but the negatives away from each movie is enough to make some people believe that it’s gone downhill in a big way, but upon taking the positives and the negatives together it’s been possible to see why Star Wars has been such an endearing story and why so many people have latched onto it for so long, weathering the bad times and enjoying the good. The idea that there is any terrible story in the Star Wars saga is something that many die hard fans would never admit to since it would be an admission that something just doesn’t, can’t, and won’t ever work in any way when it comes to Star Wars. From Jar Jar Binks to TLJ to the simple fact that many believe a feminist lean has been seen to influence one of their favorite stories, some folks have been able to convince themselves that Star Wars might be headed in a very negative direction when it comes to the overall story. Looking back at this clip however one can honestly wonder just how it ever got this far in the first place.
When you think about it that way Star Wars was a stroke of luck for George Lucas since the average space odyssey back in those days might have never been able to escape the B status if not for something extraordinary that was allowed to happen to turn it into something unique and special. The franchise took some time to get going but once it was firmly established, well, you can see how it’s become a worldwide phenomenon at this point and a story that a lot of people will defend up until the final movie and final animated feature is created, which might not be for a long while to come. Star Wars is a part of the worldwide consciousness at this point, but going back to moments such as this to see what it was before it really became anything is highly amusing since it would seem that both Hamill and Ford are doing their absolute best to remain on point and get through the scene. With credit to both of them though you can’t help but think that despite the fact that Han was the sidekick in many ways, he was also the more forceful personality of the bunch. He kind of had to be after all since he was one of the only main characters that didn’t have connection to or use of the Force in some way. He was just a lucky rogue that happened to fall in with a very powerful bunch of characters, and that worked out well for a long time.
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