Jodie Foster Reveals That She Turned Down the Role of Princess Leia
While Carrie Fisher has become inextricably linked with her iconic turn as Princess Leia Organa, she was not the only actress originally considered for the role.
For decades, rumors have circulated that Jodie Foster was offered the role of the Aldarian princess for Star Wars: A New Hope but turned the job down.
Jodie Foster Turned Down the Role
In a recent interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Foster finally confirmed that he was indeed considered for the role.
“You’ve been in so many iconic roles, and we love what you do,” Fallon asked. “But I saw this on the internet. You were offered the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars. Is that true?”
“I was, yeah,” Foster replied. “They were going for a younger Princess Leia but I had a conflict. I was doing a Disney movie and I just didn’t want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract.”
Casting Foster Would Change Leia’s Story
Based on the timeline of events, it would seem that Foster was under contract for Freaky Friday, which was released a year before A New Hope hit theaters.
Interstingly, casting Foster would have drastically changed the role of Leia. At the time of filming, Carrie Fisher was 19 years old. Foster, meanwhile, was only 13 or 14.
“And they did an amazing job,” Foster said of Fisher. “I don’t know how good I would have been. And I might have had different hair. I might have gone with a pineapple.”
Eventually, Fisher would reprise his role as Princess Leia in five additional Star Wars films. In addition to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Fisher returned for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and the posthumously in Rise of Skywalker (through archival footage).
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