William Katt's Star Wars Audition with Kurt Russell

This is William Katt's Star Wars audition. You might remember him from The Greatest American Hero. There's a Luke and a Han audition. In both he's acting with Kurt Russell

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• William Katt
• Kurt Russell
• Star Wars
• Audition
• Greatest American Hero

[rhoadnaroahs]

Blah, blah, blah. Too wordy. Can you imagine sitting through all this dialogue in a movie theater. Oh wait, we did that for the prequels. lol

[jadewarlock]

I think you have a very valid point magicalgirl - while I do think Katt could've done well in the role long term (I've seen him do some darker roles), Hamill fit the role better.

That said - it was for the best because I CAN'T see anyone else play Ralph Hinkley like Katt did. The only one who came close has been Allen Rueckert, who is an indie actor. Even there he's missing a little bit of the charm.

[2degucitas]

Luke would have had pretty hair!!! 

[MuscleManDaniel]

lol if luke had that hair or han solo . lol ausome though!

star wars could have been a spoff had it been casted differently and no John williams lol

[theselfdeception]

Katt is strong, confident and much like Anakin before he becomes Vader. Mark Hamill had an inner peace and conviction in him the way he auditioned for Luke, much like the spiritual overtones of the Force's strength from within. I can see why GL chose Mark - the subtlety with which he delivers his audition lines, and the intensity of his gaze (with the softly spoken voice) got him the part. And he even manages to sound like the whiney farm boy at one stage.

[NeverDoubt1]

@MausoloSri The originals did not have a wordy problem. But I don't even think that's what was wrong with the prequels either. The writing just wasn't as tight and consequently the acting suffered.

[MegaJetJaguar]

One thing's for certain, William Katt's hair was much more prettier than Carrie Fisher's! LOL.

[MausoloSri]

Why so upset with the prequels?? i just have to say three things: 1. The "wordy problem" can be valid just for the first movie, and one could say it is because they introduce you to the general problematic. 2. Episodes 2 and 3 reached a wonderful dinamism that original episodes doesn't, and they were made in a different time, with new ideas, times change people !, and 3. William Katt was gorgeus at that age, loved him in CArrie. =D

[jarobi27]

I actually think Katt is a better actor. Hamill is a better voice actor then onscreen. Katt and Ford, Luke and Han!!

[bobzeda]

@dranet

Yes, the last three films (prequels) were horrible. Worst 'wooden' acting I've seen in ANY movie. Walked out on the first first because it got so boring.

[slapmyfunkybass]

hate to say it, but i think Kurt Russell would have done a better job than Ford

[dranet]

@eruseron What ruined the prequels for me was the bad acting! lol

[silverfish1]

Kurt Russell is amazing. Always has been...always will be.

[ricarleite]

@rhoadnaroahs The auditions used part of the third draft, and part of the fourth draft, which were amazingly badly written and filled with technobabble dialogue. What you see in Star Wars is a heavily edited version of a revised fourth draft. So yeah, when GL is surrounded by yes man, this is pretty much what you get.

[eruseron]

@rhoadnaroahs Do you reckon prequels were too wordy? I never had that feeling.

What ruined them for me were the Gungans rabbit-like designs and the sitcom punch lines in ep2.

[bluechao]

You know there are alternate universes where these two played Han and Luke instead of Hamil and Ford. William Katt is probably a legend in those universes, Russell, well, he did just fine here too.

[bobzeda]

@emprossium

I agree that Katt would have made a very good look. I believe Lucas liked both Katt and Kurt Russel as Solo. He seemed to have set them up as a second possible "team". Lucas said he had several groups(or teams) of actors that he put together (ie. a team of Leia, Luke and Han). This was Russell's second audition of tape.

They (William Katt and Russell) would, however, been more of the pretty boy, heart throb 'team' and maybe Lucas didn't want to go that route.

[NeverDoubt1]

@nexusutube I thought that too; actually this Luke might have made the prequels better when there were more fully trained Jedi around. : D

[JBC814]

Katt and Ford would have been the perfect team, Hamill was a mistake.

[JBC814]

Katt is superb, he would have made the perfect Luke.

[nexusutube]

This Luke has the confidence of a fully trained Jedi. The movies would have ended at Empire Strike backs after he defeated Vader and the Emperor.

[Sirrom5]

I think they were goning to choose Katt and Russell for main characters on star wars.

[Sirrom5]

Great interpretation! wow

[DarkMisstrust69]

@jadewarlock thankfully William Katt was a good sport about it^^ i think that it was a double audition for both Star Wars and Carrie at the time and that's How William Katt got to be in Carrie was because of this adution. both driectors if i'm not mistaken were holding the auditions for both movies so you can see that Kurt didnt' get ether parts form ether movie but Will on the other had was in the Movie Carrie as Tommy Ross. and history for both movies was done because of this video^^

[WaitingtoHit]

I really like Katt as Luke. He is a very underrated actor. If I were Lucas, I would have had a tough time deciding between him and Hamill. Katt's hair is far too large here; I wonder if that worked against him.