Effects of Toshiro Mifune playing Obi-wan Kenobi.

It's said, even by George Lucas himself, that legendary actor Toshiro Mifune was in line to play Obi-wan Kenobi in A New Hope. What would the effects of this casting change be, and how might it play out through the rest of the series?
 
I don't know, such a casting choice could probably pave the way for the casting of more Asian and Asian-American actors in Hollywood. Obi-wan Kenobi's a fairly big deal, after all.
 
and then there's how this could affect the rest of the franchise, not only with who would be playing the younger Obi-Wan in TTL's Prequels but also what kind of influence this could have on casting for other Jedi in later films (say, Qui-Gon)
 
... Or the movie could have bombed completely. As I recall it was a huge gamble and at one time or another pretty much everyone involved had his doubts whether they weren't just filming Hollywood's costliest flop. So just changing one or two scenes or one or two actors could have made the difference between the legend Star Wars is today and just a costly nothing like 'waterworld'
 
Well if it had worked out, I think it would have changed the Star Wars lore quite a bit. Now theoretically making the actor Asian, shouldn't. But practice is different.
When A New Hope was release there was no massive established Star Wars background canon, it itself was the only canon and everything else wasn't chiselled in stone yet. So IMHO with Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan the Jedi, despite being called knights would have been perceived as less of a SciFi monastic Knighthood order and more as SciFi Samurai with future works running with that theme and it being canon by now.
 

samcster94

Banned
... Or the movie could have bombed completely. As I recall it was a huge gamble and at one time or another pretty much everyone involved had his doubts whether they weren't just filming Hollywood's costliest flop. So just changing one or two scenes or one or two actors could have made the difference between the legend Star Wars is today and just a costly nothing like 'waterworld'
If it bombs, then Splinter is up on the table.
 
It would be interesting if that led George Lucas to keep the two handed style for light sabers rather than switching to single handed.
 
Would George Lucas have dubbed Toshiro Mifune's voice in the original trilogy or would he have allowed Mifune to speak with a heavy accent?
I like the idea of Obi-Wan being a Ronin Jedi rather than a fugitive hiding out on tatoonie. Instead of Darth Vader wiping out the Jedi order, many Jedi simply became Ronin wandering the galaxy.
 
Didn't Alec Guinness specifically want Obi-Wan killed off? Couldn't that lead to the implication of what do you with a surviving Obi-Wan plot wise and how do you work that going along with the rest of the film, and future sequels?
 
Didn't Alec Guinness specifically want Obi-Wan killed off? Couldn't that lead to the implication of what do you with a surviving Obi-Wan plot wise and how do you work that going along with the rest of the film, and future sequels?
Simple Fix:
1. Obi-Wan leaves Hoth to find Yoda before the Empire's assault. Luke is supposed to follow but the Empire's attack delays everything.
2. Luke arrives on Dagobah and both Yoda and Kenobi train him.
3. Luke still leaves by himself to face Vader on Bespin. Obi-Wan goes to get help from the rebel fleet and then rescue Leia and the others.
4. Obi-Wan arrives at Cloud City just in time to help the Millennium Falcon escape.
5. In ROTJ General Kenobi is the overall commander of the Battle of Endor with Admiral Akbar serving under him.
 
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