Star Wars Held Joint Auditions With A Classic Steven King Horror Flick
In the late 1970s, two films were put into production that covered very similar material. Both of them featured lonely, isolated youths who were trapped in unpleasant homes and who longed for escape. Both of them featured absent fathers, and both protagonists had to seek out mentorship on their own. Both of the protagonists also found that they had inherited eerie psychic powers that allowed them to move objects with their minds. In one film, the protagonist found that his psychic powers allowed him access to an ancient religious order. In the other, the protagonist found that she was rejected from her ancient religious order because of her powers. Both films featured explosive and memorable climaxes wherein many, many people die.
One film was "Star Wars." The other was "Carrie."
"Star Wars," directed by George Lucas, was based loosely on the sci-fi serials of the 1930s and 1940s that the filmmaker enjoyed in his youth. "Carrie," directed by Brian De Palma, was based on a then-new novel by the up-and-coming author Stephen King. The former was released in May of 1977, the latter only seven months previous.
And while it may be fun to think of the above parallels as mere amusing coincidences, know that "Carrie," produced for Universal, and "Star Wars," produced for 20th Century Fox, intersected early in their production. Indeed, as detailed on the website Episode Nothing, there was a fateful period when Lucas and De Palma were in the same room at the same time, simultaneously auditioning actors for their respective projects. The two filmmakers, after all, needed actors that were about the same age, so why not have young hopefuls read for both Leia and Carrie at the same time?
They're all gonna laugh at Luke
It seems that there were joint auditions held sometime in 1975, a fact confirmed by Brian De Palma himself in the making-of documentary film "Acting Carrie." De Palma said that "George and I were both looking for unknowns so we sat together and basically went through hundreds of boys and girls, looking for the cast for 'Carrie' and 'Star Wars.'" The same documentary also featured an interview with actress P.J. Soles, who played the character of Norma in De Palma's movie. She said that she walked into a room with both directors and recalled that De Palma was the more animated director of the two. In her words:
"I just remember right away Brian looking at me and I could just sort of tell that he liked me and then George Lucas was just kind of stern-faced and Brian turned to him and said 'I'll put this one on my list.'"
At the time, "Star Wars" was considered a minor but well-budgeted project. "Carrie" was made for under $2 million, while "Star Wars" ended up costing about $11 million. As such, many, many actors were eager to take part. Amy Irving, who played Sue in "Carrie," recalled seeing Lucas in the middle of the room for her audition. She said:
"I had never made a film before and I was doing a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' on the stage when this audition came up for 'Star Wars.' Everybody in town was going in on this and Brian De Palma was sitting in the corner of all the interviews that George was giving. And he was kind of like making us a little mental note to say 'Okay, George can only pick so many, you know, I'll see what's left.'"
Use the Force, Carrie
Because "Star Wars" became rather popular, the legends of its audition process are now widely known by Starwoids everywhere. One needn't dig too deep on YouTube to find audition videos from actors like William Katt, Cindy Williams, Kurt Russell, Robby Benson, Charles Martin Smith, and, of course, Amy Irving. Because of the respective films' shooting schedules, sadly, no one actor would have been able to appear in both pictures. It seems De Palma wanted Irving more than Lucas, so she ended up in "Carrie." Katt also landed a job in the horror film.
Harrison Ford, who appeared in "Star Wars" was already known to George Lucas thanks to his 1976 film "American Graffiti." Cindy Williams and Charles Martin Smith, incidentally, also appeared in that film. Lucas could have easily cast them in the roles of Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, but opted for actors Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill instead, both of them relatively new to professional acting. Hamill first appeared on television in 1970 and "Star Wars" was his first feature film. Fisher previously appeared in "Shampoo," and made a few TV appearances in the 1950s with her famous mother, Debbie Reynolds. They would continue to reprise their roles for decades.
Both "Carrie" and "Star Wars" have been influential in their own way. The former helped launch De Palma's career and made Stephen King a household name. It also spawned multiple sequels, remakes, and a notorious Broadway musical. The latter became a massive media franchise unto itself, complete with sequels, waffle irons, and "Weird Al" Yankovic parodies.
They're pretty much the same.