Jodie Foster just explained why she passed on the chance to be “Star Wars” royalty.
Foster talked about turning down the part of Princess Leia while appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” Wednesday night.
“You’ve been in so many iconic roles, and we love what you do,” Fallon told the two-time Oscar-winner. “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 revealed. “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.”
While the former child star did not mention which Disney feature she was working on, Foster’s movie “Freaky Friday” came out in 1976, one year before “Star Wars” became a sensation.
Casting the “Silence of the Lambs” lead would have taken “Star Wars” in a different direction, as the star would have been around 13 or 14 years old when the George Lucas classic was made. Carrie Fisher, who played the role of Leia, was 19 during filming.
Foster told Fallon that Fisher and company “did an amazing job,” adding, “I don’t know how good I would have been. I might have had different hair. I might have gone with a pineapple.”