SOUND WARS! 35 YEARS OF THE 'STAR WARS' RADIO DRAMA.

Anthony Daniels is clearly enjoying his reprisal of Threepio, whilst Bernard Behrens makes a point to Perry King and Mark Hamill, in vocal character as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, for the original audio adaptation of STAR WARS, by Brian Daley, for America's NPR and aired in 1981. A thirteen episode serial with great production values (and brilliant re-use of Ben Burtt's sound design) that continues to be fondly remembered and acclaimed by fans to this day, now celebrating its 35th Anniversary. I make it a point to listen to the production every year, and its always great fun- especially all the great additional material linked to deleted scenes, long before their eventual arrival on Blu-ray.

That Time NPR Turned 'Star Wars' Into A Radio Drama — And It Actually Worked : NPR

Promotional material for the original thirteen-episode series.

FACEBOOK page: Star Wars Radio Series

Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy: Amazon.co.uk: George Lucas: 9781598875805: Music

BEHIND THE SCENES: THE SEARCH FOR HEROES...

Mark Hamill auditions with Harrison Ford- Feb 1976.

Mark Hamill delivers his tongue twister dialogue as Luke Skywalker to a weary Harrison Ford as Han Solo, during one of the 1975/76 screentests done in the US for the upcoming THE STAR WARS. Also testing for Leia was later BERLIN singer Terri Nunn (then aged 14), who, if she had played the role instead of the feisty Carrie Fisher, would probably have brought a quirkier charm to the role. Right now, with the upcoming EPISODE VII, new casting for new heroes and villains within the STAR WARS universe is fully underway, so this early and interesting footage (taped by Ben Burtt in one of his many early duties beyond sound design), is as relevant and enjoyable as ever...

Also screen tested and video taped (but yet to see the light of day, if ever), according to producer Gary Kurtz, were Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone.

Longer Mark Hamill Star Wars Audition - YouTube
Terri Nunn's Star Wars Audition.avi - YouTube

Intriguingly, as of 2018, no tapes have ever been released from the Lucasfilm archives of the test footage supposedly shot of Hamill, Fisher and Ford together (footage that Carrie Fisher confirmed in a 1997 interview to EMPIRE film magazine). However, when this was trio test footage was shot is unknown, as Hamill was cast very late in the day-only a short time before filming began in Tunisia in March 1976.

Presumably, if trio footage was shot of Ford, Fisher and Hamill, then tape must exist of the other trio hopefuls together that were Will Selzer, Christopher Walken and Terri Nunn...

2013 ADD ONS: Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz: 'Doing open auditions makes sense' | Film | theguardian.com

Sylvester Stallone auditioned for Star Wars and "hates" Arnold Schwarzenegger

Star Wars: Forgotten Han Solo Recalls Failed Audition and Radio Drama – The Hollywood Reporter

2015 ADD ON: Tina Fey and Kurt Russell reenact a scene from Star Wars | EW.com

Mark Hamill's Audition for Star Wars - from BAFTA LA's Behind Closed Doors with Chris Hardwick - YouTube

From Mark Hamill - July 2019.

2016 ADD ON: The Secret History Of Star Wars, Feature | Movies - Empire