Toshirô Mifune Turned Down Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in Star Wars

The works of Akira Kurosawa had a major influence on George Lucas when he made the original Star Wars. One notable actor who appeared in Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo and other Kurosawa films was Toshirô Mifune. According The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas initially had Mifune in mind to play Obi-Wan Kenobi or Darth Vader. Mika Mifune, the deceased actor’s daughter, recently revealed that her father was offered both iconic roles, but turned them down.

“I heard from my father that he was offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi,” she said, “but he was concerned about how the film would look and that it would cheapen the image of samurai, on which George Lucas had based a lot of the character and fighting style.”

“At the time, sci-fi movies still looked quite cheap as the effects were not advanced and he had a lot of samurai pride,” she went on. “So then, there was talk about him taking the Darth Vader role as his face would be covered, but in the end he turned that down too.”

This certainly would have been one of the most interesting alternative casting choices to see, but it’s safe to say Alec Guinness mastered the role of Obi-Wan and James Earl Jones is forever the voice of Darth Vader. In any case, this piece of trivia brings new meaning to samurai in space.