Tupac Shakur Was Almost A Star Wars Jedi
Tupac a Jedi? Swinging a lightsaber instead of a mic? It seemed like it almost happened.
While George Lucas almost ruined his legacy with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, there were some slivers of goodness in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The prequels raised the level of CGI special effects, introduced dynamic lightsaber duels, and delivered some amazing new character additions. One of those was Jedi Master Mace Windu, played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Jackson was probably the best thing about the prequel trilogy, but apparently, he was not George Lucas‘ first choice to play the Jedi Knight. No, that honor went to Tupac Shakur.
According to the former chief engineer of Death Row Records, Rick Clifford, rapper Tupac Shakur read for George Lucas to play Mace Windu back in 1996. Before the former’s tragic death later that year, Tupac was also an emerging actor, with solid performances in the movies Juice, Above the Rim, and Gridlock’d.
Clifford said about the possibility of making Tupac Shakur a Star Wars Jedi, “It’s sad because ‘Pac found out that I worked for Brian Austin Green who was on 90210, then he found out I was in some movies. So we always talked about his film career and stuff. He was telling me that he was supposed to read for [George Lucas]. They wanted him to be a Jedi… Samuel L. got Tupac’s part… He called me ‘Old Man’. He said ‘Old Man keep your fingers crossed, I got three movies coming up. One of them I gotta read for George Lucas.”
There you have it! While Tupac was only an up-and-coming actor at the time, he could have been a real movie star because of his impressive on-screen presence and charm.
Unfortunately, his life was tragically cut short at age 25, when he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996. It’s just hard to believe we could have had a version of Mace Windu with the words “Thug Life” tattooed on his belly.
Of course, though it wasn’t Tupac, Samuel L. Jackson shined as a member of the Jedi Master in the final film. He gave the prequels much-needed life and energy that were absent from many of the actors in the trilogy. It’s not that actors such as Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman were bad, it’s just that George Lucas didn’t seem to know how to use them. Interestingly, the character Mace Windu was originally the narrator in early drafts of Star Wars but was ultimately scrapped.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy would have been completely different if Tupac Shakur hadn’t been murdered and had been cast to play Mace Windu. The movies certainly would have had an edge that Jackson couldn’t deliver, despite his abilities as a great actor. Tupac Shakur had an authenticity that couldn’t be replicated. It’s such a shame that his life ended at an early age.
