Recently, an old audition tape for George Lucas' Star Wars: A New Hope started doing the rounds on Twitter. In that, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford can be seen reading lines for the now-classic sci-fi movie, and the former has shed a little light on what was actually going on here.
"At this point, neither of us had read the full script, only this one scene," the beloved Luke Skywalker actor revealed (via SFFGazette.com). "I was full of questions, but George [Lucas] said 'Let's just try one [and] we'll talk about it later.' Even though it felt like a parody of sci-fi, I decided to play it as sincerely as possible."
Responding to fans, Hamill confirmed that neither actor had been cast in the 1977 classic at this point, and joked that Ford saying "I'm beginning not to like you" is a line that "most regrettably didn't make the final cut."
He also debunked some long-standing rumours that he auditioned alongside Kurt Russell, noting that he's heard the Guardians of the Galaxy star tried out for Luke Skywalker, and not Han Solo.
The chemistry between Hamill and Ford is clear to see even at this early stage, so it's no wonder Lucas ended up casting them both. Hamill would go on to play Luke in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi before reprising the role decades later in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.
Fans were disappointed by what they saw there (which was by no means Hamill's fault), but the actor was given a shot at redemption thanks to cameos in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
You can take a look at that audition tape below.