Jodie Foster Turned Down Role of Princess Leia in ‘Star Wars’
Jodie Foster is opening up about a major role she turned down during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On Wednesday (January 17), Fallon asked the…
Jodie Foster attends the Los Angeles premiere of Warner Bros.’ “True Detective: Night Country” at Paramount Theatre on January 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Monica Schipper/Getty ImagesJodie Foster is opening up about a major role she turned down during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On Wednesday (January 17), Fallon asked the actress and filmmaker, 61, about a role she turned down. After telling the Silence of the Lambs star how she has played "so many iconic roles," Fallon asked if it was true that she was offered the iconic role of Princess Leia in George Lucas' brilliant 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Disney Over Star Wars
Coolly, Foster replied, "I was, yeah." At that time, Foster would have been about 15 years old. She revealed the production team was "going for a younger Princess Leia," but she had a scheduling conflict. The award-winning actress was doing a Disney movie that she didn't and couldn't pull out of because she was under contract. The film was Candleshoe -- one of three movies she was in that year. The other two films were French film Moi, fleur bleue (known in English as Stop Calling Me Baby!) and Beach House. "So, I didn’t do it, and you know, they did an amazing job," she said of the role that went to the late Carrie Fisher. Foster jokingly added, "I don’t know how good I would have been. I might have had different hair, you know." Referring to the princess' infamous double-bun hairstyle, she added, "I might have gone with a pineapple."
Watch Jodie Foster's Tonight Show appearance below:
Jodie Foster began her career when she was just two years old. She appeared in commercials before making her acting debut in 1968 in the television series Mayberry R.F.D. She was a teen idol, starring in multiple Disney films, such as Napoleon and Samantha and Freaky Friday. Then, she had her breakthrough role as the prostitute Iris Steensma in 1976's Taxi Driver.
These Celebrities Speak Another Language Fluently
Some celebrities have made it obvious that they speak another language. Whether it is from a thick accent or speaking in another language in films or music, we can easily tell when someone is multilingual. However, there are some stars we would have never guessed spoke in anything besides their native tongue. The biggest surprise of all is when our favorite actor or musician speaks more than two languages!
Due to their cultural heritage, some stars have picked up a second language due to where their family is from. Others have found a love for language in their travels or a genuine interest in linguistics. Whatever the reason, it is impressive when a person can dedicate themselves to adding another language to their repertoire. If you needed a reason to pick up another language, these celebrities' success is inspiring.
Take a look below at which celebrities can speak two or more languages:
Tom Hiddleston
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DisneyBesides English, the 'Loki' star can speak Spanish, French and Greek. The British actor has been fascinated with language since his school days and found he was gifted with the affinity of learning languages.
Mila Kunis
Momodu Mansaray/Getty ImagesThe Ukrainian-born actress can understand and speak Russian, as she lived there until the age of seven.
Timothée Chalamet
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFIThe actor, whose name is very French, speaks fluent French. He grew up speaking both French and English since his father is from France.
Lupita Nyong'o
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media InstituteThe Mexican-born actress speaks an impressive four languages: English, Spanish, Swahili and Luo.
Sebastian Stan
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough he used to speak 3 languages fluently, Stan can only understand German a little now. He is fluent in English and Romanian.
Salma Hayek
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe Mexican-born actress can speak both English and Spanish fluently. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her daughter's father is French, so she can speak some of both of the languages.
Bradley Cooper
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor lived in France for six months and can speak French fluently. He also can speak some Italian, as his mother taught him.
Sandra Bullock
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesBesides English, the actress can also speak German fluently. She was raised in Nuremberg, Germany and Austria, as her mother is German and her father was in the army.
Ben Affleck
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actor first learned how to speak Spanish when he made his acting debut on 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi.' The show was filmed in Mexico and that's where he picked it up.
Michelle Yeoh
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesBorn in Malaysia, the actress can speak Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin and English.
Jackie Chan
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor can speak an impressive 9 languages! English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, Korean and American Sign Language.
Natalie Portman
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actress can speak a number of languages including Hebrew, German, Japanese, Spanish and French.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NetflixThe actor was born in Los Angeles, but he speaks German and Italian fluently. His parents are Italian and German and he spent a lot of time in Germany growing up.
Shakira
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty ImagesThe Colombian singer can speak a whopping seven different languages. She speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, and Portuguese.
Oscar Isaac
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe Guatemalan-born actor can speak both English and Spanish.
Celine Dion
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe singer is fluent in both English and French. However, she has sung in languages including Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese and Mandarin.
Hugh Jackman
Jeremy Chan/Getty ImagesThe Wolverine actor is fluent in French and Spanish.
Dua Lipa
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesDua Lipa is bilingual and speaks both English and Albanian due to her heritage.
Bruno Mars
Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyThe Hawaiian-born singer can speak both English and Spanish.
Lady Gaga
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak both English and French fluently. Though she knows some Italian words and phrases, she isn't fluent in the language.
Phil Collins
Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak four languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. He even sang and recorded the entire 'Tarzan' soundtrack in all of the aforementioned languages.
Selena Gomez
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. Her Spanish was more fluent as she was growing up and some of it has faded away.
Jodie Foster
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English, Italian and French. She can also speak Spanish and German.
SZA
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/VogueThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. She can understand Portuguese and Italian, a little bit of French, and some German from her mother (who is also multilingual).
Gwyneth Paltrow
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English and Spanish. She lived in Spain as a teenager and fell in love with the language.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough she was born in Florida, Anya's parents raised her in Argentina until she was 6 years old and speaks fluent Spanish. She learned English when they moved to London by watching 'School of Rock,' 'Harry Potter,' and 'Jumanji,'
