Christopher Walken in Dune 2 Ending Break, Star Wars audition

Denis Villeneuve's “Dune: Part Two” particularly features the acting return of Christopher Walken, who hasn't appeared on the big screen in four years. The Oscar winner had three films released in 2020 (“The War with Grandpa,” “Percy,” and “Wild Mountain Thyme”) and then stopped making films (he did appear in the 2022 TV series “Severance.”) Now, He joins “Dune: Part Two” as Shaddam IV, also known as the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe.

Why did Walken decide to return with “Dune: Part Two”? it's a question Vanity Fair asked the Oscar winner in a new interview, “I've seen the first 'Dune' several times, of course,” Walken replied. “I loved it, I admired it [Villeneuve’s] films. I thought “Arrival” was great. And to be with all these amazing actors – Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Stellan Skarsgård – and to go to Budapest, which is a beautiful city. And of course, this is what I do for a living. It's only been three weeks, I think. So, everything about it was attractive.

“Dune: Part Two” also gives Luken the opportunity to star in a major Hollywood sci-fi epic, an opportunity he once tried and failed to get when he auditioned for the role of Han Solo in George Lucas’s original “Star Wars” film. .

“I think it was for Han Solo,” Walken recalls. “Yes, I auditioned for it. And if I'm not mistaken, my audition partner was – I think that's right – Jodie Foster was… I think we did a screen test. I'm not sure we did a scene. Maybe we were sitting in front of old video cameras Those in those days… an act Audition for Star Wars, but so do about 500 other actors. A lot of people were doing that.”

Foster was reading for Princess Leia, a role offered to her by George Lucas at the time. The two-time Oscar winner recently said on “The Tonight Show” that she had to turn down the “Star Wars” offer because she was already under contract for the Disney film at the time. Foster didn't reveal the Disney film, but the timeline suggests it may have been “Freaky Friday,” which was released a year before “Star Wars.”

“They were going for a younger Princess Leia, but I had a struggle,” said Foster, who was just 13 or 14 when Star Wars was filmed. “I was shooting a Disney movie and I didn't want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract.”

The role ultimately went to Carrie Fisher, who was 19 years old during filming. Walken didn't get the role of Han Solo either, as that character went to Harrison Ford. Not that Walken was agonizing over roles at the time. Not getting a “Star Wars” movie allowed him to say yes to Woody Allen's “Annie Hall,” which won Best Picture. A year later, he starred in The Deer Hunter, which won an Academy Award.

“I mean, I auditioned for Love Story and Star Wars. “But it's also possible that I didn't get either,” Walken said He told Vanity Fair.

“Dune: Part Two” is now showing in theaters nationwide from Warner Bros. Pictures.