I guess Lucas wrote Obi-wan especially for Mifune: Obi-wan is a Japanese-sounding name, after all.
So he turned down the offering because of the way samurai were depicted? That’s very interesting, especially coming from a leading actor in countlessjedijidaigeki movies.
Well, like Mika Mifune said, sci-fi films didn’t have to great of a reputation back in the 70’s and he probably felt like it would end up being somewhat of a parody of real jidaigeki movies. It’s easy for use to talk about it now forty years later, but back then it would have been really hard to imahine what the heck Lucas was going for. I mean a Jidaigeki in space sounds really goofy, and Mifune probably feared that he wouldn’t take the source material serious enough.
Ben had important information to relate and Mifune’s inability to speak english would likely mean he’d be dubbed.
Or he would have memorized his lines phonetically. *shrug*
I think that would have greatly impeded his ability to act properly, as well as making the dialogue seem somewhat stiff. I don’t think he would have managed to have a proper chemistry with the other actors if he didn’t understand what they, or even himself, was saying at any time. This propblem could of course have been solved with a lot of time and hard work, but considering how much hard work Lucas had finishing the film even with English speaking actors, I think he may have dodged a bullet with Mifune’s rejection of the role.
It would have made more sense to dub him I think. At least it would have saved them time.