Tupac Shakur Was To Audition For Star Wars - The Phantom Menace Before His Death

The Force may have been stronger in Tupac Shakur than previously known.

Death Row Records' former Chief Engineer Rick Clifford said his former collaborator was set to audition for a role in 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I" before his death.

The New York-born Shakur was supposed to read for the part of a Jedi that later went to Samuel L. Jackson, Clifford claimed, but was gunned down in Las Vegas on Sept. 13, 1996. Shakur was just 25 at the time of his death.

"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," Clifford said in the interview with 2Pac-Forum.com posted late last week.

"He was telling me that he was supposed to read for George Lucas and them. They wanted him to be a Jedi. Yes, I'm serious — Samuel L. got Tupac's part.

"Yeah, 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'."

Lucasfilm has yet to comment on the report.

Shakur already had a few movie credits under his belt when he died, including 1992's "Juice," 1993's "Poetic Justice" and 1994's "Above the Rim."

Jackson, who co-starred with Shakur in "Juice," however, was a much bigger film star at the time Lucas was looking for his Jedi Master.

Plus, he had the added bonus of being a huge "Star Wars" nerd.

"I still have my light saber (from working on the 'Star Wars' films)," Jackson told The News in 2012. "On the turn-on button it says BMF, short for bad m---r f—r (a nod to ‘Pulp Fiction’)."










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