Lucas prefers unknowns

The latest word on the street is that George Lucas is showing a preference for casting new and unknown talent for his new and unknown heroes. As one of his current crew has pointed out, "The cast for the original Star Wars in 1977 was mainly unknowns - Lucas only hired people like Sir Alec Guinness so the major studios would back him. As far as he sees it, the films will sell themselves on their own anyway so he doesn't need big names on board this time."