How Lance Guest landed his lead role in The Last Starfighter ……

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What The Last Starfighter did first…

In the early to mid-1980s, computer-generated imagery (CGI) in movies was just beginning. Films like The Last Starfighter and Tron were among the very first to utilize this new technology.

In the 1984 film, Alex Rogan, a high school student played by Lance Guest, becomes a champion at the Starfighter video game. He soon discovers the game was actually a recruitment tool, and he’s whisked away to another planet to join an elite team of starfighters.

The origin of The Last Starfighter……

Screenwriter Jonathan Betuel got the idea for this movie while working as a cab driver. He was reading “The Once and Future King,” a book about King Arthur, when he saw a young boy playing a video game in an arcade. This sparked a thought: what if a video game was like the sword in the stone, and a high score could change everything? The movie even refers to the game as “The Excalibur Test,” drawing a direct connection to King Arthur’s legendary sword. Originally, the main character, Alex Rogan, was supposed to live in the suburbs, but the director, Nick Castle, decided it would be more fitting for him to live in a trailer park.

The movie quickly gained popularity with teenagers and continues to be loved by fans today. We recently spoke with Lance Guest, now older than the teen character he played in the 1980s, about how he got the starring role in The Last Starfighter.

Here’s how Lance Guest landed his lead role ………

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2026-03-29 03:23