Aaron Paul, Jessica Alba & Ellen Page were cast in a live-read of 'The Empire Strikes Back'

Popular director Jason Reitman staged his own live reading of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" with an interesting cast.

In a surprising twist, Ellen Page took on the part of male lead Han Solo in the live stage-reading of The Empire Strikes Back Thursday night, and Jessica Alba was cast as Princess Leia — the royal revolutionary. He also cast Aaron Paul as Luke Skywalker and veteran actor J.K. Simmons as Darth Vader.

He brought out Rainn Wilson to play Chewbacca, and in the role of the Emperor, originally played by Clive Revill, and the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, originally played by Alec Guinness – Mark Hamill!

With that, the audience screamed and leapt to its feet as the original Luke Skywalker walked onstage and hugged the new cast, beginning with Paul.

Reitman told EW that casting his Juno star Ellen Page as the sardonic captain of the Millennium Falcon felt as natural as it may seem surprising. “For Leia, I just wanted to find an actress who was beautiful and also had the ability to be tough and funny, and I’ve seen Alba do all of that. And I needed somebody who would have chemistry with Ellen,” he added further.

The live-reading was a part of his ongoing series taking beloved films, recasting them, and presenting live-readings of the script. He has done versions of the all-white Reservoir Dogs with an entirely black cast, and an all-female version of the testosterone-powered Glengarry Glen Ross.